The Tower

by Alessandro Gallenzi

Jordan, 2014. As an ambitious digitization project gathers pace in a vast building outside Amman, some unpublished writings by Giordano Bruno - flawed genius of the late Renaissance, renegade philosopher, occultist with a prodigious memory - disappear together with the Jesuit priest sent by the Vatican to study them. When the priest is found dead and a series of mysterious threats ensues, it becomes clear that stakes are high for all the parties openly or covertly involved. What dangerous ideas were contained in the stolen manuscripts? What was the ultimate secret that Bruno tried to hide from the Holy Inquisition, even as he was persecuted, imprisoned, tortured and finally burnt alive in Rome? In this riveting, meticulously researched new novel, Alessandro Gallenzi draws on his experience as a publisher in the digital era and casts a light on the darker side of our modern technological world, while revealing how a well-kept secret can change the course of history for ever.

300 pages, Hardcover

First published September 5, 2014

About the author

Translator, poet, playwright and novelist. He graduated from the Università La Sapienza before moving to London in 1997. Founder of Hesperus Press, Alma Books and Alma Classics.

Reviews

[Maya Panika · Rating 2 out of 5]

"Helen stared at him and shook her head. What was it with women? Why did they look ten times more beautiful when they were angry?"
Oh. Dear.
Gentle reader, when I read that egregiously trite, crass and embarrassing observation, I thought, this novel is going to be dreadful. Well ... it wasn't that, it wasn't awful, but it wasn't very good either.
I'm a bit of a fan of Alessandro Gallenzi. I enjoyed InterRail; I loved Bestseller, but The Tower is not up to his usual standard. It's not original - which is not a problem if the idea is well done, but this nowhere near good enough to stand against the masters of this genre, or even Dan Brown. The Da Vinci Code comparison feels inevitable, The Tower is definitely in that vein; you can feel the shade of Brown peering from every shadow. Alas, Gallenzi's addition to this over-crowded field is less meaty, less detailed, less satisfying in all departments than DVC. This is Just Another Renaissance Conspiracy; another tale of secrets and lies, lost books and Vatican plots, all cloaked in a thick fog of incense and the smoke of the heretics burning on the pyres, and all so sadly predictable.
There are two tales here, told side by side: an imagining of the (mostly unrecorded) life of the remarkable 16th century philosopher Giordano Bruno, and a present day mystery set around a fictional corporation digitising old and ancient books. The Renaissance chapters were good, far and away the best of it; I'd happily have read a lot more of that. The modern day 'mystery' - ancient lost books re-discovered, a shadowy Googleish organisation, messages written in blood, Islamic extremists, Catholic secrets, murdered priests and sinister imams etc. etc. - was rather tired. It was a good idea that should have been twice as long and far more detailed, twisty and involved. It felt under-developed. It just didn't go anywhere interesting. It's not a bad book; it's readable, in a shallow, beachy, airport way. It's just not the book I was hoping for. Disappointing.

[Kelsey Pearson · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is told in two parts. In the present day, precious manuscripts are missing, a priest is found dead and a global cooporation is attempting to digitise all books, manuscripts and other reading material. The missing manuscripts were written by Giordana Bruno, a 16th century philosopher who was trialled by the Holy Inquisition for heresy. The book was written such that you read a chapter set in the present day followed by a chapter depicting a period of Brunos life and so on.

The story depicting Bruno"s life is based on the few records from his trial. Using this material, Gallenzi built a well written depcition of Brunos life, how he may have felt during his trial and the conversations he may have had with notable people, including the Pope and members of the Inquisition. I was eager to complete the book to find out what became of Bruno and his works.

However, this meant having to read the present day story which I felt was lacking in the same enthusiasm as the Bruno chapters. The characters were dull and a bit annoying. The story and themes could have been stronger by going into depth the issues of digitising books, how they could be used (altered or not) to control populations. In this book, the Bruno manuscripts could have seen the reopening of disputes in the Catholic Church, given the topics within. However, these themes were only touched on lightly.

If you are interested in history alongside a detective murder mystery, this book does the job but don't expect a level akin to Dan Brown's books. What I also noticed was the lack of link between the two stories, apart from right at the end where the stories converged. As such, you could probably read the Bruno chapters without reading the present day chapters and still end up with a nice story on the life and trial of an interesting and, during his time, controversial man.

[Belle Wood · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is kind of meh, to be honest. I'm really interested in Giordano Bruno, so it's mediocrity is a little saddening. The biggest issue is that it's a story of two halves, but neither really seems to go anywhere. The chapters alternate: it starts with a modern setting in which a Bruno expert and a male person ( I never could figure out what he was supposed to add to the story) are hired by a super-rich businessman to find a manuscript stolen by a previous translator; interspersed with this is a straight retelling of Bruno's life after his departure from the monastery. The modern setting is The Tower, and Tower of Babel metaphor housing an endeavour to digitise literally every printed work ever made by humanity.
The problem is that the two halves of the book don't intersect much. While it's a Bruno manuscript that the investigators seek, it has little relevance to the tower itself. Moreover, whatever makes Bruno such an interesting figure doesn't make it into the book; if you don't know of him, you'd be forgiven for wondering why anyone would bother drawing him as a character. This is a real pity, as the Nolan is actually a fascinating and forward-thinking philosopher who deserved better than he got. Still, not enough ppl treat Giordano Bruno, so kudos at least for not another in an endless round of Jesus and Magdalene myth-seeking.

[Brittany · Rating 1 out of 5]

Okay, I am approximately 100 pages into this monstrosity and I feel so strongly about it that I came to write a reiview before finishing it. There is no way this book can be saved. After reading other reviews, I am certain it can only get worse. If I could give it a zero star, I would. First off, who decided racist accents were still a thing in 2014? I physically cringed whenever I had to read a line by Majed. No other characters seem to have an accent, even those who clearly should (like, the main character is an Englishman in Jordan, surely HE should be the one with an accent?!). Second, Allessandro's treatment of women is vomit-inducing. Guilia is a main character and the only thing I really know about her is that she looks good in red and is a bit surly. Like holy fuck, I thought we had collectively moved on from using women as props. Political correctness aside, the writing and plot are subpar at best. The premise is fascinating, which is the only reason I've made it as far as I have. But Alessandro just butchered the execution. I would happily pay a woman like Sharon Penman to rewrite this story the way it deserves. So much wasted potential.

[LJ · Rating 1 out of 5]

When I don't like a book that includes Giordano Bruno we know the book ain't good.
It was the dialogue that first made my eye start to twitch and it just went downhill from there. Even the bits with Bruno started to lose my interest. Such a shame.

[Gina Cheyne · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dull.

The idea was good but the execution dreary. Even the so called exciting bits were farcical with Peter - the detective I suppose you could call him - being kidnapped so that a religious fanatic could give him a cup of tea and wave a finger at him.

The end was pathetic.

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a story told in two parts: the background to the modern-day story is set in the desert, just outside Amman, Jordan, where a multi-national project to digitise and archive all of the world’s books and manuscripts is taking place. This project, Biblia, is based in The Tower, a newly-built construction which will eventually be the tallest building in the world. The alternative narrative, set in the sixteenth century, focuses on the fate of the philosopher/priest, Giordano Bruno (1548 -1600). His revolutionary and controversial theories about the development of a memory system which had the potential to unify man’s mind with creation, about cosmology and astrology had, over the years, brought him into conflict with the church authorities. Ultimately his resistance to any modification of his ideas led to a considerably extended, at times brutal, interrogation by the Inquisitors.
Some of Bruno’s previously unpublished documents, which, for centuries, the church has wanted to gain access to, go missing from The Tower; so too does the priest who has been sent from Rome to examine them. When the priest is discovered dead it appears that there are secrets in these documents which the church does not want the world to see. Who has stolen the manuscripts? In addition to the vested interests of Rome, the project is also threatened by anti-technology groups, as well as by Islamic fundamentalists opposed to any sort of corporate dominance – the potential for conspiracy theories increases! Desperate to retrieve the documents, the organisation behind Biblia employs Peter, an investigator, and Giulia, a philologist, literary scholar and Latin specialist, to recover and then evaluate Bruno’s work. The present-day part of the story follows their increasingly perilous attempts to discover the truth and to track down the priceless documents.
There were parts of the present-day story which I found engaging and which I thought were well-plotted and full of increasing tension. Set as they were against the contemporary backdrop of an increasingly digitalised world, they were also very thought-provoking. However, I felt far less engaged with either of the two main characters. I thought that they, but particularly Peter, were rather one-dimensional and, by the end of the story I felt that I knew neither of them much better than I did at the beginning. I often felt frustrated by what I regarded as their rather inept approach to their mission – as well as by their interactions with each other!
However, I thought that the developing story of Giordano Bruno was exceptionally good and interesting. Alessandro Gallenzi’s creative use of the considerable research he had done really brought to life both this fascinating man, with his revolutionary ideas, as well as the times he was living in. There were moments when I felt almost as though I was sharing the turbulent experiences of this priest and his unshakeable convictions. There are parallels between the two eras covered in the story and I very much enjoyed these and the allegorical themes which form part of the story. I also enjoyed the ways in which the author conveyed a very powerful sense of time and location in both sections of the story.
The novels I favour are those which teach me something new, those which motivate me to go away and find out more and with this story the author certainly fulfilled my hopes! Finally, a comment about his elegant, almost poetic writing style – it was a joy to read such expressive writing.

I wish it was possible to give a different rating for the two halves of the story – the contemporary story would be just 3*** but the historical one would merit 5*****!

My thanks to Alma Classics for sending me this book in exchange for my honest review.

[Delia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found the story a bit of a slog in places. Gallenzi is obviously well acquainted with the history of Giordano Bruno and his era as well as the somewhat arcane world of the Vatican. The premise of the story offers promise but does not quite live up to it. The storyline, however, might also be adapted effectively for the stage. Re-writing it as a play would tighten the plot and by reducing the number of characters give the remainder greater definition and interest. As a novel, however, it left me less than dazzled.

[Becky · Rating 3 out of 5]

A really difficult novel to review, it alternates between two sories. One a Dan Brownesque thriller featuring a murdered priest, middle eastern politics and a stolen literary masterpiece. There is the obligatory religious aspect, shady Vatican dealings etc etc..... this bit is rather meh really. The second story follows the imprisonment, persecution and trial of Bruno by the inquisition in the late sixteenth century. A persecution which ends with his death in the 'cleansing' fires on Camp di Fiore. This section is much more interesting and also features writing that is far far more enjoyable.

[Elena Traduzioni Oceano Mare · Rating 2 out of 5]

2,5. My favorite part was the historical note at the end where the book talks about the history of Bruno's manuscripts and printed books. I didn't care one bit for the 'thriller' side of the story and I couldn't really get into the Giordano Bruno trial part as it felt very cliche' in its narration.

[Stoic_quin · Rating 3 out of 5]

The modern day story reads more like a synopsis than a coherent story. The Bruno section is good - but he is a well worn character and do overall not really going anywhere