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flan16_'s review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
svw89's review against another edition
2.0
[b:The Book of Mirrors|29905588|The Book of Mirrors|E.O. Chirovici|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1473247066s/29905588.jpg|47192843] had a lot of potential. Peter Katz is a literacy agent who receives an unfinished manuscript. This manuscript is a memoir written by Richard Flynn detailing his time at Princeton in the late 80's and his relationship with Professor Joseph Wieder who happened to be brutally murdered in his home. The case was never solved. Peter Katz wants to get to the bottom of what happened that night twenty five years before and goes after the finished manuscript. It sounds really interesting, doesn't it? Unfortunately it wasn't as interesting as it should have been.
This book is split into three parts. The first narrated by Peter, the second by John, a journalist, and the third by Roy, a retired policeman who worked the original case and wants to finally solve the case. I liked the idea of it being narrated by three different characters who have three different perspectives and different motivations but they all sounded exactly the same. I often found myself forgetting who the narrator was and getting a bit lost. There was no variation to the narration at all. It made it quite difficult to get into and stick with too. It also didn't help that the formatting wasn't great. Capital letters were hardly ever used.
I feel there was an attempt to flesh out background characters but unfortunately this came in the form of a fact dump. Often when characters were introduced, even if they didn't stick around long, it came with a list of facts for example that the character was married, had worked as a certain thing and liked to do a certain hobby. The only point of these facts, I felt, was to say 'hey, my characters are well-rounded! I know everything about them. They're real characters!
The idea of memories and how they can't be trusted, how people can remember things one way when an event happened differently and all that is interesting in theory but the rest of the book made me lose interest.
I can see this book appealing to other people but it just wasn't for me I'm afraid.
Thank you to NetGalley for providing a free digital copy.
This book is split into three parts. The first narrated by Peter, the second by John, a journalist, and the third by Roy, a retired policeman who worked the original case and wants to finally solve the case. I liked the idea of it being narrated by three different characters who have three different perspectives and different motivations but they all sounded exactly the same. I often found myself forgetting who the narrator was and getting a bit lost. There was no variation to the narration at all. It made it quite difficult to get into and stick with too. It also didn't help that the formatting wasn't great. Capital letters were hardly ever used.
I feel there was an attempt to flesh out background characters but unfortunately this came in the form of a fact dump. Often when characters were introduced, even if they didn't stick around long, it came with a list of facts for example that the character was married, had worked as a certain thing and liked to do a certain hobby. The only point of these facts, I felt, was to say 'hey, my characters are well-rounded! I know everything about them. They're real characters!
The idea of memories and how they can't be trusted, how people can remember things one way when an event happened differently and all that is interesting in theory but the rest of the book made me lose interest.
I can see this book appealing to other people but it just wasn't for me I'm afraid.
Thank you to NetGalley for providing a free digital copy.
steffiraquel's review against another edition
2.0
⭐2
Disappointed is an understatement. I really loved the format of being passed on to different character's perspective, but that meant you never really cared about them. I predicted the end and I think the commentary on some mental health things rubbed me the wrong way...
Disappointed is an understatement. I really loved the format of being passed on to different character's perspective, but that meant you never really cared about them. I predicted the end and I think the commentary on some mental health things rubbed me the wrong way...
cordillia's review against another edition
3.0
יישום די בנאלי לרעיון מעניין ומקורי שבבסיסו הזיכרון האנושי.
התוצאה בפועל היא ספר מתח בינוני. לעיתים מרתק ולעיתים סתמי עד משעמם ממש.
מקווה לראות ניסיונות מוצלחים יותר ליישם את הרעיון של צ'ירוביצ'י: ניסיון לפתור תעלומת רצח ישן תוך הסתמכות על זיכרונם של אנשים שונים שהיו מעורבים בפרשה, שלכל אחד מהם זיכרון וסיפור שונה לגבי מה שהתרחש.
ספר המראות/י.א צ'ירוביצ'י
התוצאה בפועל היא ספר מתח בינוני. לעיתים מרתק ולעיתים סתמי עד משעמם ממש.
מקווה לראות ניסיונות מוצלחים יותר ליישם את הרעיון של צ'ירוביצ'י: ניסיון לפתור תעלומת רצח ישן תוך הסתמכות על זיכרונם של אנשים שונים שהיו מעורבים בפרשה, שלכל אחד מהם זיכרון וסיפור שונה לגבי מה שהתרחש.
ספר המראות/י.א צ'ירוביצ'י
snazzybooks's review against another edition
4.0
Book reviews and more on www.snazzybooks.com
This is an interesting, well-written book with plenty of layers and depth, centered as it is around a story within a story. It definitely drew me in, and I do love books with several parts or narratives - particularly when there's also an element of mystery!
The Book of Mirrors is a story of several parts - we start by reading the manuscript sent to an agent, but soon discover it's only a partial manuscript and so although it seems to be based on truth, on a real murder of a University Professor which happened many years ago, we don't know if it's true - and if it is true then who killed him, and how?
We switch to other viewpoints as they try to find out what actually happened. I really love novels which are essentially a 'book within a book' with dual narratives, as this is. I always find them intriguing, and The Book of Mirrors was no exception. The only annoying thing about this kind of novel is that I often feel that, just I'm just becoming completely absorbed in the plot, it switches and I feel a bit disappointed because I want to continue. However this does allow the reader to read from another viewpoint, and tease out the small intricacies connected to the murder that only certain characters may know.
Avoiding some of the characteristics of the crime genre, this book does not focus on the police investigation much at all; it's more focussed on the private investigator hired by the publishers, who is trying to work out what happened. Memories are muddied and forgotten (and purposefully altered?) so that nothing is as it seems. I really like that sense of uncertainty. When reading the manuscript we are focussed on the story as it unravels, completely at the mercy of the narrator, Peter, and whether he is a reliable narrator - or not.
E.O. Chirovici writes really well, and creates a novel which you'll want to keep reading. It's different and deliciously deep, drawing you in as you try to unravel the details!
* Many thanks to Cornerstone for providing a copy of this novel, on which I chose to write an unbiased and honest review *
This is an interesting, well-written book with plenty of layers and depth, centered as it is around a story within a story. It definitely drew me in, and I do love books with several parts or narratives - particularly when there's also an element of mystery!
The Book of Mirrors is a story of several parts - we start by reading the manuscript sent to an agent, but soon discover it's only a partial manuscript and so although it seems to be based on truth, on a real murder of a University Professor which happened many years ago, we don't know if it's true - and if it is true then who killed him, and how?
We switch to other viewpoints as they try to find out what actually happened. I really love novels which are essentially a 'book within a book' with dual narratives, as this is. I always find them intriguing, and The Book of Mirrors was no exception. The only annoying thing about this kind of novel is that I often feel that, just I'm just becoming completely absorbed in the plot, it switches and I feel a bit disappointed because I want to continue. However this does allow the reader to read from another viewpoint, and tease out the small intricacies connected to the murder that only certain characters may know.
Avoiding some of the characteristics of the crime genre, this book does not focus on the police investigation much at all; it's more focussed on the private investigator hired by the publishers, who is trying to work out what happened. Memories are muddied and forgotten (and purposefully altered?) so that nothing is as it seems. I really like that sense of uncertainty. When reading the manuscript we are focussed on the story as it unravels, completely at the mercy of the narrator, Peter, and whether he is a reliable narrator - or not.
E.O. Chirovici writes really well, and creates a novel which you'll want to keep reading. It's different and deliciously deep, drawing you in as you try to unravel the details!
* Many thanks to Cornerstone for providing a copy of this novel, on which I chose to write an unbiased and honest review *
siobhan_leahy's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
This was a novel way of telling a story, fragments of a 30 year old murder priced together from 4 different perspectives. All of which would be considered unreliable narrators.
I'd been putting off reading this as I've never seen anyone talking about it or reading it so it was a great surprise. I would definitely recommend it. Or it could be the psychiatric elements and forensic hospitals, as they are my day job so I tend to enjoy seeing them used in fiction.
Will be checking out any more work by E. O. Chirovic
I'd been putting off reading this as I've never seen anyone talking about it or reading it so it was a great surprise. I would definitely recommend it. Or it could be the psychiatric elements and forensic hospitals, as they are my day job so I tend to enjoy seeing them used in fiction.
Will be checking out any more work by E. O. Chirovic
saarahn's review against another edition
5.0
I have just discovered my kind of book, I didn't want to finish it!
This is such an astoundingly intelligent book, there were so many twists and turns. It had me cutting corners, drawing a blank, not knowing what to expect, racing ahead, creating my own scenarios, and constantly reaching dead ends....Even then, the ending was a complete surprise. This book has been the most engaging I've read in a long time, I feel as though I've exhausted my brain- in a good way, just so we're clear.
All the characters had a story, there was intrigue hints of scandal, dark histories of being misunderstood, of being framed, used and manipulated. I was at a loss for just who could possibly have been the perpetrator of the crime. They were all such viable suspects, something a little 'off' about all of them. Could they all have worked together? Could Professor Weider have created his own elaborate 'murder' to frame someone, or all of them? The characters, themselves, were at a loss too- no one seemed to have the slightest evidence. They all just had theories....I was just as engaged as they were, struggling to piece things together with a feeling that something was still missing.
For the longest time when I was reading this book, I was more than convinced of the perpetrator. My bet was Laura, she being a close student of Professor Weider, and a psychology student. I've actually always loved Psychology, and I've studied it for a number of years, and I both, resent and admire the societal stereotypes we have of psychologists. As is typical of most people, I've always been of the opinion that one can't really trust psychologists. The way they are able to manipulate thoughts, get into your head, have you open yourself up to them, has always disturbed me. And this is how we learn Professor Weider, a cognitive psychologist, to have been:
'.... he always seemed stuck inside a sort of glass cubicle, locked up in there by his own incapacity to accept that others weren’t just sock puppets in his twisted mind games.' And I thought the same thing of his student, Laura. I just kept imagining the number of minds she had been toying with, ever since the murder of her Professor. All in all, I'm pleased I was wrong.
This really is just the kind of book that makes you want to be a detective. But, unlike is common of most detective mysteries, Chirovici focusses on the motives of the individuals, what drove them to kill, it was all 'whydunit', as he writes in his 'Author's note', as well as a 'whodunit'. As a lover of history, I loved this element within the book. History, itself, seeks to uncover every small detail which contributed to any event, an individual's motives and intentions have a lot to do with that.
I honestly think this book will make a really good film. Honestly. One of those really complicated films that you're still immersed in long after you've watched it. Chirovici really is correct when he writes of the feeling the ex-detective felt once the case was finally solved, I feel the same way after finishing this book. He writes: 'When you finally discover the truth about a case that has obsessed you for a while, it’s like losing a travelling companion. A talkative, prying and perhaps even ill-mannered companion, but one you’ve grown used to having around when you wake up in the morning.'
I received this book through NetGalley.
This is such an astoundingly intelligent book, there were so many twists and turns. It had me cutting corners, drawing a blank, not knowing what to expect, racing ahead, creating my own scenarios, and constantly reaching dead ends....Even then, the ending was a complete surprise. This book has been the most engaging I've read in a long time, I feel as though I've exhausted my brain- in a good way, just so we're clear.
All the characters had a story, there was intrigue hints of scandal, dark histories of being misunderstood, of being framed, used and manipulated. I was at a loss for just who could possibly have been the perpetrator of the crime. They were all such viable suspects, something a little 'off' about all of them. Could they all have worked together? Could Professor Weider have created his own elaborate 'murder' to frame someone, or all of them? The characters, themselves, were at a loss too- no one seemed to have the slightest evidence. They all just had theories....I was just as engaged as they were, struggling to piece things together with a feeling that something was still missing.
For the longest time when I was reading this book, I was more than convinced of the perpetrator. My bet was Laura, she being a close student of Professor Weider, and a psychology student. I've actually always loved Psychology, and I've studied it for a number of years, and I both, resent and admire the societal stereotypes we have of psychologists. As is typical of most people, I've always been of the opinion that one can't really trust psychologists. The way they are able to manipulate thoughts, get into your head, have you open yourself up to them, has always disturbed me. And this is how we learn Professor Weider, a cognitive psychologist, to have been:
'.... he always seemed stuck inside a sort of glass cubicle, locked up in there by his own incapacity to accept that others weren’t just sock puppets in his twisted mind games.' And I thought the same thing of his student, Laura. I just kept imagining the number of minds she had been toying with, ever since the murder of her Professor. All in all, I'm pleased I was wrong.
This really is just the kind of book that makes you want to be a detective. But, unlike is common of most detective mysteries, Chirovici focusses on the motives of the individuals, what drove them to kill, it was all 'whydunit', as he writes in his 'Author's note', as well as a 'whodunit'. As a lover of history, I loved this element within the book. History, itself, seeks to uncover every small detail which contributed to any event, an individual's motives and intentions have a lot to do with that.
I honestly think this book will make a really good film. Honestly. One of those really complicated films that you're still immersed in long after you've watched it. Chirovici really is correct when he writes of the feeling the ex-detective felt once the case was finally solved, I feel the same way after finishing this book. He writes: 'When you finally discover the truth about a case that has obsessed you for a while, it’s like losing a travelling companion. A talkative, prying and perhaps even ill-mannered companion, but one you’ve grown used to having around when you wake up in the morning.'
I received this book through NetGalley.
jessy_reads's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Diverse cast of characters? No
3.0
jojojgb's review against another edition
2.0
2.5 stars: the story idea was strong but to make the ending work there are too many coincidences and people involved. It felt like too much of a stretch at the end.