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emily_bg's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.75
k5tog's review against another edition
4.0
Slow to start, but my interest grew over time. One thing I hope for from historical fiction is to be led to other books. This story passed that test, since I am now reading The Mystery of Edwin Drood.
imyerhero's review against another edition
3.0
In 1870, the world is rocked with the news of the sudden death of literary genius Charles Dickens. The publishing house of Fields & Osgood is particularly shaken, their exclusive publishing rights to Dickens’ newest book, “The Mystery of Edwin Drood”, is their strongest chance to survive as a company, and now it looks like the rest of the story will not be forthcoming unless Dickens has miraculously written 2/3 of a book before his death. When they send a young intern, Daniel Sand, to England to pick up the remaining installments, he is brutally murdered in the streets mere blocks from the publishing house on his return. The manuscripts disappear into the crowd of onlookers. Daniel’s sister, Rebecca, and one of the partners of the publishing house, James Osgood, are sent to England themselves to search for any clues to the possible ending to Dickens’ last novel. But along the way, they are attacked and soon realize there is much more to the story of Edwin Drood than any of the world know, and they are in the thick of a scramble for what could be a priceless story, fighting alongside opium dealers, rival publishing house hired thugs, murderers, greedy business men, and even characters from Dickens’ story itself.
I always have a hard time getting in to Pearl’s novels. They tend to start a little slow, setting building blocks throughout several story lines which will inevitably converge before the end. This novel is no exception, jumping back and forth in time and between England, India, and Boston. I never feel like I’m quite smart enough to grasp what Pearl is trying to entertain me with, but the stories are still intriguing and the literary aspect is more than enough to keep me reading. Unlike “The Dante Club”, the characters in this novel actually made me feel empathy towards their plight, I found myself rooting for them rather than apathetic towards the conclusion of the story. This might be simply because there were far less of them to keep track of than in “The Dante Club”.
I may go back and read this story again in a few years, because it feels like the sort of book that you would benefit from reading a few times – picking up more the second time through when you’re not merely plugging through to find out the ending. I still have trouble understanding the reason behind the inclusion of some of the minor story lines. They weren’t hindering the main story, but I felt at a loss as to why we were being told about these happenings. They felt relevant but unnecessary.
I still have one more Matthew Pearl book to read, and while I’m looking forward to it, I’m not planning on picking it up anytime soon. However, I do recommend this novel if you like a meaty literary mystery – deeper than a Grisham or Cornwall etc. It involves real aspects of the death of Dickens and the unfinished “Drood” which you may find interesting if you are a Dickens’ fan. Be sure to set aside plenty of time to read it – it isn’t long, but it’s the sort of novel you want to take your time with.
I always have a hard time getting in to Pearl’s novels. They tend to start a little slow, setting building blocks throughout several story lines which will inevitably converge before the end. This novel is no exception, jumping back and forth in time and between England, India, and Boston. I never feel like I’m quite smart enough to grasp what Pearl is trying to entertain me with, but the stories are still intriguing and the literary aspect is more than enough to keep me reading. Unlike “The Dante Club”, the characters in this novel actually made me feel empathy towards their plight, I found myself rooting for them rather than apathetic towards the conclusion of the story. This might be simply because there were far less of them to keep track of than in “The Dante Club”.
I may go back and read this story again in a few years, because it feels like the sort of book that you would benefit from reading a few times – picking up more the second time through when you’re not merely plugging through to find out the ending. I still have trouble understanding the reason behind the inclusion of some of the minor story lines. They weren’t hindering the main story, but I felt at a loss as to why we were being told about these happenings. They felt relevant but unnecessary.
I still have one more Matthew Pearl book to read, and while I’m looking forward to it, I’m not planning on picking it up anytime soon. However, I do recommend this novel if you like a meaty literary mystery – deeper than a Grisham or Cornwall etc. It involves real aspects of the death of Dickens and the unfinished “Drood” which you may find interesting if you are a Dickens’ fan. Be sure to set aside plenty of time to read it – it isn’t long, but it’s the sort of novel you want to take your time with.
danad96's review against another edition
2.0
I tried to like this book. I've enjoyed Matthew Pearl's other books a lot. But I just wasn't able to get into this one. It moved so slowly. I stopped about halfway.
hashbrownhedgehog's review against another edition
Fine but not for me. The pacing in the beginning was off and the characters didn’t hook me. It felt like I needed context before on Dickens’ life to understand what was happening that I didn’t have.
giulss__'s review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
majkia's review against another edition
4.0
Interesting fictional look at Dickens' death and the aftermath as publishers try to find out how Drood ends. I really enjoy literary mysteries, and this was definitely one of them.
kmrose's review against another edition
4.0
This was a lot of fun. It makes me crave a good Dickens novel! The ending was a little over the top, but I think he did a great job recreating Dickens' time and the characters that might cause such a caper.
beasleysbooks's review against another edition
1.0
DNF @37%
I’m still not very good at DNFing books I don’t like because I’m usually the type to push through even when I don’t like something. I’m hoping 2019 brings a stronger Eden who is able to say no and BE OKAY WITH IT.
The summary of this book sounds fantastic. Mystery concerning a book and the writing community? Count me in! Or not… I did like the idea of this book and how history was used. I honestly don’t know a lot about Charles Dickens and have only read part of Oliver Twist, so learning more about him was cool! It was the writing and execution of the plot that had me nodding off and pushing this book away.
It took me 50 pages to figure out who the main characters were supposed to be. Osgood is the main character I would say, but when I first met him I thought he was just a stepping stone to getting to the protagonist. That shouldn’t be! They’re also trying to do some romance thing that I just can’t deal with. The characters feel like they have no CHARACTER. How? What? Why?
I kind of skimmed the rest of the book to see if things would start to make sense. All in all, I don’t think I missed out on much by DNFing this.
I’m still not very good at DNFing books I don’t like because I’m usually the type to push through even when I don’t like something. I’m hoping 2019 brings a stronger Eden who is able to say no and BE OKAY WITH IT.
The summary of this book sounds fantastic. Mystery concerning a book and the writing community? Count me in! Or not… I did like the idea of this book and how history was used. I honestly don’t know a lot about Charles Dickens and have only read part of Oliver Twist, so learning more about him was cool! It was the writing and execution of the plot that had me nodding off and pushing this book away.
It took me 50 pages to figure out who the main characters were supposed to be. Osgood is the main character I would say, but when I first met him I thought he was just a stepping stone to getting to the protagonist. That shouldn’t be! They’re also trying to do some romance thing that I just can’t deal with. The characters feel like they have no CHARACTER. How? What? Why?
I kind of skimmed the rest of the book to see if things would start to make sense. All in all, I don’t think I missed out on much by DNFing this.