Camino Island, John Grisham

It is a crime novel, but the central focus is not a murder: everything revolves around a theft. For money? No, what has been skillfully stolen are words. The five major masterpieces of F. Scott Fitzgerald, carefully kept in the vault of Princeton University, have disappeared. Starting from this theft, John Grisham weaves together stories, strongly contrasting personalities, and biographical glimpses in a skillful blend where being an author and being a character both clash and overlap.

Mechanical sequences of events alternate with dynamic forces, passions that dominate artists, and troubled psychologies: the life of a writer is portrayed in a raw way. It is not only the idyllic image of the inspired artistic genius guided by the Muses; lack of inspiration, rejection from publishers, and financial instability loom like dark shadows.

The style is dry and objective. I would add: too much so. The depiction of this world is undoubtedly interesting, but emotionally, it is not very engaging.

I would recommend this novel to those interested in patronage, and in the life of Fitzgerald and his contemporaries, but not to those looking for a deeply absorbing read.

edited: Emilia S.