No sé si ponerle 1 o 2 estrellas a este libro. Todos mis instintos me incitan a ponerle solo una, más que nada porqué nunca sufrí tanto al leer un libro. Si bien la premisa es, a mi parecer, bastante original (por lo menos en lo que a mi concierne nunca antes leí un libro cuya protagonista fuese una inspectora de impuestos) y Tobias Hill tiene un manejo del lenguaje envidiable, eso no basto para hacer de este libro uno que pudiese disfrutarse. Los personajes (protagonista incluida) me parecieron vacíos y sin personalidad, se me hizo imposible conectar con ellos y llegados a un punto ya no me interesaba como terminase cada uno de ellos. Si hubo siquiera algo parecido al "romance" en la historia, nunca me enteré. No es que el elemento romántico me parezca esencial (es más, me parece perfecto que se omita) pero tuve la sensación de que el autor realmente intentó (sin éxito) mostrar esa suerte de "tensión sexual", si se quiere, entre los protagonistas. Más allá de eso, el principal problema de "The Cryptographer" es que se lo define como a un thriller, cuando la verdad es que no causa ni suspenso, ni expectación ni ninguna de las sensaciones que los libros del género habrían de suscitar, y de eso culpo a la narración. Otra vez, si algo tiene Tobias Hill es una forma hermosa de expresarse, pero en ningún momento vi que su estilo fuese de la mano con el tipo de libro que escribió. Si para algo contribuyó fue para hacer la lectura más tediosa.Y mejor ni me pongo a hablar de esas constantes comparaciones entre el dinero y el amor que estoy segura que intentaban sonar ingeniosas y profundas, pero para mi no lo fueron ni un poco.1.5 estrellas, por que por más que no me haya gustado no esta bajo ningún punto de vista "mal escrito". Es más, si el final no hubiese sido tan nefasto (no por lo que pasa realmente, sino por como el autor decide terminar la novela) quizás le hubiese puesto 2.
I always doubted that poetry and crime fiction fit well together. Hill proves they don’t. I like mystery, but don’t like it if the plot remains a mystery to me. I admire myself for having reached the last page (when I immediately threw the book away lest my daughter finds it and commits suicide). Anna, a neurotic tax-inspector staggering through an investigation, falling in love with her “client” and in the end eats breakfast with her ex-lover/ex-colleague. Meanwhile she admires an expensive building encounters some crazy children and has cryptic conversation with Anneli, a Finnish lunatic. Some lines from classic poems without connection to the story and at least 50 dialogues with erratic and elusive allusions, sounding like this: “I knew I wouldn’t know. Would I?” “I knew you would not, even…” “Just what I thought, though.” Or something like that (mostly worse). I would have liked to write a spoiler review but couldn’t since I still don’t know what it was all about.
What do You think about The Cryptographer (2005)?
i enjoyed this, the story of a tax inspector(anna) sent on a routine investigation of business man john law. john is a cryptographer, making his millions from writing a programme for paperless worldwide currency. the problem is the code he has writen is unhackable which means that should anything go wrong with it it can't be hacked into to put right...or is it? there is also a subplot involving retired tax inspector lawrence, anna and john....oh and theres a little twist at the end.very articulate and beautifully written as one would expect from a poet, although i have to confess it gave me brain itch at times. there is a feeling of northern european literature about this ,which means that it flows in a very quiet sombre way there is no drama, suspense or cliff hanger. and whilst there is lots of description there is also very little ...such a conundrum of book in more ways than one.
—Adrienne
Pointless piece of prose that classifies itself as a thriller. It is just a soporific piece of fiction that promises more than it delivers.No thrilling aspect at all. Pieces of futuristic technology mix oddly with bits of retro, which doesn't help the credibility. The plot is infantile. The love story is so flimsy, it is laughable, and Anna is such a boring person. I think she is well-suited to her job as tax inspector. The only saving grace of this book is its decent writing. Pity for failed storyline and weak plot.
—Randa
hmmm, I was so exited about this book however after reading it , it somehow was not that great .there were some moments in which I found the book interesting but most of the time it got boring .maybe this book is just not for me but since I saw that there was romance in it I told myself this would be a great book . the problem is that it mostly talked about the SoftMoney , and that was the most boring part in this novel . I liked Anna and her character , she seemed a fine lady , however .... I hated the fact that she was in her late 30s . For Jhon , he was somehow smart and interesting , I liked him too . It took me long time to finish this book and knock it down , I was begging for mercy and hoping that I would manage to finish it ( which I did , finally )I feel that something was missing , I did not enjoy this book however there were some interesting conversation .
—Rana Yousif
