The Mystery of The Key (Leer En Espanol, Level 1) Inside a synagogue in Toledo, an archeologist and a writer find a key with mysterious inscriptions written in Arabic and Hebrew.
Short and boring. The story doesn’t make sense. There’s no mystery because everything is solved easily. Plus the selection of vocabulary and grammar is not right for level 1.
The story is engaging and the mystery kept me going. The story is a silly and unrealistic, but it's so much better than children's books for Spanish learners.
This novel, published by the University of Salamanca in conjunction with Santillana, is part of the 'Leer en Espanol' (Read in Spanish) collection and as a level 1 text requires that the reader know only 400 or so basic vocabulary terms to make sense of the story. Thirty more difficult/advanced terms are explained in a glossary at the back of the book, and it is a surprisingly natural read for a novel written at such a basic level.
While the story leaves something to be desired in terms of breadth and background, it is an interesting enough read about the fictional discovery of a secret synagogue in Toledo, Spain (a city famous for its Muslim, Christian and Jewish heritage and the intermingling of these three cultures). The country's most respected archaeologist, freshly released from a prison sentence served for mysterious circumstances, is sent an unmarked package containing newspaper articles that draw him to the synagogue and the mysterious key found inside that gives the novel its name.
Simultaneously, a young writer from Madrid travels to Toledo to visit his grandmother, who shares news of the mysterious synagogue and key as a suggestion for material. The paths of the archaeologist and young writer cross and constitute the novel's plot.
Since it is written in first person present perspective, the novels grammar is generally pretty easily digestible for beginner readers of Spanish. I highly recommend this book to students in Spanish I or II, or those who have studies Spanish somewhat and are looking to develop their reading ability with material that will provide confidence and fluid reading.
-This book resembled the French "nouvelle à chute" which is a shot story that ends with a surprising climax. -I was shocked that this book wasn't as predictable as assumed: the sad ending did surprising me, though I was still left wanting more. -I was surprised at one of the protagonist's dark past, and him having accidentally killed a police officer. I can't necessarily figure out whether he was innocent or if the 'comisario' was actually a good guy... -So did the other protagonist end up going to jail so he could write his book? It was left too open-ended to be a good cliff hanger. -It seemed odd and unrealistic how he went about deciding to write a book on the synagogue.
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Es una novela muy poco y es tiene una problema grande.Para mi es una gran desilusion no se explica quien ha enviado periodicos a Candido.Antonio pudo ir a la sinagoga solo y pudo robar la llave si si entiendo es un hobre muy tanto me parece que esta novela es solo para ninos yo se que es una novela para estudiar espanol nivel A1 pero Elena Moreno tiene que escribir novelas logicos .Esta manana pierdo 3 horas de mi vida no es imposible.La abuela de Antonio QUIZAS envio la perdiodico a Cantido QUIZAS fue la amiga de Cantido QUIZAS Cantido es el padre de Antionio ESTA EL FIN DE HISTORIA.Manana por la tarde yo les visitare en carcel.HASTA LUEGO
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
An intriguing story of mystery, with a touch of the love of "la familia!" Re-reading the leveled readers is a fun way to review vocabulary, while trying to improve my pronunciation and fluency.They have a way of using many of the abstract words in multiple sentence constructions, so that you are constantly trying to pull the different meaning of each usage out of your brain. I love it! It's like solving a crossword or jigsaw puzzle, but more relaxing. These leveled readers are a great way to improve your Spanish.