無形之城

by Emili Rosales

聞名世界的濕壁畫大師提也波洛，竟是串連書中兩代故事的關鍵人物？這一座跨越時空、由童年夢想與熾情烈愛交織而成的「無形之城」，因愛而生，也因愛而毀，只留下大師的秘密畫作，展開耐人尋味的線索……

唯有已逝去的才會存在，城市如此，愛情或父母亦如此。一份來路不明的手稿，一幅義大利畫家提也波洛的失落古畫，開啟主角塵封多年的童年回憶，更喚醒兩段驚心動魄的情愛秘史……

巴塞隆納畫廊經營者——艾密里·羅塞，從神秘人物寄來的《無形之城回憶錄》中，進入一場跨時空的身世探索之旅。途中，他甚至與十八世紀西班牙國王卡洛斯三世的歷史接軌，像是在催促著他揭開那座傳說中的無形之城的重重謎團。然而，一切的關鍵線索都指向羅塞里隱藏的一個秘密——壁畫大師提也波洛從未面世的一幅古畫……

如果不是無形之城，我無法得知這座城市曾賜給我的燦爛時光與痛苦歲月；我無法見到那個那不勒斯小女孩長成嬌媚女子後的迷人笑容；無法晉見那位暢談夢想的國王……

這是一個歷史之謎，目前僅存的遺跡就像散亂無章的馬賽克，只能從零星的蛛絲馬跡猜測全貌：兩百年前，統治西班牙的波旁王朝國王卡洛斯三世，野心勃勃地勾勒著一連串建設大業，其中一項是仿效俄國彼得大帝興建的聖彼得堡，在厄波羅河出海口三角洲興築一座新城市「聖卡洛斯」(San Carlos)，同時開鑿運河，並邀羅塞里參與建城計畫。無奈大權旁落，原本集君主、朝臣、藝術家和工程師等，多人以夢想和熱情豢養多時的偉大計畫，僅僅因一人的妒忌和仇恨，便摧毀殆盡！「聖卡洛斯」就這樣湮沒在沙塵中，成了一座消失的無形之城。

Genres: Historical, Spanish Literature

304 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2005

Reviews

[Iulia · Rating 2 out of 5]

I chose to read this because of its promising premise, but in the end the result wasn't that thrilling. I was more interested in the historical parts of the book and I didn't find the present very interesting.

[Kalika · Rating 2 out of 5]

The premise of the book is quite interesting and it is billed as a "literary thriller". I enjoyed the story, especially the memoirs of the neoclassical Italian Architect. But the mystery ("why did all work on the new city planned by Charles III stop abruptly? What and where was 'THE Tiepolo'? Who was Emili's father?") in the end wasn't very thrilling and was fairly obvious. The Invisible City won one of the most prestigious literary prizes in the Catalan language in 2004, so my expectations were high I guess.

[Moraig · Rating 3 out of 5]

The intrigue of a new Spanish city commissioned by Bourbon King Charles III, a mysterious manuscript and the tantalising secret of a yet undiscovered painting by Tiepolo had me hooked. Although I loved the premise, I was disappointed by the book's slow start, and it wasn't until around page 50 that the story grabbed me. It's certainly worth a read and contains some wonderful description and dropped me into the intrigues of the Italian, Russian and Spanish courts in the 1700s.

[Natalie Reiss · Rating 1 out of 5]

I rarely give up on a book, but this one didn't capture my interest. I envisioned a Da Vinci code type plot, but I didn't find that to be the case at all.

[Jeannette · Rating 2 out of 5]

In my opinion, this was no "literal thriller" and was extremely boring.

[Victòria · Rating 4 out of 5]

Una novel·la densa i plena de fets històrics. Sóc conscient de la gran obra d'investigació i de documentació que hi ha al darrera, és per això que he decidit puntuar-lo amb 4 de les 5 estrelles. A més a més perquè parla del lloc on he crescut, un lloc sovint oblidat. I també perquè és agradable de vegades de llegir una història que hagi succeït en un lloc més corrent, i no a les típiques Londres, Nova York o Barcelona. Té una mica de misteri, un gir molt inesperat i una crítica bastant realista al sistema polític d'ara i d'abans. Tot i que no és una lectura gaire lleugera, ha valgut la pena llegir-lo fins al final perquè m'ha fet aprendre un munt de coses de l'Europa del segle xviii.

[Irreverent · Rating 3 out of 5]

Està molt ben escrit amb paratges molt poètics. No obstant, crec que cap al final perd pistonada; la trama es marceix i els diàlegs entre personatges es tornen una mica més acartonats. I el clímax no està a l’alçada de les expectatives que genera al principi de la novel·la.
Així i tot, trobo molt interessant el rerefons històric que sembla sortir d’un exhaustiu estudi de l’època.
M’animaré a llegir els altres llibres de l’autor perquè és difícil trobar prosa ben escrita.

[Jeroen Van de Crommenacker · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice little book. Easy reading with a sprinkling of Spanish history.

[Josep Mitjavila · Rating 4 out of 5]

Curiosa història de la Sant Petersburg catalana ideada per un rei espanyol amb la col·laboració d’un arquitecte italià.

[Jim · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not sure who this book would appeal to especially. I'm tempted to suggest the Da Vinci Code Brigade but since I've neither read the book nor seen the film I could be wrong. Art is important in the book as is architecture but you don't need to know that much about them to get the idea what's going on. If I did have one major criticism, and this is something that Agatha Christie is guilty of, the novel's readers are deprived of one major clue right up until the big reveal at the end. This is annoying but I got over it because by that point I was dead keen to get to the solution which, as most solutions are, is fairly obvious once you think about it. The trouble is hindsight is a great thing.

You can read a full review on my blog here

[Bridget · Rating 5 out of 5]

King Charles III envisioned building a second capital city and put his dream in writing. An architect ends up possessing this masterpiece and brings it to a gallery for Emili to take a look at. It turns out that the setting for the second capital city is the same place Emili used to play in when he was young. Emili is soon sucked into this unknown world and will be forever changed because of it.

I was instantly hooked because this is a fabulous book! Emili is an extremely talented story-teller.

[sanne · Rating 1 out of 5]

i didn't finish it , i think this book was just not my kind of book