A Very Private Gentleman: A Novel

I haven't seen the film though I had read reviews. They interested me enough to buy the book - and I'm certainly not sorry I did. Still not sure I'll see the film. But the book is good!A leisurely tale of a semi retired gunsmith who provides weapons for assassins, happily making a life for himself in a Italian village, found out by an unsatisfied customer. It is beautifully written with a multi-layered protagonist. There is the suspense of a thriller but by a master of his craft. His descriptions of the country are worthy of Jan Morris.I am going to have to look into his other writing.

Martin Booth's tidy 274-page novel, "A Very Private Gentleman" is the story on which the 2010 movie, "The American" is based. The book is light years better than the movie (especially when you consider George Clooney's narcissistic, awful portrayal of the main character, "Edmund"). The saving grace of the movie is the cinematography. But who can go wrong in mountainous Central Italy anyway - as a setting? Neither the book nor the movie fails us there. The book's descriptive passages of the beauty of Italy are simply breathtaking, and the video-travelogue of Italy provided by the movie is also excellent. The story in the book ends very differently (and more satisfyingly) than the movie. But, now I understand the beginning of the movie better. Here, the movie's beginning appears in the middle of the book as a retrospective.This book's topic is death. It's about killing -- assassinating people, usually bad men, and the means to do the killing. Presented to a reader is a twisted life philosophy that allows the creator of elegant assassin's weapons to rationalize his way through his lonely solitary, love-less life, making the weapons that never fail his assassin-client. While brilliant and skillful, the main character is complex but pitiful.Page 46-47, the gun-maker speaking: "I am not afraid of death nor of dying...I just accept that it will arrive, in its own due time...It merely implies I no longer exist. It is of little concern therefore, for the living have it not and the dead, being no more in existence, similarly know nothing of it..." "...Its beauty lies in its finality. It is the last brushstroke to the canvas of life..." "Death should be tidy, as precise as a surgeon's cut. Life is a blunt instrument. Death is a scalpel, sharp as light and used but once then thrown away as dulled." Thus speaketh the maker of weapons of assassination.It is not a page-turner, although the excitement builds somewhat during the last half of the story, during which the gun-maker is relentlessly pursued by an unknown and stealthy "shadow-dweller." The sub-plot is a love story, slightly un-convincing, but such is the nature of novels.The book is filled with lovely prose and creative, lyrical writing. I underlined many passages, such as this one on Page 166, "Memories are a great weapon against solitude. Even the memory of love can be salvation." I also learned several new words by reading this small book. The main character remains perfectly in-character throughout the story - an impressive achievement. Booth is a truly excellent, accomplished writer, and I enjoyed reading this book. I will read more of his impressive body of work.The best parts of the book are the descriptive passages of modern life in a small, rural, mountainous Italian town. Less interesting is the plot to kill the maker of assassin's weapons. I admired the writing more than I did the story itself.I give it a 5 for writing and description and overall beauty of prose, but only a 3+ for the story line; thus, I must round down to a 4.

I read this under the title, "The American" that was released after the movie. I saw the movie first and that's how I knew this book even existed.I read the free sample and nearly bought the book but didn't for a time. The language was beautiful and engaging. I don't know why I waited so long to buy the book. Probably because I was engrossed in four or five other books. Anyway, I'm glad I bought it and may move to rural Italy some day. I'm serious. Booth made the town sound like the perfect place to live. The scenery, the history, and the laid-back and kind attitude of the residents.The protagonist took a somewhat existential and loner view on life, but he was also kind despite all his dealings. Even if misguided. The story is interesting and it's told in the way of a true artist. I think of this book a lot and am reading it again.Please, someone let me know if there are any similar books as I'd love to check them out.

I am reading a book that is just AWFUL right now. It's oh, i don't know what it's called, I read about it in the NYTimes or something. It's so pretentious. It's about some guy who does such secret work that he won't tell the readers what it is, and he makes it very clear that the lengthy descriptions of places and people in the book are probably not even true at all (in the context of the novel), it's just a ruse, because the guy is too clever to allow anyone as stupid as the reader to ever locate him via such clues. The CIA (or something, maybe it was the World Court, ha ha) almost caught him once, but he narrowly escaped through use of his wits and preparation. Blah, blah, blah. What's the point of THAT, for christ's sake, it's a NOVEL, not an autobiography. If I can't even imagine that the characters or places I'm reading about are real, why should I read about them at all? Besides, if he won't tell us what he does, who the hell cares? So he has something to do with assassinations, or maybe not, I'll never know, and if I'd known any of that before I bought the book, I probably wouldn't have bought it. Maybe I even bought the wrong book! It's based in Italy, which seems to be all that keeps me reading (maybe he'll describe a place I've been, but probably not). It is, basically, macho junk. Also, it literally put me to sleep this afternoon. I think the nap helped my mood though, so thanks, Martin Booth. 3 stars for the nap.

This monologue of an assassin's gunsmith reminded me somewhat of Graham Greene's A Gun for Sale/This Gun for Hire. Booth is essentially a poet, with a poet's eye for detail, and the beginning of the book is taken up with scene-painting. A still-life is static, and things move very slowly. The gunsmith is also given to meditations on his profession and his clientele - another drag on narrative.Yet, despite it all, Booth manages to instill real suspense, with a spectacular shootout at the end, a bit like the surprise in Haydn's "Surprise" Symphony. Improbably, this book becomes a page-turner, if you can make it through the slow beginning.One minor annoyance. I've got a fairly large literary vocabulary and a good amateur knowledge of history. I have seldom had to go to the dictionary or Wikipedia as much as in this book. After a while, it irked me. I thought Booth was, at least in part, showing off.

I've already read this great book twice and also listened to the audiobook. Oh alright, I've also seen the film adaptation with George Clooney! But the book is quite different from the film in many, interesting ways. I won't spoil things for you, but the protagonist is British, not American (the book was originally called A Very Private Gentleman and was re-named The American to tie-in/cash-in on the success of the movie). He's also a more subdued, thoughtful character - isolated and possibly lonely - and his first person narration gives you an insight into his thoughts about his dubious trade (he makes bespoke firearms for a variety of assassins/killers) and his modest pride in his work that makes you forget what his skill is ultimately used for. His relationship with Clara, one of the girls at the village brothel, is touching, and sensitively handled. At the end of the book, you feel you know him. Altogether a well-written, gripping novel from a very talented writer.

Enjoy this tricky, interesting and intriguing plot! Excellent descriptive writing, with well drawn characters. The story is set in a lovely Italian town.

Martin Booth Excels :)

I read all of Martin Booths books. He had great insight to life in the far east. I recommend him.

Sarò sincero: ho acquistato il libro perchè proposto da Amazon nella sezione offerta lampo e perchè curioso di leggere la storia dalla quale era stato tratto il film con protagonista Clooney e che al tempo suscitò curiosità per essere stato girato in Abruzzo nelle zone colpite dal sisma. Le mie aspettative non erano altissime ma, come nelle migliori sorprese, mi sono ritrovato inaspettatamente tra le mani un romanzo fantastico! Il protagonista è un pittore (????) inglese che vive in un tranquillo paesino degli appennini del centro Italia. La premessa non vi invoglia?!?! Ebbene sappiate che Mr Butterfly (così chiamato dai suoi concittadini proprio perchè si guadagna da vivere dipingendo farfalle) ha molti segreti da nascondere...La vicenda è narrata in prima persona dal protagonista il quale, a mo' di confessione (...ma senza rivelare mai più del necessario...), ci introduce in un mondo di inganni e mezze verità: chi è in realtà Mr Butterfly? Per quale motivo si è trasferito nel nostro ridente paese?Il romanzo è scritto magnificamente e tutti i personaggi che fanno da contorno alla vicenda (menzione speciale per il parroco del paese) sono delineati in maniera impeccabile così come credibile risulta l'ambientazione.Devo infine ringraziare questa lettura perchè mi ha fatto conoscere un autore del quale non avevo mai sentito parlare.Da leggere.