Monday's Pick!

Arturo Perez-Reverte is a retired war journalist who has turned to writing fiction. He uses his wartime experiences to the utmost in the novel The Painter of Battles. Like Perez-Reverte, Andres Faulques is a retired war photographer who has turned to painting an all-encompassing mural in a lighthouse. In the mural he incorporates famous paintings of wars throughout the ages.

A Croatian ex-soldier invades his solitude and announces that he intends to kill him. A much-published photograph of the soldier has had terrible repercussions and now he wants revenge, but not right away. The two engage in many conversations about war, love, art and human cruelty. Faulques also reminisces about Olvido, an art historian and fashion model who turns to the other side of the lens and follows him in his work, until she is killed by a land mine. Markovic, the soldier, was a witness to her death.

This is a novel with little action and much thought. The two men explore the topics in depth, and, because their lives have been so different, the discussion is more interesting. The author’s own experience in various war zones gives the narrative a very authentic, and sometimes horrible reality.