Q

4.2 based on 114 reviews.

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Product Description

In 1517, Martin Luther nails his ninety-five theses to the door of Wittenburg Cathedral, and a dance of death begins between a radical Anabaptist with many names and a loyal papal spy known mysteriously as "Q." In this brilliantly conceived literary thriller set in the chaos of the Reformation-an age devastated by wars of religion-a young theology student adopts the cause of heretics and the disinherited and finds himself pursued by a relentless papal informer and heretic hunter. What begins as a personal struggle to reveal each other's identity becomes a mission that can only end in death.

Product Details

  • Media: Paperback Book, 750 pages
  • Publisher: Harvest Books (May. 31st, 2005)
  • ISBN-10: 0156031965
  • ISBN-13: 9780156031967
  • Dimensions: 5.52 x 8.10 x 1.37 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.70 lbs

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Customer Reviews

  • Book Rating 4 out of 5
    Read Reviews on Goodreads

    by Jfk from Clifton Heights, PA | Aug 26, 2008

    Recommending this book to me was perhaps the high water-mark in Justin's life. He has neither before nor since done a single thing worthy of note by anyone. This book is eclectic, well-written, beautifully disorganized, and other ridiculous things people say about good books. It is in fact a veritable tour de force.


     2 people found this review helpful


  • Book Rating 4 out of 5
    Read Reviews on Goodreads

    by Stuart from Pleasant Hill, CA | Apr 8, 2008

    Who would have thought that a 768-page novel about the Reformation would be any good? Especially one written by a trio of anonymous Italian authors sharing a pseudonym. I mean come on, doesn't that sound like complete shite?!

    Who knew there was so much blood & guts spilled over the anabaptist heresy? This book certainly doesn't lack for action as the title character, a shady Vatican secret agent, plays cat and mouse with Gert of the Well, his opposite number on the Protestant side. Along with your history lesson you get proto-communism, free love, bank fraud, crypto-jewery, backstabbing, book-binding, Venetian whoring, and vivid ultra-vi in various medieval European locales. If they ever make a movie of this one I will be first in line to buy a bucket of popcorn.


     2 people found this review helpful


  • Book Rating 5 out of 5
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    by Jeff from Berkeley, CA | Feb 16, 2009

    It's a rare occasion that I read a 700 plus page historical novel, but this one drew me in and kept me turning pages. Written by an Italian anarchist collective under the pseudonym Luther Blisset, its set in the Protestant Reformation, and gives an intense history of the time -- one of the most crucial periods in the birth of quote unquote modernity -- from the perspective of an anabaptist -- a radical non-believer in catholic orthodoxy. Along the way we get a perspective on the beginnings of european capitalism and banking, the importance of the printing press to the spread of lutheran ideas and free thinking, and the horrific vision of what becomes of utopian movements when they clash with the lust for power and the realpolitik of building a mass movement. AMAZING BOOK.


     1 people found this review helpful


  • Book Rating 5 out of 5
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    by Liviu from White Plains, NY | Oct 22, 2009

    While it takes a little to get going, Q is a panoramic novel that deserves all the acclaim it got and more; its strong leftist ethos reminded me powerfully of Howard Fast' Sparatcus (the novel better known by its later adaptation later in the famous 60's movie), though Q is also a novel of our times in blood, gore, language...

    The powerful is basterds and the basterds become powerful may be a truism, but through the many adventures of the multi-faceted narrator (who also reminded me strongly of the picaresque anti-heroes of Mika Waltari especially Michael the Finn) we see the illustration of the above principle in blood and violent suppression of the oppressed as well as in the violent reprisals of the leaders of the oppressed when they get to be the basterds...



  • Book Rating 4 out of 5
    Read Reviews on Goodreads

    by Lindsy from West Point, MS | May 21, 2009

    A harsh novel set during the Reformation. It was written by a group of Italian Leftists under a pseudonym. An epic if i've ever read one. Goes from Germany to the Ottoman Empire. Lots of research into the events i would imagine. Some interesting speculation as well(though they did go a little wild with it at times. I did some reading about John of Leiden and i don't think he was ever a pimp in the old usage of the word). A little harsh as far as language and imagery but i suppose this was an extremely harsh time to live in. The first Marxist treatment of the Reformation ive ever been exposed too. Something for Liberation theologians to look into.


     1 people found this review helpful


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