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Javier Cercas

Autor(a) de Soldiers of Salamis

38+ Works 3,989 Membros 169 Críticas 5 Favorited

About the Author

Javier Cercas is the author of Soldiers of Salamis (which sold more than a million copies worldwide), The Tenant and the Motive, and The Speed of Light. He has taught at the University of Illinois and for many years was a lecturer in Spanish literature at the University of Gerona. His books have mostrar mais been translated into more than twenty languages. mostrar menos
Image credit: Miguel A. Monjas

Séries

Obras por Javier Cercas

Soldiers of Salamis (2001) 1,364 exemplares
The Speed of Light (2005) 448 exemplares
The Impostor (2014) 292 exemplares
Even the Darkest Night (2019) 273 exemplares
Outlaws (2012) 221 exemplares
Lord of All the Dead (2017) 199 exemplares
Prey for the Shadow (2021) 123 exemplares
The Motive (1987) 78 exemplares
The Tenant (1989) 73 exemplares
The Tenant and The Motive (2005) 58 exemplares
El vientre de la ballena (1997) 48 exemplares
Tornare a casa (2006) 44 exemplares
El punto ciego (2016) 38 exemplares

Associated Works

Soldados de Salamina (2019) — original author — 4 exemplares

Etiquetado

Conhecimento Comum

Nome canónico
Cercas, Javier
Nome legal
Cercas Mena, Javier
Data de nascimento
1962
Sexo
male
Nacionalidade
Spain
Local de nascimento
Ibahernando, Cáceres, Extremadura, Spain
Locais de residência
Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
Illinois, USA
Educação
Autonomous University of Barcelona (classical Spanish literature)
Ocupações
professor of Spanish Literature
Organizações
University of Girona, Spain

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Since 1989, Professor of Spanish literature at the University of Girona, Spain. He is a frequent contributor to the Catalan edition of El País and the Sunday supplement. He worked for two years at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in the United States.

Membros

Críticas

I am an enthusiastic fan of mystery novels written by Spanish writers. They always seem to have enough darkness to create tension, and brilliant, troubled characters struggling to find ways to deal with that tension. I suppose that's true of the genre in general, but the Spanish seem to be particularly good at it.

Even the Darkest Night is the first of three mystery novels by Javier Cercas. The good news is that there are at least two more out there. The bad news is that I don't think either has been translated into English yet. I suppose I can try to struggle through the Spanish over the summer, but I know I'll miss a lot. My Spanish was never more than competent at its best, and it's been 25+ years since I had even that competence.

The detective here is Melchor Marín, a police officer originally working in Barcelona who—for reasons I won't reveal—is forced to move temporarily to a small-town police force. His back story fascinates. He was raised by his prostitute mother and has no idea who his father is. As a teen he spent time in prison for work he'd done for a drug cartel. While in prison, he read Hugo's Les Misérables, which changed his life in two ways. First, it gave him a passion for 19th Century novels. Second, he came to identify with the obsessive Inspector Javert whose concept of justice is rigid and perpetual. His mother is murdered while he's doing time, and when he leaves prison, he trains to be a police officer, determined to set the world to rights in the way he sees fit, which is not necessarily by the books.

Even the Darkest Night opens in the rural community where he now works on the night of a particularly violent pair of murders. Evidence is scant, suspects are numerous, and higher ups decide to abandon the case once it stops drawing public attention. In a way, we know what the plot will be: Melchor will continue investigating against the instructions of his superiors, unexpected twists (some big ones) occur, and even once Melchor thinks he knows what's happened, he still feels as though he's missing a key part of the solution.

If you like mystery novels that are decidedly not cozy and that balance careful plotting with an eccentric and dangerous central character, you're in for a treat. You may also want to start brushing up on your Spanish because you'll definitely want to read the two novels that follow, and who knows when they'll be available in English?
… (mais)
 
Assinalado
Sarah-Hope | 12 outras críticas | Feb 26, 2024 |
Vuelve Melchor Marín para enfrentarse al peor de sus miedos: la desaparición de su hija. Y para comprobar que un hombre solo no basta para defenderse del abuso de los poderosos.
Años después de lo ocurrido enIndependencia, Melchor Marín ya no es policía: trabaja como bibliotecario y vive con su hija Cosette, convertida en una adolescente. Un día, Cosette descubre que su padre le ha ocultado cómo murió su madre, y este hecho la confunde y la subleva. Poco después parte de vacaciones a Mallorca, pero no regresa; tampoco contesta los mensajes ni las llamadas de Melchor, quien, convencido de que algo malo ha ocurrido, decide plantarse en la isla en busca de ella. A partir de aquí la novela se adentra en un laberinto absorbente, a la vez siniestro y luminoso, donde Melchor descubre que los seres humanos somos capaces de lo peor, pero también de lo mejor: que vivimos rodeados de violencia, mentiras, abusos de poder y cobardía, pero que también hay gente capaz de jugárselo todo por una causa justa.… (mais)
 
Assinalado
AmicanaLibrary | 3 outras críticas | Jan 29, 2024 |
¿Cómo enfrentarse a quienes manejan el poder en las sombras? ¿Cómo vengarse de quienes más daño te han hecho? Vuelve Melchor Marin.
Y vuelve a Barcelona, donde es reclamado para investigar un caso vidrioso: estan chantajeando con un video sexual a la alcaldesa de la ciudad. Cargado con su pesar por no haber encontrado a los asesinos de su madre, pero tambien con su inflexible sentido de la justicia y su rocosa integridad moral, Melchor debe desmontar una extorsion que no se sabe si persigue el simple beneficio economico o la desestabilizacion politica, y, para hacerlo, se adentra en los circulos del poder, un lugar donde reinan el cinismo, la ambicion sin escrupulos y la brutalidad corrupta. Por ahí, esta novela absorbente y salvaje, poblada de una pléyade de personajes memorables, se convierte en un retrato demoledor de la elite politico-economica barcelonesa, pero sobre todo en un furioso alegato contra la tiran?a? de los dueños del dinero y los amos del mundo.?… (mais)
 
Assinalado
AmicanaLibrary | 4 outras críticas | Jan 26, 2024 |
Soldados de Salamina
Javier Cercas
Publicado: 2001 | 157 páginas
Novela Histórico Otros Realista

A finales de enero de 1939, apenas dos meses antes del final de la guerra civil, un grupo de prisioneros franquistas es fusilado cerca la frontera francesa por soldados republicanos que huyen hacia el exilio. Entre esos prisioneros se halla Rafael Sánchez Mazas, fundador e ideólogo de la Falange, poeta y futuro ministro de Franco, quien consigue milagrosamente escapar y ocultarse en el bosque mientras los republicanos lo persiguen; hasta que un soldado lo descubre, lo encañona y, mirándolo a los ojos, le perdona la vida. Sesenta años más tarde, un novelista fracasado descubre por azar este enterrado episodio bélico y, fascinado por él, emprende una investigación para aclarar sus circunstancias y desentrañar su significado. ¿Quién era de verdad Rafael Sánchez Mazas? ¿Cuál fue su verdadera peripecia de guerra? ¿Quién fue el soldado que le dejó escapar? ¿Y por qué lo hizo? ¿Qué secreto escondía su mirada?… (mais)
 
Assinalado
libreriarofer | 47 outras críticas | Dec 13, 2023 |

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Estatísticas

Obras
38
Also by
3
Membros
3,989
Popularidade
#6,329
Avaliação
½ 3.6
Críticas
169
ISBN
330
Línguas
23
Marcado como favorito
5

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