| Title | : | The Crystal Stopper (Arsène Lupin, #5) |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 1592240798 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9781592240791 |
| Format Type | : | Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 178 |
| Publication | : | First published January 1, 1912 |
The Crystal Stopper (Arsène Lupin, #5) Reviews
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Le Bouchon De Cristal = The Crystal Stopper (Arsène Lupin #5), Maurice Leblanc
The Crystal Stopper is a mystery novel by Maurice Leblanc featuring the adventures of the gentleman thief Arsène Lupin.
The novel appeared in serial form in the French newspaper Le Journal from September to November 1912 and was released as a novel subsequently.
Maurice Leblanc was inspired by the infamous Panama scandals of 1892 and 1893. The novel borrows from Edgar Allan Poe's short story The Purloined Letter the idea of hiding an object in plain sight.
تاریخ نخستی خوانش: روز دوازدهم ماه آوریل سال 2004 میلادی
عنوان: درپوش کریستال (در بلورین بطری)؛ نویسنده: موریس لبلان؛ مترجم: خسرو سمیعی؛ تهران، انتشارات میعاد شکوفه ها؛ 1381، در 190ص؛
آرسن لوپن، ماجراجوی فرانسوی، با دشمن خطرناکی به نام «دوبرک»، روبرو میشود.؛ «دوبرک»، که نماینده ی مجلس، و شخصیت بسیار با نفوذی ست، اسراری در اختیار دارد، که سرنوشت افراد بسیاری، وابسته به آن اسرار است.؛ وی با رذالت تمام، از آن اسرار، برای منافع خویش سود می‌جوید.؛ یکی از قربانیان «دوبرک»، زن جوانی ست، که زندگی و حیثیت او، از سوی «دوبرک» به بازی گرفته شده است.؛ «لوپن» برای نجات زن، و افراد دیگر، مبارزه ای پی‌گیر، با «دوبرک» را آغاز می‌کند و …؛
کتاب «در بلورین بطری» عنوان یک رمان پلیسی و معمایی از «موریس لبلان»، که روایتگر یکی دیگر از ماجراهای «آرسن لوپن»، نجیب زاده ی دزد فرانسوی است؛ این رمان نخست به صورت سریالی، از ماه سپتامبر تا ماه نوامبر سال 1912میلادی، در مجله ی فرانسوی «له ژورنال» منتشر شد و بلافاصله پس از آن بصورت کتاب چاپ شد.؛
تاریخ بهنگام رسانی 11/05/1399هجری خورشیدی؛ ا. شربیانی -
Brilliant. Quite possibly the best Arsene Lupin novel in the series so far. You do need to have read the others beforehand to appreciate the situation. We're used to our anti-hero being one-up against all his adversaries in the past (including the implausibly disguised Herlock Sholmes, master London-based consulting detective), but here Lupin is under pressure. Everything goes against him - he's battling an enemy who seems to have superhuman talents for anticipating Lupin's actions and plans. Through a full 90% of the book, Lupin seems to be heading towards an untimely fall from grace - until the final denouement. Loved it - it made a refreshing change to have Lupin the underdog.
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3.5/5
Creo que este puede ser el libro de Lupin mejor estructurado de los que he leído hasta la fecha, por desgracia, el formato de audiolibro no me resultó tan cómodo para seguir las pistas y los giros que ocurrían. Aun así lo disfruté bastante.
Lupin está realizando un robo, pero una persona termina muerta y dos de los miembros de su banda van presos y son condenados a muerte. Sin embargo, Lupin sabe que uno de ellos, el joven Gilbert, es inocente y terminará pagando por un crimen que no cometió. Así que hará todo lo que esté en su poder para liberarlo.
Daubrecq fue un gran villano, todo el libro me pareció mejor estructurado como novela que los otros. Se acercó más a ser una novela de Holmes con varios giros, problemas por solucionar y misterios por resolver. b>Y Daubrecq estuvo a la altura del caso, fue un adversario digno de nuestro protagonista pues durante gran parte del libro fue capaz de ponerlo contra el muro y superarlo.
Al Lupin que vemos en este libro es una versión un poco más seria que en los primeros, no quiere tanto llamar la atención al inicio y termina involucrado de forma personal en todo el enredo. Además, durante gran parte no es capaz de ganarle a Daubrecq por lo que conocemos una faceta más derrotista y pesimista, que se ve preocupado y asustado. Es solo para el final que saca esa personalidad más extrovertida y dramática que le conocimos en las primeras historias.
El tapón de cristal es un relato mejor que construido que otros previos en el que Lupin se enfrenta a un digno rival que lo pone aprietos, Daubrecq. Pasa gran parte del libro luchando contra él dejando ver una faceta más preocupada y humana del personaje. -
Definitely more serious and less entertaining than the preceding books in the series.
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On ne soupçonne pas ce qui ne semble point se dissimuler.
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In The Crystal Stopper, Leblanc tried to up the suspense by knocking Lupin down a few notches and raising his opponent up a few notches. Sadly, the result did not work as well for me as The Extraordinary Adventures of Arsene Lupin, Gentleman-Burglar, or even Arsene Lupin.
In most of the previous Lupin stories I've read, Lupin is better than the best, always more cunning than those around him. He usually pulls off his schemes in some clever and wildly arrogant way. In this book, the tables are turned, and Lupin can barely keep up with Daubrecq, his opponent. Every move he makes, Daubrecq is always at least a step ahead.
Because it's not Lupin's life in the balance, but rather his comrade's, I suppose the “will Lupin succeed?” feeling that Leblanc was probably trying to achieve is believable. Even so, rather than feeling more on the edge of my seat each time Daubrecq bested Lupin, I instead became more and more annoyed. I think the bit where Leblanc really lost me was when that toad of a man managed to best Lupin shortly after having been tortured. Lupin got his groove back near the end of the book, but after being knocked so flat for so long, I couldn't accept it. Leblanc's explanations for how Lupin managed it ended up coming across as flimsy authorial hand-waving to me.
Just as I was less than happy with how the love interest in Arsene Lupin was portrayed, I wasn't happy with Clarisse. She would, I'm guessing, have been at least in her forties, maybe her late thirties. She lived through the death of her husband, giving birth to two children, and lots of stress. All those things could potentially age any woman before her time, but Leblanc's descriptions of her left me with the impression that she was physically a tragically tired-looking 20-something (so that she could be beautiful enough for Lupin to fall for) who happened to have a bit of gray hair. Such a big deal was made about that gray hair that it wasn't until I did a check in the text prior to writing this post that I realized she didn't have solid gray No, she just had a bit of gray in her otherwise dark hair, but this was a Big Deal.
Clarisse's determination to save her son should have been awesome, and I suppose it was, at times. However, whenever the going got tough and Lupin's latest plan to beat Daubrecq fell through, Clarisse's first answer seemed to be to attempt suicide. I mean, what? This is a woman who was strong enough to survive so much hardship, and she attempts or threatens to kill herself before all hope is really lost? I would have thought a woman like her wouldn't have gone that far unless both her sons were already dead.
Lupin's victorious ending seemed to come out of the blue. I'm still not sure how he learned of the true location of the list (did he really realize where it was on the fly, while torturing Daubrecq? how...disappointing), and his actions to get at that list seemed to come awfully close to the torture he had, earlier in the book, decided he'd never be able to do. While I still plan on reading more Arsene Lupin books, I hope that my next one is better.
(Original review, with read-alikes and watch-alikes, posted on
A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.) -
Another exciting reading from Arsene Lupin's serial. This time, Maurice decided to make everything against Lupin just like what happened with Sherlock in (Sherlock Holmes vs Arsene Lupin). Until the last moment, everything seemed to be lost and there's no hope. Yet, with his determination, he went on to get what he wants. There were some odd contradiction in there. For example, how he was so against killing and blood, yet when he found out about Vauchery - he easily killed him to save Gilbert. Also, he didn't like torturing, yet to find the place of the paper he hurt the deputy so bad and drew one of his eyes out (which was so odd, like how they hell did he knew the paper was there?!)
Clarisee's matter is kinda strange. If she hoped to save her son to the last bit, why did she want to take away her life instead of saving them first before all hopes are lost?! I think this part wasn't very well. The author couldn't show the suffering in a touching way beside suicide which seemed wrong. If someone is willing to have/do something so badly, they'll risk everything till the last moment. I still didn't figure out who is Lupin's girl, Sonia, the blonde girl or Clarisee. Well, I'll find out later since there are still many to read. 5 stars despite the things I didn't agree on. -
Irgendwann in den frühen 2000ern habe ich den "Kristallstöpsel" schon einmal und erinnerte mich an: Nichts! Arsène Lupins Jagd nach dem Kristallstöpsel, im Wettlauf gegen zahlreiche Gegner und die Zeit (schließlich sollen seine Komplizen hingerichtet werden) war eine kurzweilige und abwechslungsreiche Lektüre, auch wenn ich finde, dass man dem Buch sein Alter schon anmerkt. Es ist etwas behäbig und stellenweise langatmig, die waghalsigen Aktionen aus heutiger Sicht etwas unrealistisch, aber ich kann mir vorstellen, dass man das vor über hundert Jahren noch als atemberaubende Spannung ansah. Insgesamt aber eine nette Lektüre.
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La primera reseña de 2023 estaba avisada en la última recomendación. Mis últimos libros del año pasado era dos de Arsène Lupin: 813 y El tapon de cristal.
Se podría decir que, si bien este libro salió después de 813, su historia se sitúa antes de los sucesos contados en el mencionado libro. Pero en El tapon de cristal nos encontramos con un Lupin mas vulnerable y al parecer sin tantos recursos o herramientas para enfrentarse a un enemigo que siempre va 10 pasos adelante de él. Se podría entender por el lugar que ocupa Lupin en 813 pero de todas maneras lo noté, repito; mas vulnerable.
Aquí la aventura va en principio por una falsa acusación de asesinato hacia uno de los cómplices de Lupin que luego deviene en un asunto de chantaje que puede afectar a las esferas mas altas del gobierno francés. De ahí en mas Lupin tendrá la doble tarea de salvar a uno de sus complices de la guillotina al tiempo que intenta recuperar un famoso tapon de cristal que esconde el secreto de 27 personas culpables del mas atroz crimen.
Una historia que va a contrarreloj todo el tiempo y en el que en todo momento se van sacando ventajas uno a otro mientras la guillotina comienza a caer lentamente sobre un inocente.
¿Recomendado? Obvio. -
Not the best Arsene Lupin adventure. Written later in the oeuvre, after the better books, such as
Arsene Lupin and
Arsene Lupin Gentleman Thief, and his much hyped face-off with Sherlock Holmes,
The Hollow Needle. It's pulp fiction, pure and simple--but still a lot of fun. Skip The Crystal Stopper but do take a moment to skim the others.
You can
read them for free thanks to Project Gutenberg. -
I'm a fan of Maurice Leblanc's "gentleman cambrioleur" and consider him one of my favourite French authors. This one, unfortunately, was a let-down. There's plenty (too much) dialogue for most of the book and episodes of over-the-top action, but what I love most about Arsène Lupin are the puzzles and the mystery, and all that was missing here. Each to his own, but if you haven't joined Lupin on an escapade yet, don't start with The Crystal Stopper.
Note: Two stars might seem a little harsh but I gave The Hollow Needle three and it's easily worth a star more than this one. -
Dari beberapa buku Lupin yg sudah kubaca, ini yang paling bagus terjemahan dan gaya berceritanya. Untuk pertama kalinya aku kasih tiga bintang. Plotnya lumayan tapi ceritanya berbelit belit. Sebenarnya jika ceritanya berhenti sampai setengah buku ini, atau dipangkas sampai setengah buku dan langsung to the point penyelesaiannya, bakalan tidak membosankan. I like big books with many pages, dan 360an halaman sih wajar tp buku ini terlalu panjang untuk sampai ke akhir.
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I had sort of fallen "out of love" with these series, but with this book I can say once more that I love them. Arsène is a hero again, doing the impossible to save the life of one of his accomplices wrongfully accused of a murder. A great story.
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Another great read from Maurice Leblanc. While this story was a little girl heavy and kind of repetitive in the middle as always it ends was jaw-dropping. You can not guess what's going to happen. Arsene Lupin is the man, faults and all. On to the next!
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Un peu confuse, je suis restée sur ma faim.
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Neste livro vamos embarcar mais uma vez nas aventuras e peripécias de Lupin, o camaleão dos roubos, está prestes a roubar a casa de um deputado, mas esse roubo não foi armado pelo Lupin, prevendo que algo inesperado irá acontecer, pois ele não conhece nada do local ou sobre o dono do mesmo, confiando em Gilbert.
Mas como nem tudo é fácil para nosso ladrão, o plano de seu comparsa sai errado e Lupin não parece entender muito do que aconteceu durante o roubo, mas consegue fugir antes que a polícia o apanhe, ao contrário dos companheiros que são presos e Lupin promete tirá-los da cadeia antes que sejam enviados para a guilhotina.
Muitas perguntas ficam na cabeça de nosso protagonista, afinal ele não conhecia nada sobre o plano do roubo e muito menos de quem era aquela casa e com isso ele decide começar uma investigação, mas o que Lupin não esperava é que seu adversário fosse mais perspicaz do que ele, que seu adversário fosse o tão conhecido e temido deputado Daubrecq.
Muitas perguntas ficam no ar, principalmente o do por que as pessoas tinham tanto medo do deputado e principalmente sobre um objeto que Lupin tinha posse, uma rolha de cristal que para Lupin não parecia nada demais, mas que para nosso deputado significava muito e até mesmo para outras pessoas importantes que vão surgindo ao longo da história. O que tem na rolha de cristal? O que ela tem de tão importante? São perguntas que até mesmo Lupin terá que descobrir.
Com a ajuda de Clarisse Mergy, Lupin tem pouco tempo para desvendar o mistério e derrotar o deputado Daubrecq e assim salvar da guilhotina seus companheiros. Será que ele vai conseguir? -
An adventure of Arsène Lupin who with be 105 years old this year and that did not take a wrinkle. One finds there in this fifth volume Arsène Lupin at the time of a burgling which turns badly, and thereafter it will seek to inquire into this famous crystal stopper. I adored the feather of the author with always as much of suspense and addictivity.
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Arsène Lupin should probably have been more cautious when two members of his gang, Vaucheray and Gilbert, asked him to assist with the burglary of the Enghien country home of government deputy Daubrecq. But Vaucheray is experienced, and Lupin is impressed with Gilbert’s good character (for a criminal), and they seem to have done a good job of scouting the place. Up to the point at which they discover the valet Leonard had not in fact gone out after all. It’s necessary to tie the man up and get him out of the way, but now they must hurry to avoid the police.
Lupin has his minions Growler (“Grognard” in the French) and Masher take off with the loot already gathered, but the two other henchmen are taking too long. He re-enters to find that Leonard has been stabbed to death, but not before calling the police earlier than anticipated, and Gilbert and Vaucheray have fallen out over a small bit of treasure. With the police already surrounding the house, Lupin must temporarily abandon his fellows to be rescued later.
When Lupin gets home, he discovers that the bit of loot in contention is a crystal stopper such as might be used for a wine decanter, with a thin gilded coating. It appears to be perfectly ordinary–except that it disappears from his apartment that very night!
Lupin is faced with a number of mysteries. Who murdered Leonard? How did the crystal stopper vanish from his apartment? How many sides are there to this battle? And what is the significance of the crystal stopper, sought by so many including the police?
Things clear up a bit when it’s learned that Deputy Daubrecq got his money and government position through blackmail. He possesses a piece of paper known as “The List of Twenty-Seven” that would ruin that number of men if it ever came into the hands of the authorities. Somehow, the crystal stopper contains a clue to the hiding place of that list. If Lupin can get his hands on that list, he can save his gang members from execution. Plus, by now there’s a beautiful woman involved who has personal beef with Daubrecq and vice-versa, with ties back to why he turned to crime in the first place.
This 1912 novel is a bit unusual in that Lupin, instead of being two steps ahead of all opposition is outfoxed repeatedly by Daubrecq, and is running ragged for much of the story. There’s even a thrilling sequence in which Lupin has to rescue Daubrecq from another villain only to have the blackmailer betray him in the middle of the rescue. Of course, our protagonist turns it around at the end, but it’s a nearer thing than ever before, and Lupin has to settle for a partial victory in one instance.
Since early translations of the book are in the public domain, my copy used some language obscure to modern audiences. For example, younger readers might not know that “foreign-post paper” aka onion skin paper is a special kind of exceedingly thin and light but strong paper used to save postage costs (and when airmail came in, weight in the airplane.)
It should be mentioned that Maurice LeBlanc is a character in the book himself, and got all his information straight from Lupin during one of their conversations about the master thief’s past adventures.
Content note: Lupin does not torture people himself, but is willing to condone it being done by other people when it’s to his advantage, so there’s an on-page torture sequence. One of Daubrecq’s motivations is forcing Clarisse to marry him and his behavior towards her is as creepy as you’d expect. Suicide. Lupin casually mentions that he has a promiscuous sex life, though he doesn’t indulge during the course of the story. And, well, Lupin is a criminal who regularly steals and tricks people. He’s the hero because his enemy is a much worse person.
In this story, Lupin is very much the dashing, sympathetic rogue so many other works try and fail to convince us their characters are. His cleverness and clear moral boundaries help establish why we’re following him through the story rather than say Prasville, the secretary-general of the police. There’s plenty of twists and turns to keep up interest, and sure we know that Lupin will survive, but everyone else is fair game. You might want to start with The Hollow Needle or one of the short story collections to get a feel for Lupin when he’s on top, but this is a fun book for fans of master thieves.
Shout out to Kayt, who gave me this book for the blog’s tenth anniversary. -
Wow! What a ride! Plan on reading this one past your bedtime. The tension started in the first few sentences and did not let up. Lupin was pitted against a selfish, revenge-driven, ruthless, diabolical foe.
…the kidnapping of little Jacques, Daubrecq's disappearance, his imprisonment in the Lovers' Tower, Lupin's wound, his enforced inactivity, followed by the cunning manoeuvres that dragged Clarisse —and Lupin after her—to the south, to Italy. And then, as a crowning catastrophe, when, after prodigies of will-power, after miracles of perseverance, they were entitled to think that the Golden Fleece was won, it all came to nothing. The list of the Twentyseven had no more value than the most insignificant scrap of paper.
"The game's up!"said Lupin. “It's an absolute defeat. What if I do revenge myself on Daubrecq, ruin him and destroy him? He is the real victor, once Gilbert is going to die."
"Taken all round," said Lupin to me, one day, after telling me the different episodes of the story, "taken all around, no enterprise has ever given me more trouble or cost me greater exertions than that confounded adventure which, if you don't mind, we will call, The Crystal Stopper; or, Never Say Die.” -
Début un peu lent, mais la fin est fascinante. C'est du bon Lupin!
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In this book Arsene Lupin showed his other side. The defeated side.
In one of robbing attempt, Lupin's friends are caught by police and so facing death penalty.
If Lupin usually show off his confidence and wittiness, now he must face Deputy Dauberq who is not only have equal capability with Lupin's but also able to predict what that gentleman of burglar's thinking.
Most of Lupin's idea is facing deadlock. Thing getting complicated when a woman showed between them. Is she a friend or foe?
This story have a lot of twist. Lupin must think hard to find a way to release his friend. His attempts is often fail by Dauberq's wits such as when he discover Lupin's disguise easily several times.
It is also intense because Lupin must racing with time in order to save his friends. Sometimes his guilt towards them make him nervous.
I need several days to finished the book. I think this book is not a good start to read Arsene Lupin's series. Maybe because I was expecting to meet cocky Lupin so when I figure out that he's having difficulties to show off his ability as a thief, I'm kinda disappointed.
But maybe it just about the timing.
Another thing that is very disappointing is fatal mistake by the publisher. Some paragraph is missing and some repeat in other page.
Apparently, there mistake when they print it.
Fortunately, the publisher send me the missing paragraph and page (even in separate printed paper) and another Lupin's book as an apology.
Please be more careful next time Bukune! -
Arsène Lupin meets a formidable foe, and a battle of wits ensues. Many entertaining moments, but it was about 100 pages too long.
Here we find Lupin's trademark cleverness and cheek, always fun to read. And the action at the beginning engages the reader quickly.
There's a plot pattern of Lupin thinking he's just about to succeed when you can see there are still 300 pages left and then of course he fails terribly, because otherwise there would be nothing to write in the rest of the book. This idea is amusing at first, but the roller coaster goes up and down a few too many times.
There's an unnecessary torture scene in the middle of the novel, situated in a ridiculously unbelievable sequence of events that weren't necessary for the story. In my view, Leblanc should have just left that part out and handled the reveals in another way.
Another weakness is that the event at the center of the story is something that happened in history that's never described, so while all of the characters in the story are reacting to it emotionally, the reader is not given that opportunity.
Nonetheless, it's a page turner at the beginning and the end, if somewhat a slog in the middle. -
Quinta aventura que leo de Arsene Lupin y quizás ésta sea la más adrenalínica de todas hasta el momento.
Porque? Pues porque se trata de un robo no planeado por él, que lleva a sus dos cómplices a prisión. Y por uno de ellos, Lupin siente un aprecio especial y desea ponerlo en libertad antes de que llegue a la guillotina.
Misterios, intrigas y un tapón de cristal que se le aparece y desaparece sin él entender su significado, pero que puede ser la clave de todo… o quizás no.
Soluciones planeadas con la maestría e ingenio de Lupin, pero que se ven truncadas y no resultan como esperaban. Tienen el tiempo en contra y se va perdiendo la calma.
Esta vez se enfrenta a un rival casi tan inteligente e ingenioso como nuestro antihéroe. El panorama no pinta nada bien y romperá todos los esquemas de Lupin, dandole más de un dolor de cabeza.
Una lectura dinámica y entretenida. Apta para toda la familia.
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In a unique twist, the "villanous" Arsene Lupin becomes the hero of this novel when he faces a sly and blackmailing French deputy, Daubrecq, in a nail-biting adventure that seems to spell doom to Lupin and his gang. Lupin's every move seems anticipated by Daubrecq and his success in saving his followers from the guillotine remains unsure to the very end. Can his marvelous intellect really have met its match in this truly evil deputy? It certainly looks to be the case! Like the others, this book by LeBlanc is a treasure...definitely a recommendation for anyone who enjoys Sherlock Holmes and other older detective fiction!
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Solo había leído la Condesa de Cagliostro anteriormente, pero sin duda, en esta aventura, por fin vemos a Arsenio Lupin en aprietos casi insalvables.
De principio a fin es una aventura que va aumentando la tensión, hasta que descubrimos qué es el susodicho y evasivo 'Tapón De Cristal'.
Luego se plantea un segundo asunto a resolver, y las mil y un peripecias a las que ha de enfrentarse el protagonista hasta el desenlace final.
Sin duda es un libro muy encantador y entretenido.
Gracias, Maurice Leblanc, por este libro maravillozo. -
A traditional read and a favorite author. Intricately plotted and characterizations that help a make choice to like or not, this draws you in and keeps the questions coming until the reader is satisfied that this book is worth the time and price but, usually, the classics (still) are.
Revised review wording 02/17/23
Gotta stop rating books after bedtime… too many mistakes — apologies to those who couldn’t make sense of what I wrote and thanks to those who took my star rating to heart instead.
📀💿💽💾 👍🏼⭐️👍🏼⭐️👍🏼⭐️👍🏼 📘📗📕📙
