the coffee trader, a squandered opportunity

well i finally finished david liss's the coffee trader and right towards the end it was a somewhat good book with a couple of new developments in characters, a plot twist or two, some plausible dialog, and some actual plot action. after that that right-before-the-end part, the very-very end was prosaic, formulaic. before the right-before-the-end part, for most of the book, the plot trudged along like slugdepudge, the dialog was stilted, the characters flat & stereotypical, and the setting neglected.

repetitive descriptions of 17th century amsterdam lacked detail and delivered little aid to the reader trying to build the set in her mind. the nascent markets in both stocks and coffee could both have been immensely intriguing but instead were matte, dull. the innerworkings of the immigrant jewish community - they'd fled the inquisition in iberia - could have been fascinating but were left largely unexplored. a good story will "show and not tell". liss simply does too much telling, not enough showing.

there's a common misconception that literature worthy of respect has to be convoluted and obtuse but c'mon folks, get serious. if a piece of literature is truly worthy of our respect, we will enjoy it. compare liss to sharon penman and you'll see that penman makes history come alive. read penman's there be dragons or when christ and his saints slept and let me know what you think. another great example is ken follett's pillars of the earth - superb storytelling, solid setting descriptions, plausible dialog, well-paced plot. his follow-up world without end... well, it was more of a new upholstery stretched over the frame of pillars so it's a poor exemplar.

in conclusion, the coffee trader has a lot of potential and would have been a great story in more capable hands.