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book_concierge's review against another edition
1.0
ZERO stars!
The authors have been friends since age 8, so much of the book is devoted to male friendship. But then there is the mystery of the Hyperatamalion - a work studied by Tom's late father, and now taken up by his roommate, the reclusive orphan Paul. It takes to the middle of the book for the plot to start moving. Many loose threads -
Why all the treachery? Our book club chose this because we thought it would be a fun, fast read over the holidays. We gave it unanimously BAD reviews. Favorite comment of the evening was: If you take the last letter of the 8th word in each chapter and rearrange them you'll get YOU SUCKER!
The authors have been friends since age 8, so much of the book is devoted to male friendship. But then there is the mystery of the Hyperatamalion - a work studied by Tom's late father, and now taken up by his roommate, the reclusive orphan Paul. It takes to the middle of the book for the plot to start moving. Many loose threads -
Spoiler
what ever happened to Gil? Charlie seems a misfit.Why all the treachery? Our book club chose this because we thought it would be a fun, fast read over the holidays. We gave it unanimously BAD reviews. Favorite comment of the evening was: If you take the last letter of the 8th word in each chapter and rearrange them you'll get YOU SUCKER!
kelsasy's review against another edition
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
rabbithalliwell's review against another edition
4.0
Similar to The Da Vinci Code in some ways this was a good read of a similar nature.
celtic_oracle's review against another edition
3.0
I found this book hard to rate. There are some definite pacing problems that meant I went from being unable to put the book down to just being mildly interested in the story. And it did feel very academic (in a stuffy classroom kind of way) in several places. The really good parts bump this up to three stars.
fudgeelizabeth9's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
sandeeisreading's review against another edition
3.0
I had such high hopes for this book.
It had loads of potential which was why I was overly disappointed after reading the first 200 something pages of this book.
I was actually surprised I even reached 200 pages.
Reading this felt like watching one of those Filipino soap operas that drags on and on with the same stuff.
The reason I picked up this book was because of the mystery revolving this certain book, Hypnerotomachia Poliphili.
Did I get that correctly?
I think I did.
Anyways, thought it would somehow give me the same feel I had when I read Dan Brown’s books.
I was for the first few pages really ecstatic because the synopsis was really promising.
After I was done reading the first 100 pages that was when I started to get disappointed.
It was getting too slow and too boring for me.
The characters were fine; I liked them being all close and all but where was the mystery?
Where was the thrill?
I thought that probably all the talk and flashbacks were just preparations for what was yet to come but I was wrong.
I was already past 200 pages and I still didn’t get what I was looking for and that was when I decided to put this book down.
I had enough.
When a friend asked me how the book was I told him it was pretty much okay because I was in the first 100 pages then.
I even told him I was wondering why this book had a low rating.
I don’t know if it would be the same for everybody who read the book but the real reason why I didn’t enjoy this book was because of the pace of the story and the unnecessary flashbacks about how the friendship of the characters evolved and all that crap.
At least that was what I thought.
There were a lot of story telling about how the characters became friends and such but it didn’t really give much emphasis on the real main concept of the book.
I mean the story was about the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili right?
Or is it just me who thought that?
This book has 500 plus pages which I think should have just been around 300 plus if it just focused on the main story.
I would have enjoyed it more.
I have no issues with a slow paced story if it fitted the whole concept of the book but this is supposed to be a mystery/thriller right?
It’s not supposed to be slow.
It is supposed to make you want to know what happens next and savor the action and thrill that comes out from its pages.
I would have to give this book a three.
This review is just based on the first 200 something pages I’ve read.
I did not have the interest to read it any more.
I may or may not reread it again in the future, I’m not sure.
It had loads of potential which was why I was overly disappointed after reading the first 200 something pages of this book.
I was actually surprised I even reached 200 pages.
Reading this felt like watching one of those Filipino soap operas that drags on and on with the same stuff.
The reason I picked up this book was because of the mystery revolving this certain book, Hypnerotomachia Poliphili.
Did I get that correctly?
I think I did.
Anyways, thought it would somehow give me the same feel I had when I read Dan Brown’s books.
I was for the first few pages really ecstatic because the synopsis was really promising.
After I was done reading the first 100 pages that was when I started to get disappointed.
It was getting too slow and too boring for me.
The characters were fine; I liked them being all close and all but where was the mystery?
Where was the thrill?
I thought that probably all the talk and flashbacks were just preparations for what was yet to come but I was wrong.
I was already past 200 pages and I still didn’t get what I was looking for and that was when I decided to put this book down.
I had enough.
When a friend asked me how the book was I told him it was pretty much okay because I was in the first 100 pages then.
I even told him I was wondering why this book had a low rating.
I don’t know if it would be the same for everybody who read the book but the real reason why I didn’t enjoy this book was because of the pace of the story and the unnecessary flashbacks about how the friendship of the characters evolved and all that crap.
At least that was what I thought.
There were a lot of story telling about how the characters became friends and such but it didn’t really give much emphasis on the real main concept of the book.
I mean the story was about the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili right?
Or is it just me who thought that?
This book has 500 plus pages which I think should have just been around 300 plus if it just focused on the main story.
I would have enjoyed it more.
I have no issues with a slow paced story if it fitted the whole concept of the book but this is supposed to be a mystery/thriller right?
It’s not supposed to be slow.
It is supposed to make you want to know what happens next and savor the action and thrill that comes out from its pages.
I would have to give this book a three.
This review is just based on the first 200 something pages I’ve read.
I did not have the interest to read it any more.
I may or may not reread it again in the future, I’m not sure.
madi_readz's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.0
darastar's review against another edition
3.0
this book wanted to be The Da Vinci Code. And kind of failed. But it was still enjoyable.