Paula Berinstein's Blog - Posts Tagged "holland"

The Coffee Trader by David Liss

Reading this book was like living in a Rembrandt painting but with coffee. The author really made the period come alive and from what I know, really caught the spirit of both the Dutch people in the seventeenth century and the Jews who lived side by side with them.

While the story was interesting and held my attention, it was really the historical detail that captivated me. I have a rudimentary knowledge of my people's history, but there's so much I didn't and still don't know. I didn't know that Jews policed their own people to make sure they didn't break Talmudic laws. I didn't realize that some Jews turned to conniving in order to survive within the restrictions placed on them by the countries that hosted them. I didn't realize but could have surmised that Holland was more open and accepting of Jews at that time than most of the rest of Europe. I suppose that's all a big duh--I should have known because all that is obvious--but I hadn't thought about it so I didn't.

I had heard of the conversos--Jews who were forced to convert to Christianity but who practiced their religion secretly--but I didn't realize what that meant for their daily lives. For example, one of the female characters in the story was raised a Catholic and not told she was really a Jew until she got married. No wonder she continued to attend mass--secretly so her Jewish husband wouldn't find out. After eighteen years of thinking you're a Catholic it would be pretty hard to switch religions, particularly since Jewish men in Amsterdam wouldn't let women learn to read or tell them what Judaism was all about. They only told them what they needed to know in order to keep the sabbath, etc.

I also didn't realize how financial instruments worked in the seventeenth century--much like they do today, but at that time the protocols we take for granted were just developing. Selling short, for example, was a new phenomenon. It was implied in the story that buying on margin was new as well, although I may be wrong about that. Market manipulation, professional traders, all of that thrived during the seventeenth century. I didn't realize any of that, but then why would I? Who thinks about the origins of commodities markets?

If you're not familiar with finance and trade, you may find this book a bit dense. There's a lot of detail about buying and selling and puts and calls. I do know a fair amount about that stuff but still found myself skimming the technical sections. Not following every detail didn't affect my enjoyment of the story but I did read a review from someone who had difficulty. I think history buffs will get a lot out of the book regardless.

I read this book as part of my "historical novels from every country" project.