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The Castafiore Emerald (Tintin #21)

by Hergé

3.86 of 5 stars 3.86 · rating details · 3,633 ratings · 61 reviews

The classic graphic novel. When Tintin and Captain Haddock happen across a community of gypsies they invite them home . . . just as Bianca Castafiore, the famous opera singer, decides to visit Tintin. It's chaos at Marlinspike Hall, and then a precious emerald goes missing!

Paperback, 62 pages

Published September 30th 1975 by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (first published 1963)

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Jan 14, 2013 David Sarkies rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Those interested in modernist literature

Shelves: modernist

This is a unique album in all of Herge's repertoir in that it is probably the most modernist of his stories. Granted, Tintin and Alph-Art (which is unfinished and I am unlikely to purchase it on those grounds) appears to move into a more post-modern setting (it is suggested that Alph-Art was an adventure into the world of art, but Herge died before its completion) but in this story, basically nothing happens. In fact, the entire story seems to be one great red-herring.
The entire story is set in...more This is a unique album in all of Herge's repertoir in that it is probably the most modernist of his stories. Granted, Tintin and Alph-Art (which is unfinished and I am unlikely to purchase it on those grounds) appears to move into a more post-modern setting (it is suggested that Alph-Art was an adventure into the world of art, but Herge died before its completion) but in this story, basically nothing happens. In fact, the entire story seems to be one great red-herring.
The entire story is set in Marlinspike, and Captain Haddock is simply having a really bad day (or at least a month). It seems as if it is a comedy of errors for the poor captain. First he learns that Bianca Castafiore, the famous opera singer is coming to stay, so he wants to get out, but he slips on the broken stairs and busts his pelvis, so is confined to a wheelchair. He gets his nose stung and his finger bitten, and near the end he has become a patchwork of bandages.
Throw in the red-herrings, as well as the running jokes (such as Cutts the Butcher and Joylon Wagg) and we have a very interesting story, which doesn't seem to really go anywhere. This is not necessarily a bad thing though, since it succeeded in Waiting for Godot and also in Seinfeld. Then there are the jokes running through the story, such as the broken step. Pretty much everybody in the story, with the exception of Bianca Castafiore, slips and falls on the step at one time or another. Herge does it brilliantly, and it is very clear that he had truly developed his style. There is also the parrot that keeps on screaming 'Hello! I can hear you!' which we soon discover is how Bianca Castafiore answers the phone.
There is a little case of the missing emerald, and it is unexpected (too an extent, though there is a hint dropped in the first frame) where it turns up. However, it disappears nearer to the end, namely because through the story we hear Bianca Castafiore continually jumping at ghosts believing that her emerald is stolen. We are also led to believe that it is likely that either the Gypsies or the Pianist Wagner, are the culprits, but it turns out that they are not (I am not going to reveal the culprit though, since it is a surprise).
Herge does not pull back on commentary here either, and in this particular story it involves the gypsies. It appears that Herge is very supportive and sympathetic towards them, which shows in the character of Haddock and Tintin. I have never had any interaction with the Romani until 2011 when I travelled to Europe, and you pretty quickly work out who they are. It is also very tempting to take a very prejudice view of them, particularly with the multiple warnings you receive about them on the web and in other travel literature. While I am tempted to say that they brought it on themselves, I believe that there is a lot of prejudice in Europe towards these people. I know Romanians that wail in anger over suggestions that they are connected with the Romani. However, I believe it is very brave and noble of Herge to stand up for these people.
It seems that by this time Herge was winding down the Tintin comics, as he only produced another two and a half comics after this one. Where as earlier it appeared that at least one to two a year were produced, but has now dropped down to about two a decade. Maybe Herge was simply getting tired of the endless adventures of Tintin and wanted to pull the plug. However, it appears he continued to experiment, and in doing so, explored new areas. In all seriousness, nothing that I have seen coming out of the US comic book scene even compares to the geniousness of Herge, and in a way, I do not feel that even Asterix comes anywhere near to Herge's brilliance.(less)

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Mar 06, 2013 Helmut Barro rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: comics

Der beste Tintin-Band

Wie hat es ein Rezensent in einer Kolumne geschrieben? "Bei der Lektüre dieses Bandes wird man davon überzeugt, dass Im-Garten-Herumlaufen und Reden einfach das Geilste sind, was man tun kann."

Das trifft es perfekt. Dieser Band ist kein großes Abenteuer wie Le secret de la Licorne oder Objectif Lune, es hat fast etwas kammerspielhaftes. Dafür sind soviele subtile und feinsinnige Späße darin eingebaut, dass es eine wahre Freude ist. Dieser Band erschließt sich einem vielleich...more

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Aug 02, 2011 Dan rated it 5 of 5 stars

The Tintin stories for anyone who has read them and understands their history can't be viewed as anything other than groundbreaking. The beginnings of these stories have been around as long as the Lord of the Rings, the illustration and environments in the Tintin books are accurate and extremely detailed. Anyone who has spent even a little time exploring Herge (Georges Remi) can see the painstaking research and adversity he worked through to compose the world around Tintin. His ideas were ahead...more

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Apr 10, 2013 Sahir D'souza rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: books-that-i-d-love-to-read-again, animals-of-all-sorts, favourite-books, humour-is-wonderful, romance-or-a-little-bit-of-it, reading-every-now-and-then, comics-and-graphic-novels, tintin

'The Castafiore Emerald' is extremely well-done. It stands unique amongst the Tintin books: the characters do not travel around the world; instead, they remain at Marlinspike, Haddock's home, throughout. Captain Haddock sprains his leg and is invalid, he is bitten by a young girl and to crown his miseries, Bianca Castafiore descends, with her accompanist and maid, onto the household, bringing with her a noisome parrot, a noisy piano and a horde of gossipy journalists. Then, her emerald is stolen...more

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Apr 22, 2011 Sandy Tjan rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: comics, jess-shelf, read-as-a-kid, 2011

Jess, my 8-year old little girl, gives it 5 stars.

Comments while reading:

1. Captain Haddock is bad with kids. Why did he say “KILIKILIKILI” to that little girl and scared her off?

2. What are Gypsies? Why do people in Europe don’t like them?

3. I think it’s very bad to make the Gypsies stay in the rubbish dump. Captain Haddock is very good to let them camp on his land.

4. How come that every time anyone call Cutts the butcher, they get Marlinspike instead? I’m glad that our phone isn’t like that.

5....more

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Nov 14, 2010 Sammy rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: comic, favourites

My review, published in Tintin Books

My review:

This is it: Tintin's least formulaic adventure, and Herge's greatest stylistic experiment. That's not to say it's necessarily the best in the series, but "The Castafiore Emerald" completes a five-album cycle in which Herge perfected his craft. (Explorers on the Moon gave him his greatest artistic challenge; The Calculus Affair was the height of his skills as an artist; The Red Sea Sharks was a perfect story; and he capped all this off with the emotio...more My review, published in Tintin Books

My review:

This is it: Tintin's least formulaic adventure, and Herge's greatest stylistic experiment. That's not to say it's necessarily the best in the series, but "The Castafiore Emerald" completes a five-album cycle in which Herge perfected his craft. (Explorers on the Moon gave him his greatest artistic challenge; The Calculus Affair was the height of his skills as an artist; The Red Sea Sharks was a perfect story; and he capped all this off with the emotional study that is Tintin in Tibet)

The story is well-known by now: tiring, like Captain Haddock, of adventures, Herge decided to test his own skill by doing a story in which "nothing much happens". In this adventure, Bianca Castafiore is one of many unwanted visitors at Marlinspike, throwing Haddock's blissful life into disarray. Herge continually teases with the idea of an adventure - there are Roma people living on the land with suspicious motives; there are shady men pursuing Castafiore; the diva herself is in fear that her emeralds will be stolen, and the actions of her entourage indicate something malevolent. Instead, all but one of these proves to be a red herring. And even then, the one that does come true doesn't happen until three-quarters through the narrative!

The artist has great fun drawing a light farce, as most of this album is. Some pages are entirely filled with people talking in a room. He beautifully plays with depth and the art of the comedy of manners, and very much enjoys the slow burn of Haddock's halcyon days becoming but a distant memory. Some of the best moments include the gorgeous artwork of the gypsies by a late-night fire, Snowy's amusing asides to the reader ("I can't stand animals who talk!", that delightfully underplayed cover, and Calculus' invention (preceding the real world unveiling) of colour television. This sequence is clearly a labour of love for the artist, who spends many frames playing around with the tuning of Calculus' invention (while our characters sit, increasingly impatiently, often with their backs to us), and subsequently a frame of his own artwork into the fuzzy static of an old television set.

By its very nature, of course, nothing happens, and all rumblings of discontent reveal themselves to be either red herrings, or at the least unexpected trivialities. Certainly, for this reason, I can't imagine this work will be made into one of Spielberg's films any time soon! But that is, of course, its aim - and Herge succeeds in capturing our attention even without the aid of pirates, rockets, abominable snowmen or any of the other diversions which he had recently employed.

Of course, there is still plenty going on here to justify the album's existence. The plight of the Roma is deftly handled, with Haddock quicker these days to learn from his prejudices. Herge cleverly explores the prejudice on both sides of the issue - with characters on both 'our' side and that of the Roma who are bigoted, and those who aren't. Beyond this, the general sense of foreboding in the air makes the album's location come alive: Marlinspike genuinely feels well-populated, and it's truly a joy to see Tintin, Calculus, Haddock et al in their home environment.

And La Castafiore, a vibrant character in all her appearances, is put to great use here too. She may be the least dimensional person in the album (everyone begins life as a caricature in Herge's work, but despite the title, Castafiore doesn't really get to break her bonds until she joins everyone else in doing so in Tintin and the Picaros), but the diva is a force to be reckoned with, and never fails to steal the show.

In fact, when all is said and done I can't think of much to complain about. (Note the sly reference in the very first frame, which will ultimately explain the mystery.) As with "Tintin in Tibet", I'm certainly glad it was a one-time experiment: these albums must by design be langorously paced, and as such offer a little less on future readings. But this is an achievement which should be more appreciated amongst Tintin fans.(less)

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Jan 16, 2013 Mafalda rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Não sendo um dos típicos livros do Tintin, em que este parte em aventura para um país longínquo, não deixa de ser uma boa leitura.
Toda a história se passa no castelo de Moulinsart em volta da já nossa conhecida (para quem leu os anteriores livros) cantora Bianca Castafiore e do roubo do seu diamante.
Portanto, se é fã do Tintin, provavelmente vai gostar desta história que não tem aventura mas tem muito humor.

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Aug 20, 2011 Nicolo Yu rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: graphic-novels-european

After reading Herge’s best Tintin album, Tintin in Tibet, The Castafiore Emerald feels like a letdown. It still has Herge’s signature clear line, and it does have complicated plot, setting it in Marlinspike for the entire story feels pedestrian.
I prefer my Tintin globetrotting. But this would have worked better have a read it as part of the 3 album volumes I was buying before reading my first oversized album.

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Mar 16, 2008 Kevin Quinley rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: childhood

**-plot details for this review are borrowed from Wikipedia in the interest of full disclosure. I read this as a child but possess a lucid, while not photographic, recollection of the story.

I know-- the entire story occurs within the confines of Marlinspike. Yet Herge's artfully restrained story deserves ironic attention given the prevalence of celebrity worship in contemporary culture. For the uninitiated, turn to the cover for clues. Bianca Castafiore's visit to the estate hints at rumoured re...more

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Aug 02, 2011 Dan rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

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Apr 22, 2012 Jessi rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012, appealing-characteristic-character, graphic-novel, part-of-a-series

Tintin has found himself another adventure. Well, this time, the adventure is coming to him, in the form of Bianca Castafiore. She's coming to visit Captain Haddock. Then, her world famous emerald disappears and there are no shortage of suspects including the gypsies in the area and her own pianist. But it's Tintin to the rescue!

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Apr 19, 2009 Heidi rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: kids

The Tintin books do have some violence. However, I have very sensitive kids that have no problems with these books. And they are a favorite with them - I am going hoarse from giving all the characters different voices. My oldest used these to learn to read - I told her she was old enough to read them when she could read them herself!

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Jul 30, 2012 Judith rated it 5 of 5 stars

One of my favourite Tin Tin books! It's probably the least exciting of all the books but its definitely the funniest. I think Herge relaxed a bit this one focusing on the interactions between the characters to drive the story instead of an actual mystery or adventure. The ending is a bit anticlimactic but it didn't spoil my enjoyment of it.

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Feb 10, 2013 Jonathan rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: childrens-and-young-people, graphic-novel, fiction

In this book, Tintin and the captain stay at home and the adventure comes to them: Bianca Castafiore, the pair of certified detectives, and a band of gypsies unfairly blamed for the troubles that ensue. Is this an anti-racist work by Hergé? I certainly recommend reading it and then deciding.

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Jul 29, 2011 Catherine Woodman rated it 3 of 5 stars

The plot is monstrously complex, and cannot be summarized without spoilers, but involves a broken step, Bianca Castafiore, a band of gypsies, the press, a parrot, and of course the Castafiore emerald itself. For a book in which nothing much happens, an awful lot seems to, and that's the fun of it.

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Jul 24, 2011 Yves rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

J'ai trouvé cette aventure de Tintin pas mal ennuyante. Elle n'est pas dans les standard de la série. Il n'y a pas vraiment d'aventure. Toute l'histoire se passe à Moulinsart. Il y a des gags avec Haddock qui sont intéressants mais en général, c'était une histoire terne avec peu de saveur.

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Jan 26, 2013 Kerri rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: children

Kids love Tin Tin. I, unfortunately, understood this comic not at all! Perhaps being a child or reading this in the original French would have helped? Nevertheless, it is recommended for kids and I will attest to the rare vocabulary they will be exposed to.

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Mar 30, 2011 Tony Derricott marked it as to-read

Three generations of this family have loved Tintin. Perfect timing, perfect narrative tact and command, blissfully funny.
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-ent...

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Mar 07, 2009 Natalia rated it 5 of 5 stars

Recommended to Natalia by: Mimi (my grandmother) ;)

This piece, as well as the whole series, always has the right amount of "lol-ness", adventure and thrills. Although I am not too fond of a couple of the books(?), overall this is a series you can't miss out on!!!

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Nov 28, 2011 Marta rated it 5 of 5 stars

Es genial. En realidad, tengo todos los libros de Tintín y soy una tintinóloga empedernida, además no tengo ningún favorito... pero este lo recuerdo con especial cariño por ser uno de los primeros que tuve :)

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Aug 03, 2011 Nicolas Walker added it

One of the only books to include some kind of romance in the midst. This is a great robbery story where Tintin once again, breaks down on the robbers and works hard to get it back.

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Oct 18, 2009 Travis rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: mystery, comic-books

One of the goofiest of the Tintin books is a fun satire of Agatha Chrise style mystery story all taking part at Capt. Hadock's country estate.
Equal parts screwball comedy and mystery as a huge parade of familiar faces descend on the estate, completely disrupting the Captain's quiet weekend and then a precious jewel goes missing!

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May 20, 2013 Chas Bayfield rated it 4 of 5 stars

I read this on my lunch breaks while working at Dillons bookstore in Kensington in the early 90's. A brilliant escape

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Apr 11, 2013 أميرة rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

لابد أني قد قرأتها عشرات المرات في طفولتي.. مازالت الصور والألوان منطبعة في ذاكرتي بوضوح والاسم .. بيانكا كاستفيورا

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Jul 28, 2011 Derek Baldwin rated it 4 of 5 stars

One of the better Tintins, though anyone who objects to the racist stereotyping of Italians won't agree with me.

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Mar 11, 2012 Chander rated it 5 of 5 stars

It was a good book because there were so many weird things happening, and the Captain was really funny.

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Feb 10, 2013 Emily Fauble rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: graphic-novel, mystery

I enjoy Tintin, though I remember liking it a lot more as a kid. This book isn't the best measure, however due to the entire mystery being somewhat local and without as much drama as usual.

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May 07, 2013 Melissa rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: comedy, childrens

A bit more chaotic than I liked, but still funny & interesting.

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Aug 02, 2012 Fin rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: pictures-prevailing, french

surely the french have angsty indie comics! where are they??

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Jun 13, 2012 Tristy rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: comix

Bianca Castafiore and Captain Haddock is comic gold.

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About Hergé

Georges Prosper Remi (22 May 1907 – 3 March 1983), better known by the pen name Hergé, was a Belgian comics writer and artist.
His best known and most substantial work is The Adventures of Tintin comic book series, which he wrote and illustrated from 1929 until his death in 1983, leaving the twenty-fourth Tintin adventure Tintin and Alph-Art unfinished. His work remains a strong influence on comics...more

More about Hergé...

Books by Hergé

Tintin in the Land of the Soviets (Tintin, #1)

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Quotes from The Castafiore Emerald

“Thomson: "Just our luck! The one time we manage to catch the culprits they turn out to be innocent! It's really too bad of them!"
Thompson: "You'd think they'd done it on purpose!” — 18 people liked it

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The Castafiore Emerald (Tintin #21)

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