The Painter of Battles

A Novel

By: Arturo Pérez-Reverte

Narrated by: Simon Vance

Length: 8 hrs and 6 mins

Publisher's summary

Acclaimed author Arturo Perez-Reverte has earned a distinguished reputation as a master of the literary thriller. Now, he gives us his most accomplished novel to date.

Andres Faulques, a world-renowned war photographer, has retired to a life of solitude on the Spanish coast. He spends his days painting a huge mural that pays homage to history's classic works of war art and that incorporates a lifetime of disturbing images.

One night, an unexpected visitor arrives at Faulques' door and challenges the painter to remember him. As Faulques struggles to recall the face, the man explains that he was the subject of an iconic photo taken by Faulques in a war zone years ago.

"And why have you come looking for me?" asks Faulques. The stranger answers, "Because I'm going to kill you."

This story transports Faulques to the time when he crossed continents to capture conflicts on film with his lover, Olvido, at his side. Until she walked into his life, Faulques muses, he had believed he would survive both war and women.

As the tense dialogue between Faulques and his visitor continues, the stakes grow ever higher. What they are grappling with quickly proves to be not just Faulques' fate but the very nature of human love and cruelty itself, in this stunning composition on morality. Superb and tautly written, The Painter of Battles is a deeply affecting audiobook about life and art.

©2008 Margaret Sayers Peden; 2006 Arturo Perez-Reverte (P)2008 Random House, Inc.

Just OK

I really like some of the authors books and don't like others, this comes in the middle.

Any book that brings up the "butterfly effect" more than once will lose my interest and I believe I heard it 4-5 times. I lost interest in the art and painting comparison's and life and reality.

I even fast forwarded though parts of this book mostly toward the end when I was bored. Usually if I FF I will give a book only 1-2 stars so there are redeeming qualities.

I liked the talk about photography, how to frame a picture and why and how to set the lens to capture the light just right. I like how Faulques and Olvido shoot the same war but choose to show different subject matter.

Simon Vance is a great narrator and his work on this book is no different.

well done.

fascinating look into war from a different but very relative angle. great perspective, makes one think

Boring

This novel is unlike other Perez-Reverte’s work. If you like lots of philosophical dialogues with little action, you might enjoy the book.

grim reality

This not the usual action-packed Perez-Reverte and the subject is hard to take at times, but it is a clever way to set up a dialog about war and the baser aspects of humanity and has enough suspense to carry you along. This is definitely the right voice for this book.

Painter of Battles

The narration is confusing at times as the accents or voices of the characters switch around in a way as not to know who is speaking. The 2 characters have distinct voices but the narrative speaker wasn't distinctive enough so you knew who was talking.

The Painter of Battles

Very disappointed in the ending- I got involved with the charters but this ended in a hurry like the author lost steam -