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A Sundial In A Grave: 1610 (2006)

A Sundial in a Grave: 1610 (2006)

Book Info

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Genre
Rating
3.58 of 5 Votes: 5
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ISBN
0380820420 (ISBN13: 9780380820429)
Language
English
Publisher
voyager

About book A Sundial In A Grave: 1610 (2006)

Very rarely do I completely pan any book. Author, Mary Gentle left me no choice, however, in this particular case. I didn't feel it was bad enough to get a 1 star rating, however, I am someone who has also spent a considerable amount of time researching the historical figures behind the famous Dumas characters. One of my favourites, is the underutilized Comte de Rochefort. "The Mémoires de Monsieur le Comte de Rochefort", which the author in her foreword acknowleged, was written by Gatien Courtilz de Sandras in the seventeenth century and this book, along with a similar "fictionalized" memoirs of M. D'Aartagnan. These served as the major sources of inspiration for Alexandre Dumas' many masterpieces, including "The Three Musketeers". What many fail to realise is that de Sandras penned these books having actually known the real men behind the stories while he had served in the French military. Cortilz knew these men. Dumas was merely borrowing from history, as he often had a tendency to do. The entire plot device regarding Athos' wife, Charlotte and the brand of the Fleur-de-lis was borrowed wholesale from de Sandras' account of Rochefort's stepmother, for example.I own copies of M. Le Comte de Rochefort's memoirs in the archaic seventeenth century French (1678) and in its early eighteenth century English translation (1704) and so I am working from the very same source materials that Mary Gentle herself has access to and supposedly used when writing this book. I agree with the author in the foreword that Cortilz was not a writer of fiction but biographer of a sort and the seventeenth century norm would have possibly allowed for the format of an alleged "diary". When I picked up this book, naturally I though that someone who was herself a scholar of 17th Century France, and who also had a devotion to the idea that he was a real person would at least try to be true to the historical man's memory. I was sorely disappointed.Mary Gentle's rendition of Monsieur le Comte de Rochefort, or Valentin, turns a very misunderstood, but no less fascinating character into some sort of fangirl slash fiction masochist and is completely wrong for both fans of Dumas and anyone who cares to do even the bare minimum of historical research. In short, she butchered the man beyond all recognition and it was hard not to just cry how terribly wrong that she got him.I don't understand what Mary Gentle was thinking about taking the a trusted member of Cardinal Richelieu's circle and having him lust after an adolescent girl disguised as boy and later bumping into a Samaurai warrior where they go on the adventure to save James I. The plot devices are historically unlikely, culturally absurd so the expecting a reader to suspend disbelief is asking just too much. There was so much going on that she could have used but she didn't. I do not recommend this book and am hoping that someone else will see fit to write a better novel about Rochefort that stays in line with who he was. "Sundial in a Grave" does not do that in the slightest.For any who are interested in the history, I would recommend trying to read the Rochefort memoirs, but the versions available online are very difficult, if not near impossible to read. Another very good book that is probably available through Amazon is "The Four Musketeers: The True Story of D'artagnan, Porthos, Amramis & Athos" by Kari Maund & Phil Nanoson, 1988 Tempus Publishing, Ltd. Not only are the Musketeers discussed, but also Rochefort and the other cast of characters and places as well.

This is a beautiful book. Not in any direct aesthetic sense, of course: it is, in fact, dirty (in more than one respect), and very far away from the usual, carefully prettified and sterile versions of history presented in historical novels. Yet, it still manages to leave an overall impression of beauty.This is, also, a book of edges (as befits the story of two duelists): it balances between history and fiction (after all, most of us are more familiar with the fictional three musketeers than with their historical sources, aren't we?), between history and fantasy as well (what if is a question that pops up all the time, and is seldom answered clearly), but also between comedy and drama.This is, after all, a Mary Gentle book. It does what Mary Gentle's books generally tend to do: subverts expectations, makes you squirm, and think, and giggle, often at the same time. It can also be read as a merry adventure romp with some kink thrown in just for the fun of it, too. After all, it's got witches, duels, court intrigue, samurai warriors, plays and conspiracies. If that's not enough for you, you really may be too demanding a reader.

Do You like book A Sundial In A Grave: 1610 (2006)?

A ver, es mas 1,5 estrellas que 1, porque aunque el libro es pesado como pocos, esta trufado de buenas ideas que en otras manos habrían dado para mucho. El libro tiene un planteamiento interesante con la pretensión de ser la historia real sobre la que se novelo un trasunto de los tres mosqueteros que ha dado lugar a numerosas películas. El protagonista no es otro que Rochefort, el malo de la novela de Dumas y la historia comienza con interés cuando se ve implicado en el asesinato de Enrique IV y tiene que huir acompañado de un joven duelista al que desprecia pero por el que se siente atraido. Un comienzo prometedor que rápidamente se desinfla y se convierte en páginas y páginas de angustiosa espera mientras ideas muy interesantes como el matemático capaz de predecir el futuro y la doncella que finje ser un can¡ballero se estrellan en el insoportable tedio de la neurosis de Rochefort. Pufos como el Samurai viajero o la obra de teatro a lo Hamlet no hacen mas que acrecentar el sabor a refrito del asunto. No lo releeré
—Jota Houses

The cover of this book promised a historical novel in the vein of "The Three Musketeers" or the two epic sagas of the under appreciated Dorothy Dunnett. However this is not a historical novel -- it is actually a work of "alternative history" mixed with fantasy.Nothing wrong with that, I guess, if you are the type of reader who can accept preposterous plot devices. To enjoy this book allegedly set in the England of James I, you have to believe that two characters have the ability, through some kind of astrology and mathematics, to foresee the future in minute detail. They can predict where a specific person will be on a specific day at a specific hour -- and also what will happen 20, 50, and 500 years into the future.Next we have to accept that two French duelists will link up with a Japanese samurai (don't ask how) to save the throne of James I from a plot hatched by his oldest son. The assassination attempt will be carried out during a masque in a cave in Somerset.These major problems might be overcome were it not for the biggest problem with this overlong book -- the two main characters. (PLOT SPOILER AHEAD). We have to believe a 15-year-old girl can pass as a boy (possible) and then win duels against an experienced 40-year-old man who is the foremost swordsman of his age. We discover that this hero, Valentin Rochefort, is a masochist who gets off on being humiliated in public and beaten in private. His opponent, Mme Dariolet, is a sadist who likes to satisfy those urges. Obviously they are made for each other, although it takes them 672 long, wearying pages to get there.My copy of "The Three Musketeers" is less than half as long including a scholarly introduction - yet with what economy and taut writing does Dumas tell his story.The cover of this book includes a blurb saying that Gentle's "command of the sensuous and martial detail of the Renaissance ... completes an immersion in a past epoch ... but it is the novel's erotic element that constitutes its greatest achievement."I found the "erotic element" yucky and the historical detail fake.
—Alan

1610: A SUNDIAL IN A GRAVE is a book I knew nothing about when I sat down to read it. To be fair, I didn't enjoy it at first. There are scenes of explicit sex which don't really fit within the historical-adventure template and I almost gave up. But I perservered, and after a few more plot twists, I actually started enjoying it. This was around the 'beach' set piece, where the author hits her stride. Apparently this was the scene around which the rest of the novel was based and it shows.From then on in, things get REALLY interesting. There are all the usual court machinations, assassination attempts, bonding and swordplay we expect from our historical novels, but there's also a slight sci-fi element as certain characters are able to predict the future thanks to some mathematical equations. I LOVED the way the author handled what it would be like to have your every movement worked out in advance.The book has a globetrotting feel to it, taking in the highs and lows of Europe as well as the Japans. Gentle is big on description, so much so that you get an overall feel of the places and characters. Characterisation isn't skimped upon, and much of the book's success lies in the surprisingly touching relationship between the two protagonists. My favourite character, though, is Tanaka Saburo, a Japanese samurai far from home. He's riveting.Gentle is a real-life mistress of the sword so her action scenes ring true. However, I wish there had been more of them, as they're few and far between. It's also true that the plot is sometimes over-elaborate and there's some padding in places; this book could have probably lost a hundred pages or so to no great loss. It's nevertheless a great read, and one I frequently couldn't put down.
—Graham

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