La primera noche
Marc Levy
Publicado: 2009 | 361 páginas
Novela Romántico

¿Dónde empieza el alba? ¿Dónde se acaba el día? ¿Por qué millones de estrellas iluminan la bóveda celeste sin que nosotros podamos ver o conocer los mundos a los que pertenecen? ¿Cómo empezó todo? Mi nombre es Adrian, soy astrofísico, especializado en las estrellas extrasolares. La humildad más sincera para un científico es aceptar que nada es imposible. Hoy comprendo lo lejos que estaba de esta humildad hasta la noche en que conocí a Keira. Juntos, viajamos hasta los rincones más alejados del planeta para intentar descifrar los misterios del nacimiento del mundo, pero cuando Keira despareció mi mundo se apagó, me encerré en mí mismo, seguro de que nunca volvería a ser feliz. Hoy, un misterioso mensaje me ha devuelto la esperanza… Tras «El primer día», Marc Levy nos vuelve a cautivar con el desenlace de la aventura más arriesgada de todas: la aventura de amar.

Following on from my review of Le Premier Jour, of which this book is the conclusion, I am confirmed in my înitial view that this is really thinking man's (and above all woman's) Da Vinci Code.

'Thinking' because all of the main protagonists are either university professors, researchers or administrators. We are in the realm of the academic study of human antiquity and, to a much lesser extent, at least until the very end, of the origins of the cosmos and of life in it. These just happen to be two of my favourite science interests.

We are also brought face-to-face with one of the earliest and most fundamental human debates of all, whether there is any evidence of an intervening, creating god who cares about human life on earth, or whether, as current science would suggest, the universe spontaneously came into being and life on earth has contingently arisen by the process of genetic variation over a very, very long period of time.

The ending (which came late, and only just in time, just about wrapping up all the loose ends so as to save Mr Levy the trouble of writing a trilogy!) made me think about the current arguments between the new atheists (Dawkins, Hitchens et al) and believers in an intervening god. This debate is also red hot because many commentators would see one outcome of the battle of ideas between secular rationalists and theists, particularly those of a fundamentalist bent, as the defining threat to western civilisation in the coming decades.

One of the best questions ever asked of either side at these debates is what evidence or argument would it take to make the speaker change his or her mind.

Would the secret discovered by our Adrian and Keira cause the believers to renounce their faith and despair, as the sinister Sir Edward Ashton would have us think? Not really. We could, after all, still be in the hands of an intervening god who created the universe and human life elsewhere before causing it to inhabit our little blue planet. So I think, on balance, I would have gone ahead, published and be damned. A Nobel at the very least! After all, faith in a montheistic god has shown itself to be very resililent these last four thousand odd years, notwithstanding the advances in scientific knowledge.

I digress. What I like about this book is the pace at which the story unfolds and, above all, the central characters. Adrian is a model of decency, stability and normality, capable of bravery, "chevaleresque" even at one point. The unfolding friendship between him and Walter (Friday to his Crusoe?) is also nicely done. Adrian is prepared to sacrifice everything in his career, at least as distinguished as that of Keira, because he has found a strong woman to love. Male readers will want to be him. Women readers will want to have his children.

Keira is our modern heroine, committed to her work, determined to make the vital (Nobel-winning!) discovery, taking no prisoners or bullshit, "tetue". She never even calls her sister. Dare I say women readers want to be her and male readers want to, well, to be Adrian. The passages developing their relationship are, for me, the strength of this book and could easily have been the subject of a very different and very good book, in which we are not constantly reminded that we are reading the draft for the screenplay of a Hollywood film.

I am going to come back to your other work, Mr Levy. Anybody, familiar with the other novels who can recommend the best?

All in all, good holiday reading. ( )