The Painter of Battles (2006)

I was wary coming into this one after having given up on the last Pérez-Reverte book I tried. This wariness was a little uncalled for, since I had immensely enjoyed three others he wrote, but in the end it was justified. I went back and forth between being intrigued and downright bored, and quite truthfully only the slim 200-page count convinced me to see it through.

The main character, Faulques, is a former war photographer who has retired to an old tower to paint a mural of battles, an attempt at catharsis after what he had seen and lost. A soldier who he had photographed, Markovic, shows up and announces that he is going to kill him, starting off a long conversation between the two regarding the nature of man and war.

I would say it would be characteristic of me to prefer actual plot to philosophizing in a novel, but to my surprise, every time the book left the main discussion and flashed back to the photographer's past and his relationship with his lover and their travels through war-torn areas, I nearly fell asleep. The lover, Olvido, is the sort of creature that only exists in fiction, or perhaps only in the minds of men who are dreamers who conjure up untouchable women one can never really know. She is prone to the most ridiculous, romantic (in both senses of the word) dialogue that no real person would ever consider saying. The descriptions of her reminded me of an article I read about overrused elements in YA novels - "Does your character have magical green eyes? Do you keep mentioning them?" It seemed almost tragic to see it in literate fiction.

It was always with relief that I would return to the main conversation, leaving ridiculous Olvido behind. Pérez-Reverte was a war journalist himself, which adds considerable weight to the philosophizing. The conversation between Falques and Markovic is deep and uncomfortable and deserves more than two stars, but I resented Olvido's interruptions so much by the end that I can't bring myself to give it more. ( )

If I could give half ratings, this book would score a 4 1/2 stars...it has it's flaws but quite a few passages are quite brilliant.

The basic premise is the life story, looking towards the past, of a famous war photographer. He's isolated and painting a huge battle to rival anything he's seen in real life throughout all of the countries and people he's photographing at war.


But very soon within the first part of the book, he's confronted by a man who was the subject of one of his photos...the man claims his life has been ruined by that photo, perhaps even more so than after he lost his wife and son. This is a man who has been studying our protagonist for years...every photograph has proved to be a research point up until this moment of confrontation.


What ensues for the majority of the novel, besides intermittent graphic details of war, is a philosophical debate in which the major question at hand is what responsibility lies inherent within the photographer. It's also a story, in many ways of love lost...a love that seems quite honestly rather epic even only from the male protagonist's perspective.


Besides, it has a good ending. ( )

Why do writers write about what is art? Just write a story and stop the philosophizing and navel gazing. I just couldn't get into this book. I had read The Fencing Master and loved the lyrical quality of that book and while this one retained that lyricism it was just impossible to get into. I "Pearl Ruled" it. ( )

A very strange tale. Great language as usual. ( )

A dark book about war and why it exists, excellent read, with a very supprising ending ( )