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3.43 AVERAGE
3.43 AVERAGE
Oh I had so much fun with this.
I was going on a trip to Cambridge, MA to visit my sister. She's studying at Harvard for the year and I wanted to read something that would give some life to my trip, a nice bit of historical fiction. While this was not the right book for a trip to Harvard, especially since it casts Harvard in a negative light, it was certainly a great read for making that region come alive for me. I've long been a fan of MIT and this was such a delight to read.
I did read some reviews first, some of which warned of a confusing cast of characters. While I certainly felt that way in the beginning, once I got into it I found it easy to keep track of the characters. Similarly, I found the plot a little scattered at first but once The Technologists got down to work I was captivated. There were many times when it truly felt like all hope was lost for the characters and for MIT! I was pretty impressed by the plot.
However, I did find that the book was a little hard to follow whenever the narrative moved to a new setting or switched to a flashback. I was listening to the audiobook so perhaps that was easier to follow in a print edition. It would take me some time to figure out where, when, and who the narrative was referring to.
Additionally, I will agree with other reviewers that Pearl's dialogue is sometimes cringey. He valiantly attempted to write with historically accurate language, sometimes to a fault. Most of the time it was fine, sometimes it was just funny, and other times it was painfully awkward. This must be a common problem with historical fiction but somehow I've witnessed other authors tackle the challenge a little more gracefully.
That being said, I think the fun characters and surprising plot more than made up for the awkward dialogue. I recommend this book, especially to any MIT enthusiasts and historical fiction fans!
I was going on a trip to Cambridge, MA to visit my sister. She's studying at Harvard for the year and I wanted to read something that would give some life to my trip, a nice bit of historical fiction. While this was not the right book for a trip to Harvard, especially since it casts Harvard in a negative light, it was certainly a great read for making that region come alive for me. I've long been a fan of MIT and this was such a delight to read.
I did read some reviews first, some of which warned of a confusing cast of characters. While I certainly felt that way in the beginning, once I got into it I found it easy to keep track of the characters. Similarly, I found the plot a little scattered at first but once The Technologists got down to work I was captivated. There were many times when it truly felt like all hope was lost for the characters and for MIT! I was pretty impressed by the plot.
However, I did find that the book was a little hard to follow whenever the narrative moved to a new setting or switched to a flashback. I was listening to the audiobook so perhaps that was easier to follow in a print edition. It would take me some time to figure out where, when, and who the narrative was referring to.
Additionally, I will agree with other reviewers that Pearl's dialogue is sometimes cringey. He valiantly attempted to write with historically accurate language, sometimes to a fault. Most of the time it was fine, sometimes it was just funny, and other times it was painfully awkward. This must be a common problem with historical fiction but somehow I've witnessed other authors tackle the challenge a little more gracefully.
That being said, I think the fun characters and surprising plot more than made up for the awkward dialogue. I recommend this book, especially to any MIT enthusiasts and historical fiction fans!
It's rare for me not to finish a book, even if I am not enjoying it, as I always think it might get better towards the end ... but I had just about enough of this when, on p227 (of 476), the Dastardly Villain declares: '"I am to have my proper revenge, and for that I am to operate in the shadows."' It's a great idea for a novel, exploring the historical antededents of MIT, and Pearl has done a lot of impeccable research on life in Boston at that time ... except the characterisation is like a Hardy Boys novel. To whit, on p147: '"Am I that important and handsome?" Bob bellowed with his deep bass laugh, and tossed his head.' One of the characters even declares: '"Hurrah for the nineteenth century!'" Aargh!!!
Rating: one ill-tempered star (p54)
I gave up on this boring, clanking, juddering steampunk-lite edifice of rusty cogs and leaking pipes when I read one character from MIT's first graduating class saying to another that their technological age had an engine but no engineer. (A quote from Emerson.)
Ugh.
I started the book with serious interest, based on some good reviews of people whose taste I trust, and on my great desire to see technology applied to problem-solving in extreme situations (the reason I read thrillers). I was wincing from the first scene, where a naked "charity scholar" swims in Boston's Charles River, then is dragooned by his buddies to crank up a rowing scull, and then there is engineered (bad pun, sorry) a confrontation with one of the men's acquaintance from Harvard. It was both too much information, and too little characterization. The utterances of the parties to this watery contretemps simply made no difference to me, I felt they were there to further some Point the author wanted to make.
Anyway. Mr. Pearl and I are not a good fit. I've tried his Dante book, and foundered about 60pp in, then I read his Dickens book to about the same place. We do not seem to be made for each other. As his books are tremendously successful commercially, he won't miss my money, and as his critical reception is rapturous, he won't miss my praise.
I will miss the interesting ideas all of his works to date have served rather unappealingly. Who loses? Me. Which makes me really grumpy.
I gave up on this boring, clanking, juddering steampunk-lite edifice of rusty cogs and leaking pipes when I read one character from MIT's first graduating class saying to another that their technological age had an engine but no engineer. (A quote from Emerson.)
Ugh.
I started the book with serious interest, based on some good reviews of people whose taste I trust, and on my great desire to see technology applied to problem-solving in extreme situations (the reason I read thrillers). I was wincing from the first scene, where a naked "charity scholar" swims in Boston's Charles River, then is dragooned by his buddies to crank up a rowing scull, and then there is engineered (bad pun, sorry) a confrontation with one of the men's acquaintance from Harvard. It was both too much information, and too little characterization. The utterances of the parties to this watery contretemps simply made no difference to me, I felt they were there to further some Point the author wanted to make.
Anyway. Mr. Pearl and I are not a good fit. I've tried his Dante book, and foundered about 60pp in, then I read his Dickens book to about the same place. We do not seem to be made for each other. As his books are tremendously successful commercially, he won't miss my money, and as his critical reception is rapturous, he won't miss my praise.
I will miss the interesting ideas all of his works to date have served rather unappealingly. Who loses? Me. Which makes me really grumpy.
Just all right. Writing is a blend of faux Dickens and the Hardy Boys. Too long by a third.
Ah, a different book for sure. I did not like the writing style at all, which seemed to be imitating the prose of the 1800's. As a book that was about technological disasters and terrorism in Boston in the mid 1800's and investigated by some of the first students of MIT, I thought it was longgggg on those stilted sounding 1800's Victorian conversations. I was expecting at any time to read the exclamation "Gadzooks!" from one of the characters. I know, I know...all of the antique conversation was supposed to imitate the language of that time, but it got quickly annoying and made me want to get to the end of this 500 page book as fast as I could.
God almighty what a bore I thought the idea of it was intriguing and sounded like something I like to read.... but OMG the story is appalling all over the place and just terrible
this wasn't one of the better matthew pearl books , felt was very slow to get going even though liked the backdrop of boston and cambridge , maybe his next book will more like the last dickens etc