For the most part I really enjoyed reading The Coffee Trader by David Liss. The main protagonist is Miguel, a Portuguese Jew, living in Amsterdam, and working as a broker in the emerging stock exchange. Miguel and a Dutch woman, Geertruid, scheme to corner the coffee market. Hampering there efforts are Solomon Parido, a wealthy member of the Jewish community, who harbors a grudge against Miguel, and Joachim Waagenaar, a Dutchman who lost everything in a financial deal Miguel brokered for him. Joachim holds Miguel responsible for his financial losses and harasses Miguel throughout most of the novel. One of the interesting things about the story is as Miguel schemes and plots to corner the market in coffee trading, he sees schemes and plots being hatched against him, which causes him to misinterpret the actions of others. Another interesting things about the novel is that most of the characters are either manipulating someone, or being manipulated in turn. This contrasts nicely with all the manipulation going on at the Exchange.I found the references to the Ma'amad, the Jewish self-governing body controlling all aspects of community life, interesting. Many of the Ma’amad’s rules stem from residual fear of the Inquisition, and the expulsions from other European countries. Amsterdam has only recently become a safe place for Jews to live and the Ma’amad fears having too much contact with the Dutch. So, even though they are free to practice their religion in Amsterdam, the Ma’amad has forbidden the Jewish community from having close contact with the Dutch/gentile community. Keeping this in mind, I found the number of Jews with Dutch servants a bit puzzling. Miguel spends a great deal of time worry that another Jew will seem him talking to his Dutch associates, yet he sleeps with the Dutch maid in his brother’s house. Liss never makes it clear if the Ma’amad has forbidden all contact with gentiles (which would then make the Dutch servants against the rules) or if the injunction is specifically referring to brokering, or doing business with them.I was a little unhappy with the way the book portrayed women. There are only 3 important women in the novel. Hannah, Miguel’s sister-in-law, while an interesting character, spends most of the novel victimized by her maid and ignored by her husband (she finally stand up for herself at the end of the novel but by then I had come to find her passivity annoying). Geertruid, Miguel’s business partner, is supposed to be “mysteries” but I guessed fairly quickly what the big mystery was (or at least I’d figured out where she got her money for the coffee trade rather quickly). Hannah’s maid, a rather nasty piece of work, lacks any real motive. Time and again I asked myself why is she behaving that way? Only Liss never offers an explanation, so the reader is forced to assume her behavior stems from jealousy or spite. At the end of the novel Geertruid’s actions are not at all believable; she is way to forgiving. These women seem to lack (or have really weak) motivations. I realize that in a novel set in the 1650s you won’t find any “modern” women, but Liss could have done a better job of making the ones he had more three dimensional. Geertruid’s only motivation seems to be money, Hannah has no motivation at all (she is acted upon and then reacts), and the maid is cruel, end of story. But this is really a small complaint since most of the book concerns Miguel and his attempts to get rich on the Exchange. All together this was a pretty good book and I recommend it to anyone interested in 17th Century history.
I waited a long time to read this book. It sat on my 'to read' list for a year or so and I took it off, put it back on, never quite sure if I wanted to fit it into my reading schedule. While I am pleased to have finally conquered the book, finally got it read, I was bitterly disappointed by it.I don't know if it was the great cover or not (as I have always regarded the cover of this edition as one of my favourites even before meeting the book in the flesh), but I really expected much more poetry in the writing style. A much better prose work offering than what I got.Perhaps even more passion and animation in the writing too. And yet, having read this book as a Group Read with others, I discovered that not everyone felt the same as I about the boring nature of the book, so I certainly would not ever discourage anyone from reading it.I did give it 3 stars of 5 and to me that means 'I liked it and nearly enjoyed it' which I kind of didn't so I should be giving it 2. However, after giving it much thought, I decided that 3 stars because I liked it enough to get through it and not give up on it. I found a story within its pages that was mildly entertaining. So 3 star it is.The day I started this book I brewed myself a pot of coffee, wanting to make the reading experience broader than just the act of reading words on pages. And it worked for a while as the book gets off early with your protagonist, Miguel, a broke, womanising, sex obsessed (don't expect lots of sex scenes though, just references to women he sees and women he has 'done') trader being introduced to coffee for the first time.It takes a while to come back to the Coffee as the story moves into character developments and the strange and the unexpected presence of a memoir called The Factual and Revealing Memoirs of Alonzo Alferonda. I was ambling along, quite liking the story early on. Getting my head into this Amsterdam world, when hold the bus, everything stops and the book completely changes style to include a first person narrative from the memoir mentioned above. I honestly think that if I had known they were coming I would have been better prepared and I would not have lost my connection with the book.Not everyone has trouble with sudden changes like that. Where there is actually two books in the one. Others I read this book with did not have the issue I had and they admit to finding the Memoir was the best part of the book. Whereas I regarded them as the worst. They got in my way. Shattered the Amsterdam world I had been building in my head.The book goes on to be full of bitter, twisted plots and back stabbing. Manipulations and ulterior motives. It all got a little much for me and I started craving some pleasantness. Some smiling faces and well meaning interactions. But that is not what this book is about. Think a book full of Edmund Dantes in Count of Monte Cristo and you might be close to what was going on here. All the characters are plotting and planning and scheming. But I guess when you have an environment where there is big overnight profit to be made. Where people can be filthy rich in a matter of days on the backs of others, you will always have this kind of atmosphere and they are atmospheres that I am not comfortable with.I have to tell you not to base your choice to read The Coffee Trader off my opinion. People's opinions on this book are so diverse that I honestly believe that you must ignore others - to a certain degree - and try it for yourself with a mind totally unobstructed by other peoples opinions.Which is how we should go into every book that we read I suppose, only where would be the fun in that!
What do You think about The Coffee Trader (2004)?
This was an interesting thriller/historical fiction novel about Amsterdam's commodities exchange in the late 1600s. The main character Miguel Lienzo took refuge in The Netherlands after living as a Secret Jew in Portugal where the force of the Inquisition had become too great a threat. Although Miguel was initially successful in Amsterdam’s markets, the novel begins with him juggling debts to his self-righteous brother as well as others in the community. Having lost his fortune in the sugar market, Miguel was eager to find a new commodity that would help him repay his debts and regain sufficient financial status to move out of his younger brother’s cellar and find a wife. Through surreptitious dealings with a cunning Dutchwoman, Miguel learned about coffee, a product still only used for medicinal purposes in most of Europe. They developed a plan to use her capital and his business savvy to create a monopoly on coffee in Europe. As Miguel navigates this risky venture, he must avoid the attention of his trading adversaries as well as the watchful eye of the Ma’amad’s spies who would have him excommunicated for doing business with gentiles.
—Amber
This isn't quite on a par with A Conspiracy of Paper (his first book), but it very nearly is. The action focuses on the grandfather of Benjamin Weaver (the central character in the aforementioned novel), Miguel Lienzo, a Portuguese Jew living in Amsterdam. At the opening of the novel (May 1659) he is seemingly on the verge of ruin and survives only because of the charity of his brother Daniel, in whose cellar he lodges. But then he gets wind of a wondrous new drink called coffee and it seems as if his luck may be about to change...Liss shows that his talent for plotting has not diminished since his debut and, likewise, that he is still able to create a cast of wonderful characters to enjoy. The atmosphere of the time was very well evoked (as far as I could tell - not being wholly conversant with the history of 17th Century Holland) and the suspense never let up. Just who was in league with whom and what the truth was appeared to be in a constant state of flux. Yet Liss brought it to a satisfactory and logical conclusion.I found this a swift, enjoyable read and recommend it wholeheartedly.
—Allie Whiteley
Setting: The Netherlands in the 1600sThe story and the well-drawn characters kept me reading but the plot was a bit confusing to follow. Who was tricking whom? Things became convoluted after a while as the many characters wove themselves into the plot. Also, the stock trading manipulations made dull reading, especially because I didn't quite understand them.The suspenseful atmosphere kept things interesting enough. The idea that coffee was a mysterious new product in the 1600s engaged my interest.
—Joy H.
