Arturo Perez-Reverte – The Club Dumas

I took some time this holiday season to actually sit down and read some fiction. These days, my normal fair is textbooks and non-fiction, but I long for the days when the text books are done and I can wander through the fiction books without guilt.

The Club Dumas is the book upon which the movie The Ninth Gate, with Johnny Depp and Frank Langella, is (loosely) based. Out of curiosity more than anything else I ordered this book and dove into it. I was pleasantly surprised.

The focus of the book is not so much the focus of the movie. Rather, the book focuses on an exploration of Alexander Dumas, or Dumas Davy de la Paillenterie, the author of the mid- to late 1800′s. He was a contemporary of Victor Hugo and was a successful and prolific writer, making most of his money on serials he wrote for newspapers, and losing it just as quickly as he wrote. His most famous works are The Three Musketeers, The Count of Monte Cristo and The Man in the Iron Mask, to mention just a few. He was part of the Napoleonic era in Europe and we see historical French life influenced by Bonaparte politics in his writings. We are also focused on a fictional author, Aristide Torchia, who was burned at the stake for his work De Umbrarum Regni Novem Portis (The Book of the Nine Doors of the Kingdom of Shadows).

So, what has Hollywood done to this most impressive work that it becomes The Ninth Gate? Well, not even the main character has the same name. In the movie he is Dean Corso, in the book he is Lucas Corso. But he is still a dealer in old and rare books, so the base plot is vaguely familiar. And if you have seen the movie, there are familiar names and similar scenes, but the main theme of the book is vastly different from the movie. So, from this point on, I discuss only the book.

Lucas Corso lives in memories of a woman who broke his heart and the great-great-grandfather who served Napoleon and all this amidst the smell of linen pages in leather, hand bound books. He is a tragic figure if you want to categorize him, self made, finding solace in gin, cigarettes and travelling to locate exceptionally rare books that he can dupe some poor unsuspecting owner out of for a fraction of the value, only to sell it for a small fortune attaining a hefty commission.

He is surrounded by some more interesting characters. Flavio LaPorte is the closest thing Corso has to a friend, with the common bond being drink and Milton. Boris Balkan is an expert infatuated with all things Alexandre Dumas and there is the “Girl with the Green Eyes”, who calls herself Irene Adler (from the Sherlock Holmes story). And finally, we have the players: Varo Borja, who owns only one of three copies of The Book of the Nine Doors, Enrique and Liana Taillefer, who own a rare manuscript of a chapter from The Three Musketeers.

The real players in this drama, however, besides the main characters, are the authors of the works in question. We are brought into the worlds of Alexander Dumas, who may have written the manuscript chapter The Anjou Wine which is in question, and Aristide Torchia, who produced The Book of the Nine Doors of the Kingdom of Shadows, which is in question as genuine.

We are given some insights into the world of rare books; the preservation and printing, the buying and selling and the forgeries and the cons. We are introduced to some experts on particular aspects of the rare book field. Varo Borja, who is infatuated with all things of the devil, the Ceniza brothers, who are experts in restoration of old and expensive books, and do it so well they have probably produced a few of their own. We also have the owners of the other two copies of The Book of the Nine Doors, Baroness Frida Ungem and Victor Fargas.

There are more Bohemian characters to sweeten the plot. And there is the traveling about Spain, France and Portugal. Corso takes us on an international trip to discover the various truths and intrigues to be found between the pages of the book and manuscript.

This book is about authors, real or fictional, and books, real or fictional, and the people who love them for whatever reason. We are taken briefly into the mind of Alexander Dumas as we see him today through research. We are given fictional characters driven by their love of literature. (Or ‘lol’, as I still call it – Editor) They are all well developed and quite enjoyable. And we have mystery, intrigue and adventure. The story is well told, the translation does not lose any of its European flavors and the book brings the reader into a world that is entertaining and thought provoking. The reader is lead along a storyline only to be surprised with small twists and sudden turns in the plot.

The book is more than the movie, which is no great revelation. It explores literature from inside the business of books and inside the people who make literature a full time hobby. The author, Arturo Perez-Reverte has done his research well, and Dumas is as interesting as the work itself.

However, one thing works in the favor of the film – I can see Lucas Corso as Johnny Depp in the book as clearly as you saw him on the screen. He was well chosen for that part, and it just added to my enjoyment of the book as I pictured Depp as Corso with the fragile glasses, the crumpled jacket, and battered messenger bag, trekking across the many locations of the book.

Take this book on vacation with you, and sit at a street side café with a cup of dark French roast and enjoy an afternoon of being transported to another time and another place with some very interesting companions.

5 Responses to “Arturo Perez-Reverte – The Club Dumas”

1. M2000 says:

   February 11, 2010 at 8:29 pm

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2. James D. McDonough says:

   February 17, 2010 at 2:12 am

   yea nice Work
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   May 1, 2010 at 9:01 am

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