The Coffee Trader ~ David Liss

Reading books is something I truly enjoy. I find there is something to learn in each one and for that reason I finish all the books I start (with one exception where the grammar and spelling were so bad...). Sometimes it takes me a lot of time to get through it for several reasons. Perhaps it doesn't draw me in or I just could no longer follow the thread. I still work at them though. For example, I've been making my way through Edward Rutherfurd's Sarum for six years. It only took me a few days to read the first half, after that, it no longer held my interest. I'm hoping I'll get to a point where it will grab me again. But I slog through.



David Liss's book falls into the realm of books I have to push at mightily to finish. It didn't take as long as Rutherfurd's piece because a) it is considerably shorter, b) I didn't start a four year degree partway through and c) it was a book group selection and can be used toward two challenges that I've signed up for. The stakes were higher.

Reading a book that I didn't select does two things: it opens doors to new possibilities; and it identifies inalienable truths. In this case, Europe during a period I was unfamiliar with, the introduction of the modern stock market, and traders generally. I had seen the film Wall Street when it came out ages ago, and while I could follow along with the protagonist's story of deceit and redemption, I didn't understand the business he was in. The same thing happened with this book

I have a very simplistic understanding of money. I work, I get paid, I have money in my pocket to pay the bills, buy food and trinkets, and perhaps save some. Anything beyond that requires a level of maths I will never possess, and an understanding of a language I will never understand. Therefore, Liss was already behind long before I purchased the book. His only hope would be to include what I would find a compelling story.

I did not like any of the characters. Not a one. But, I think this might be a good thing, because I really don't think the reader is meant to like them. They're only meant to understand them. I could be wrong, but while some of the individuals have a thing about them that should be likeable, their overall characters are found wanting. There is so much secrecy, distrust, betrayal, and lack of communication, with a high level of manipulation and counter-manipulation that the backroom deals seem the only things above-board. Through into the mix a culture paranoid beyond belief and it's a wonder Amsterdam ever became such a renown trading centre.

It was the manipulating and plotting that lost me in this book. I am told that the stock market was then and still is not for the feint of heart, that it is cut-throat and unforgiving. The market doesn't care and those wanting to make money, forget their humanity at the door. This was well represented in the book. The unfortunate thing is that I can't comprehend this behaviour. To me it goes against every instinct of compassion and nurture. All I wanted to do was to grab all the characters by the ears, sit them all down in a room that only I have the key and have them TALK. Just talk. But of course, that would have made for a much shorter and less interesting story. But because of the frustration, I had to walk away from the book. A gave it a two week hiatus, then read but a chapter a day until I was done.

If Liss was looking for an emotional reaction, then he succeeded here. However, I think for those of us who have no desire to understand business, this is not the book for us. It's just to emotionally charged and its meaning becomes lost.

Review originally posted on the now defunct Paternoster Row Legacy blog.