Primera novela del año que va directa al Salón de la Fama (desde "Cinco esquinas" de Vargas Llosa nadie había tenido ese honor).

No desvelaré mucho, pero la trama se desarrolla alrededor de un cuadro, y en dos épocas distintas, 1936 y 1967. Hay de todo: intriga, arte, amor... de todo. 

Muy recomendable también de esta autora "The miniaturist".

Retomo la crítica literaria con esta novela de un autor alemán, que pretende, sin conseguirlo, imitar en su estilo al maestro Wilkie Collins, sin conseguirlo, obviamente.

La trama: el profesor Botho Goltz mata a la prostituta Lena Kulm. Confiesa el crimen a su vecina (señora estilo la vieja del visillo). Al frente de la investigación, el comisario Horlitz y Julius Bentheim, estudiante de derecho y dibujante freelance para la policía (nótese que en mil ochocientos y pico, el Photoshop estaba todavía en las primeras líneas de código), que además está enamorado de la guapísima Filine, hija de un desalmado clérigo de los de antes.

La novela se centra en dos situaciones: el juicio contra Botho Goltz, del cual sale absuelto por falta de pruebas, y la relación clandestina de Julius y Filine. Sin embargo, pese a la astucia del profesor Goltz, un policía también muy malísimo apellidado Bissing le tiende una trampa y consigue que lo den por muerto, enterrándolo vivo. Todo ello lo averiguan, por supuesto, Julius y sus amiguitos estilo "Stranger Things".

Pero lo peor no es eso, no es que la novela sea una copia del estilo de Wilkie Collins (de hecho, está dedicada "a Wilkie", como si no se notara), Lo peor es cómo termina. Julius secuestra a Filine, decidido a sacarla de las garras de su infame padre. Al efecto, uno de los amigos de Julius consigue de estrangis las llaves del piso en el que se cometió el asesinato de Lene Kulm. Y, cuando todo lo del asesinato se aclara y Julius cree que va a vivir por fin su historia de amor con Filine (nombre que me recuerda al de un ex-entrenador del Rayo Vallecano, Felines), resulta que llega un dìa a casa y descubre que Filine ha desaparecido, y unos matones le dan una paliza. ¿El desenlace? En el próximo libro de Julius Bentheim.

Querido autor: eso se llama hacer trampas. Un libro no es "Anatomía de Grey" o "Downton Abbey", en el que al final de una temporada el marido de la estirada tiene un accidente y no sabemos si vive o muere hasta el principio de la siguiente. No. Esto no funciona "hasi" (es que ayer me comentaron esta nueva forma de escribir "así", y me ha gustado). Un libro empieza y se termina. ¿Crees que así voy a estar llamando todos los días a la librería: "Oye por favor, ha salido ya el siguiente libro de Armin Ohri... ayyy qué desespero... y ¿no sabéis para cuándo? ¿y no le podríais pegar un toque a ver si os lo dice?" Así que, si he cometido el error de leer este libro, no voy a cometer el error de comprar el segundo. 

This is a little book of poems, mostly sonnets with surrounding explanatory text.  The text tells of Dante's love for Beatrice and the poems mark this evolution ending in the intention to honour her in a way no poet has done, which of course will turn out to be the Paradiso.  Dante is very much being Dante and combines the earthy with the heavenly, reality with the luminous.  His view of love is so romantic and other worldly that it comes across as almost pathological although he was of course putting forward the dominant medieval view of love.

This strange eccentric book is however full of some of the most achingly beautiful love poems of all time.  Dante was by any stretch of the imagination a genius and is by far the best writer of the middle ages.  Its so very beautiful that it confirms Dante as my favorite poet and is undoubtedly a masterpiece.  The translation by Mark Musa that I read is lovely.

First of all, I want to thank the author from whom I received an e-book copy of this novel in exchange of an honest review.
Secondly, let me tell you what this book is about. Well, the story begins with a nameless poor old man, who was making a living by playing the guitar. He was accompanied only by his loyal dog, Sheroo, which was a brave and extremely intelligent animal, which in some moments it seems to me that it was acting and thinking like a human being. I really liked Sheroo. As for the old man, we don’t really get to know him or about his past until the second half of the book, where we finally find out his name and story. Their life is going to change after the courageous old man saves a woman and attracts the anger of Carlos, a dangerous man. After a series of events the story throw us from New York all the way to Mali, Africa, right in the middle of an illegal goldmine, where our hero was kept as a slave. There he will go through a lot trying to get out of there alive and return to New York to obtain his revenge.
There are so many things happening in this book that you have no chance to get bored, it is surely an action packed novel.
Additionally, I really like the author’s style of writing, the narration and description makes you to visualize the events as they are happening right in front of your eyes. Reading “Johnny Fracture” was like watching a movie. A movie with gangsters, Italian mafia, African slavery and illegal mining, and, even, a little bit of arena fighting and boxing; and of course, there are some romantic and sad moments that couldn’t have missed from this book. The story has, even, some plot twists,..ok maybe not that kind of plot twists which make you to exclaim: “What the..? I didn’t see it coming.” They are more that kind of plot twists, which are based on the fact that you will be surprised by some people’s betrayal, and I can tell you that the characters from this book have a lot of secrets and you can’t tell who is going to betray who, next. No one is who it seems to be.
I must say that I, especially, enjoyed the second half of the book. There are some pretty cool characters there and I loved the “Johnny, Sammy and Frankie Trio”.
In conclusion, I didn’t expected to read this book so quickly. It isn’t a masterpiece but it’s a good novel. I would like it to be longer, maybe. I think the author could have insisted more on some scenes, and extend some moments, and that way there could have been two volumes instead of one. Overall, “Johnny Fracture” was enjoyable to read and I will recommend it to anyone and, especially, to the readers who have an interest in mafia, fights, guns and 70s.
PS: Thanks again for giving me the opportunity to read this book and to discover a new great author.

[“Musa” - The New Yorker](http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/04/06/musa)

> The days blurred into an interminable single day, like a broad, deep valley I meandered through. The last day of a man’s life doesn’t exist. Outside of storybooks, there’s no hope, nothing but soap bubbles bursting. That’s the best proof of our absurd existence, my dear friend: no one is granted a final day, only an accidental interruption of life.

Und eine Idee, die ich auch schon hatte: dies ist eine Kurzgeschichte, die eine andere Sichtweise auf ein Ereignis in einem Buch von Albert Camus erzählt. Cool als Training, und für Camus-Fans.