The Coffee Trader by David Liss

Our local library catalouged this book in the “mystery” section, so it was a little hard for me to find since I was searching in fiction, and not expecting a mystery. Once I figured out the issue, I picked it up with no problem and then began one of my “1 day reading marathons” in order to discuss it at book club the next day (I did get it read, by the way). My first impression of “The Coffee Trader” was that I didn’t understand how it could possibly have been categorized as a mystery- there was nothing mysterious about it. Set in Amsterdam in the mid-1600’s, it seemed to me to be a work of historical fiction. However, the more I continued through the book, the more the writing reminded me of “The Cask of Amontillado”- a short story written by Poe. Liss has a dark writing style similar to this, although the plots are completely different.

Miguel Lienzo is a Jewish man who has come from his home of Portugal to live in freedom in The Netherlands. He becomes a successful trader, but loses his fortune in a deal that didn’t go the way he had planned. In addition to this misfortune, he alienates one of the more prominent members of Jewish society by not marrying his daughter per arrangement, and in fact humiliating her. He also brings another man to poverty along with him, and the man follows him around, and even harasses his brother’s family a’la The Godfather. Lienzo meets a Dutch woman named Geertruid, and together the two work on a plan to become rich by monopolizing the market on the coffee trade- an item which was not yet the success it is today. However, there are others involved who don’t want him near this trade, so all plans have to be made in secret (not to mention that strictly speaking, Jewish people were not supposed to deal with the Dutch). The story continues to tell the tale of Lienzo’s trials in getting this organized, as well as his relationships with other people central to the story- including other traders, Geertruid, his brother, and his sister-in-law. Throughout the book, we also hear parts of the story as told by Lienzo’s friend- Alferonda, a man who has been excommunicated from the Jewish church.

“The Coffee Trader” is rich in description and gives us a sense of life and politics in 17th century Amsterdam. While I liked Lienzo, and Alferonda as well, I could see that none of the characters in this novel were particularly good people. It made me think about the perception of good and bad in that era versus today. Business dealings portrayed in the book reminded me of some of the same things we have seen with the Enron and Martha Stuart scandals in the past few years. Perhaps more than that, my one criticism of this book is that it drags on in the beginning and middle, and things suddenly start to happen at the end. Despite this, it was an interesting story throughout, and there was good conversation to be had on this read during book club.