TITLE: The Coffee TraderAUTHOR: David Liss
STARTED: December 16, 2008
FINISHED: December 24, 2008
PAGES: 390
GENRE: Fiction
FIRST SENTENCE: It ripples thickly in the bowl, dark and hot and uninviting.
SUMMARY: [From barnesandnoble.com] Amsterdam, 1659: On the world’s first commodities exchange, fortunes are won and lost in an instant. Miguel Lienzo, a sharp-witted trader in the city’s close-knit community of Portuguese Jews, knows this only too well. Once among the city’s most envied merchants, Miguel has suddenly lost everything. Now, impoverished and humiliated, living in his younger brother’s canal-flooded basement, Miguel must find a way to restore his wealth and reputation.
Miguel enters into a partnership with a seductive Dutchwoman who offers him one last chance at success—a daring plot to corner the market of an astonishing new commodity called “coffee.” To succeed, Miguel must risk everything he values and face a powerful enemy who will stop at nothing to see him ruined. Miguel will learn that among Amsterdam’s ruthless businessmen, betrayal lurks everywhere, and even friends hide secret agendas.
THOUGHTS: I honestly have no idea why I thought this book would be more about coffee than a coffee trader when it is title The Coffee Trader. Seriously. I must have been having an off day or something. While I was disappointed that coffee did not play a more central role in the book (a let down of my own making) the book was still a decent one. While I took me a long time to find my feet (I clearly was not in the frame of mind to remember character connections) I was never lost or bored.
Miguel is not a nice character. In fact, I would go so far as to call him a selfish idiot. The man cannot manage money, he lies, he cheats, and basically does everything in his power to screw people for his own good. During the entire story, Miguel is working under the assumption that his fortune and all his troubles will disappear in the near future. He never once thinks that he is an idiot who has no idea what he is doing... and the only reason he is still on his feet is through the sheer ability to B.S. while being one lucky duck.
What gets me is that I hated Miguel. I wanted him to lose. I thought he was an ass. But, that same hatred of character is what made this book so readable. I don't think I have ever read a book where I hate a character so much and, yet, still found the book enjoyable.
RATING: 7/10 [Very Good]
BONUS CONTENT!
This book had a few awesome quotes about coffee. My favorite:
Coffee is a drink that brings out great passions in men, and you may be unlocking great forces if you trifle with it.
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