The Painter of Battles - Arturo Pérez-Reverte

Written by Arturo Pérez-Reverte
Read by Simon Vance
Format: MP3
Bitrate: 64 Kbps
Unabridged

Publisher: Books on Tape
Release date: January 8, 2008
Duration: 08:06:34

Andrés 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.

Superb and tautly written, THE PAINTER OF BATTLES is a stunning composition on morality and a deeply affecting novel about life and art.

“Pérez-Reverte’s novel is a mystery, a memoir, a thriller, and a philosophical treatise on the nature of love, art, and war. … Simon Vance’s portrayal of Falques reveals a numb, world-weary, isolated shell, detached not only from others, but also from him. When a Croatian soldier who has suffered torture and the murder of his family because of a Falques photo shows up, the two men discuss their responsibility for the horrors of war, Vance’s performance forces listeners to question their own moral obligations as observers of the world’s suffering. Vance’s characters are distinct and expressive, evolving as the story progresses. The listener will long remember Vance’s delivery of these two voices.”—-AudioFile