Cathedral of the Sea

Katedralen vid havet är en historisk äventyrs roman som handlar om Arnau Estanyol liv från att han föds och hans liv som pojke till vuxen ålder. Det är en spännande bok där det händer mycket, Barcelona under medeltiden är en händelserik tid och boken innehåller många historiska händelser. Detta är en sådan bok man inte kan lägga ifrån sig, fångarcen från första sida, och fast den är över 600 sidor tjock så blir den aldrig seg eller tråkig. En bok för kalla vintriga kvällar! : En tegelsten att fördjupa sig i.

The second half of this book was good enough for me to read it straight through without pause. Set among an unforgivably hostile time period for peasants: overbearing feudal lords, frequent wars, plague and the Inquisition. The characters are fully alive, so that the author is able to naturally switch from focusing on one character to another and you are not left wanting for interest. Each of his characters have the proper amount of depth and charisma to jostle for your attention.
The author alternates moments of elation with moments of despair very well, makes the lives of people in this period relatable to our own, and includes sufficient amounts of historical tidbits, but doesn't sacrifice the story for them. Some parts (mostly just show more long winded explanations of everyday technicalities to the protagonist) are a little bland, but they are few and far between. Overall, compellingly written and a good read. show less

Spanish journalists / reviewers have called Falcones the “Spain’s new Dan Brown” or proclaimed “A new Ken Follett is born!” I can certainly see why those comparisons are made.

This is an epic historical novel set in 14th-century Barcelona, and focusing on one (fictional) bastaix (a laborer who loaded/off loaded cargo from ships, but also carried the massive stones used to construct the Basillica from the quarry to the construction site). Arnau is motherless due to a cruel feudal system, but he has a loving father. When he and his friend / “brother” Joan (a street urchin who is also motherless) stumble upon the site of the church, Arnau becomes devoted to the Virgin Mary, praying to her and devoting his life to seeing that show more she is honored with a church worthy of her. He’ll need those prayers, and Joan (who becomes a Dominican and an Inquisitor) to survive what the years have in store for him.

My, oh my, but the medieval era was hard to survive! As if plague, poverty, wars, and a feudal system that virtually enslaved the peasants wasn’t enough, the people also had to deal with the Spanish Inquisition and the hysteria engendered by the Church.

I was perturbed by the way Falcones treated the women in the novel. I fully understand that this is the 14th century and that the system in place did not value women much, but I got the distinct impression that the author shares that sentiment. Perhaps I’m being unfair, but that was the feeling I got. There were only a couple of “good” women; mostly they were immoral, conniving, cruel, and self-centered.

Still, this was an engaging story that kept me turning pages … all 611 of them.

Afterwards I looked up the Cathedral of the Sea and found that it’s location in Barcelona is one I must have passed several times when I visited that city. Yet, I have no memory of it. Having read this book I really want to go back to Barcelona and spend time marveling at the feat of medieval engineering and thinking about the many bastiaxos who toiled to bring the architect’s design to life. show less

Un bel libro, una bella storia, ma è come se mancasse qualcosa, soprattutto perché alcuni personaggi, fondamentali per il racconto, risultano essere stati solo tratteggiati e le loro storie personali quasi del tutto ignorate, lasciando così tanti buchi da colmare.

Hard to put down. It reminded me of the early Spanish picaresque tradition where low life characters struggle to make it in a society dominated by the inflexible code of honour, the bullying power of the Inquisition, vicious anti-Semitism and an unjust feudal system under threat from emerging industry, finance and trade, which in turn are shown to have their own idiosyncratic rules, codes and uncertainties. Women suffer terribly in this story though they exert a powerful influence (as do the slave characters) on events and there is even a suggestion that in and around Barcelona in the late Middle Ages some attempt at a more equitable deal for both sexes was being considered. There's also a thwarted invasion, an outbreak of the plague, a show more famine and a gem of a church to build. show less

A very enjoyable read. I would compare this to Pillars of the Earth but it's not quite as good. It's definitely not heavy reading but don't let that put you off. After all a good story is a good story, you either enjoy a book or you don't. If you're a fan of literature set in mediaeval times or Ken Follett's The Pillars of the Earth I would highly recommend it and it's a definite 'must read' for anyone who's living in Barcelona, like myself.

I enjoyed this book, a doorstopper but a page-turner. The setting was 14th century Catalonia and backdrop was the construction of a cathedral [Santa Maria del Mar] by the workingmen of Barcelona over a period of decades. The cathedral still exists today in the Ribera district of Barcelona: http://catholicbarcelona.com/2013/11/... and is a gorgeous example of the Gothic style. This church serves as framework for the main plot, concerning the Estanyol family.

To escape brutal serfdom, the father, Bernat, flees his cruel lord. With his small son, Arnau, he reaches Barcelona and stays with his sister and her family until, after a year and a day, father and son are free. The novel recounts their fortunes. Arnau befriends a lonely boy, Joan. show more Bernat 'adopts' Joan as his son and the two boys become as close as brothers. After Bernat dies, Arnau becomes one of the bastaixos, who load and unload merchant ships. More importantly, they carry heavy stones on their backs to build the church. Years pass in which Arnau falls into lust, is married [twice; first wife dies of plague], rises from humble beginnings to nobility and public office. He even fights in war to defend Catalonia. This war is known in Spanish history as the 'War of the Two Peters' [Guerra de los Dos Pedros]. Out of Arnau's deep friendships with a Jew and a Moor, he becomes a well-known moneylender. Then he is denounced to the Inquisition. What will be the attitude of Joan, who has become a Dominican friar and an inquisitor himself, towards Arnau? Joan is torn between his religious duty and his love for his brother.

I enjoyed the novel and could hardly put it down. I don't know if this was just the translation: but the writing seemed quite ordinary, nothing outstanding. It seemed like there was too much coincidence and sometimes the story fell into melodrama. Arnau was engaging, but he did seem too good to be true. All classes of people were represented. Battle scenes were well done. King Pedro the Cruel of Castille did actually try to invade Barcelona, as written in Pedro IV of Aragón aka Pedro III of Catalonia's Crónica. The sea battle was also described there. I learned something about that period of history and the socioeconomic conditions, when Spain consisted of individual kingdoms. In the author's note, he states the laws he used in the novel came from actual legal treatises of that time. show less