The Book With No Name: The International Bestseller (The Bourbon Kid Trilogy)

Product Information

Rescue Romance: Sanchez was hoping for Jessica to fall for him after he saved her and took care of her for five years, but it doesn't happen. When he does it again at the end, he hopes it will work this time. No Name is yet another beautiful book by Wilkie Collins. Touching on a different legal concept, the book takes quite a turn from his more famous work - The Woman in White. Merging a legal concept with a heart touching story seems to be Wilkie Collins's style. It is truly appealing, especially when he exposes the gaps in law by which the very persons who need the protection of the law are left unprotected.

The novel is divided into 8 scenes, each one of them clearly separated, taking place in different settings and with several characters who cross the path of the brave Magdalen Vanstone. El otro factor importante por el que no he conseguido conectar son sus personajes y particularmente la protagonista, Magdalen, que a pesar de ser compleja e interesante, me sacaba de quicio constantemente. Where It All Began: The Bourbon Kid made his first appearance in Sanchez' bar, and it's where the final confrontation over the Eye of the Moon takes place but not the climax, which is in the police station.No Name is divided into parts as are much of 19th Century novels. In No Name, these parts are called Scenes. Each Scene takes place in a different location and is further divided into chapters. The Scenes, told in third person, are separated by short sections called, appropriately, Between the Scenes. These are groups of letters from/to the various characters. The story is told in strict chronological sequence.

I usually have a hard time liking books with multiple POVs because my head spins at the vast differences in plot and setting for each POV. But this book skirts that zone and I loved the switching between POVs, it really added so much tension and import to the scenes as the story progressed. At its heart are two sisters, Norah and the main protagonist Magdalen, who have been brought up in a Somerset country house. Their father has made a rash clandestine marriage in America in his youth, and is only able to marry their mother when the father's first wife dies. This marriage invalidates the father's will in which his estate goes to his wife and daughters. When both the father and the mother die in short succession, the estate goes to the father's elderly brother and the girls receive nothing because the law does not regard them as legal next of kin. The Book with No Name is best described as a Quintin Tarantino styled tongue-in-cheek, all-action horror onslaught, with vampires, hitmen, monks, cops, local gangs, and a serial killer called the Bourdon Kid. It should be chaos, it should be unmanageable, it shouldn’t work, but it does. Total escapism with a charged atmosphere. This is a truly remarkable novel. There were moments when I could see quite clearly where we were going, and yet this didn't detract from the pleasure of reading the novel because I wanted to know how the author would achieve this end. And Wilkie Collins didn't disappoint! It is a novel of a complicated structure, with a whole host of characters; well worth reading for the feel of the 19th century alone. The legal angle only adds to the pleasure.

The International Bestseller

Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: The monks are completely clueless about the way the world works outside of their temple, but they are also some of the fiercest fighters in town. Jessica, as an unkillable creature, is even worse. Wilkie Collins diceva sempre: “Fateli ridere, fateli piangere, ma soprattutto teneteli sulla corda”; e devo dire che anche in questo romanzo ci riesce alla grande. I can imagine how being written for a periodical could have added interest and narrative thrust to this story, but perhaps it is also an explanation for the inconsistent attitude the narrator seems to have about the protagonist's sister: she starts out as a bit of a pill but later becomes a dull embodiment of conventional morality in contrast to her sister. And there is just no excuse for the bizarre, abrupt, and (to modern sensibilities) inexplicable ending, which still apparently outraged some Victorian moralists who felt the poor protagonist hadn't been punished enough.

I would say with flying colors it does so, and that No Name might be the best Wilkie Collins novel that flies under the radar of popularity. The plot is a little out there... the author certainly has a vivid imagination. I'm not going to try to explain it, because it's too complicated, however I'll just say that it's a story of a stone called the 'Eye of the Moon' that is wanted by many of the characters in this book, due to the rumour that it has magical properties. The story follows their fight to be the one in possession of this stone. Specifically, to be the one in possession of the stone when the total eclipse falls over Santa Mondega. Gorn: Some of the murders are insanely violent, and the novel doesn't shy away from describing them in all their gory details.Wham Line: When Sanchez finally tells Jensen about the yellow Cadillac, he says that "Somers had his yellow Caddy stolen last night", thus revealing that he was the one who killed Thomas and Audrey. Es gibt einige Figuren, die eine wichtige Rolle spielen, hauptsächlich Schlägertypen, Mönche, zwei hübsche Ladys und zwei obsessive Cops die alle in die Geschehnisse involviert sind. Die Perspektiven wechseln hier immer wieder und so kann man sehr gut verfolgen, wie die Jagd nach dem Stein mit Leichen gepflastert wird; mit vielen Leichen. Brutal zugerichteten Leichen. Doch die Art, wie die Geschichte erzählt wird, lässt die grausamen Details eher als Nebeneffekt erscheinen und der schwarze Humor behält immer wieder die Oberhand. Amnesiac Hero: Jessica wakes up from a coma with no memory of who she is, only bribes of what happened before she was shot. It later turns out she isn't a hero, though. Collins has adopted a new style of writing here. He tells his story through a combination of narrative, chronicle, and epistolary writing. This method was very refreshing. It gives the reader a break from the monotony of the narrative. I very much enjoyed this style.

I should mention that this guy is one hell of an interesting writer if I can go by anything said by Dan Simmons in Drood, since the author is the main character! A thrilling classic with a strong female character, a plot full of twists and turns, but too many details. Recommended for classic-lovers. The novel is mostly set in the fictional town of Santa Mondega, and in particular, the Tapioca bar owned by Sanchez. Very like a Tarantino film, the characters are unnatural and outlandish, just like the Elvis impersonating hitman, the vampires and the surprising woman who just came out of a 5-year coma with amnesia. The stylisation is eccentric and the ridiculous non-stop pace through the book is breath-taking.This novel has an amazing set of characters, some true villains, both male and female, and the plot is full of twists and turns, that kept me on the edge of my seat. At least for some of the time. The novel has its flaws IMO, namely the many details and repetitions of various legal documents. They became a bit tedious and I lost interest from time to time, which is why I'm only giving the novel 3 stars.