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3.24 AVERAGE
3.24 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
informative
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Well written, good book. But for me, not an easy read. I love to read but I'm more more of a pedestrian than a literati in my reading. It did however, inspire me to dig out my copy of Dante's Divine Comedy and give it a go.
This was tough to get into, but once I got about 80 pages in I was hooked. I wouldn't call this the average pulp fiction read...it's more heady, but nonetheless engrossing with an engaging plot not easily guessed.
I was expecting great things from this book and was greatly disappointed.
I want to read The Last Dickens but when I was in the library I came across The Dante Club, Matthew Pearl's first novel so I decided to check it out.
Summary: As a group of America's most famous poets work to create the first American translation of Dante's The Divine Comedy against great pressure from the Harvard Corporation, a series of murders ripped from those very pages are committed. The club bands together to solve the mystery and protect Dante's reputation.
I have never read Dante but I am now much more interested in doing so. I know The Divine Comedy is on my (massive) TBR list but I will be making more of an effort to read it now. The historical detail and world created were fantastic-I felt like I was in Boston in 1865. I liked the characters a great deal, the narrative shifts to follow them around.
Again I did not figure out who the murderer was :-( I also had some difficulty distinguishing the characters. Lowell and Longfellow's names were too similar for me sometimes and many of the peripheral female characters had the same name (I realize this is historically accurate but it was hard for me). I also kept wanting Holmes to be either his son, the famous Supreme Court Justice, or Sherlock Holmes which is just weirdness on my part.
Overall: I would rate this 3 1/2 out of 5 stars; it was mostly enjoyable but not addicting. I definitely want to read Pearl's Dickens and Poe books. I may like them more as I am more familiar with those authors.
Summary: As a group of America's most famous poets work to create the first American translation of Dante's The Divine Comedy against great pressure from the Harvard Corporation, a series of murders ripped from those very pages are committed. The club bands together to solve the mystery and protect Dante's reputation.
I have never read Dante but I am now much more interested in doing so. I know The Divine Comedy is on my (massive) TBR list but I will be making more of an effort to read it now. The historical detail and world created were fantastic-I felt like I was in Boston in 1865. I liked the characters a great deal, the narrative shifts to follow them around.
Again I did not figure out who the murderer was :-( I also had some difficulty distinguishing the characters. Lowell and Longfellow's names were too similar for me sometimes and many of the peripheral female characters had the same name (I realize this is historically accurate but it was hard for me). I also kept wanting Holmes to be either his son, the famous Supreme Court Justice, or Sherlock Holmes which is just weirdness on my part.
Overall: I would rate this 3 1/2 out of 5 stars; it was mostly enjoyable but not addicting. I definitely want to read Pearl's Dickens and Poe books. I may like them more as I am more familiar with those authors.
This started out a little slow, but I think this was a good one to listen to. The narrator gave each of the characters their own voice and took the language to heart, which added a lot to this period piece. I was worried that my next to no knowledge of Dante's Inferno was going to affect my understanding and appreciation of this book, but I found that I had nothing to worry about. All references to Dante was explained well to the reader and gave a nice backbone to the story. I'll be curious to try some of Pearl's other books.
Enjoyed it the second time around. Love literary-inspired historical fiction/thrillers.
This was a very interesting book, but for some reason i found it slow reading...maybe it was the author's use of 19th century style English for long periods of time or something. however, in the end the story was excellent and i really enjoyed it. the story revolves around the great poets of Boston (Longfellow, Holmes, Lowell, Greene) in the period immediately after the Civil War. suddenly eminent citizens start showing up dead in gruesome ways that seem to be connected to the Dante's Inferno. the author is a Dante scholar and it shows...lots of detail that is often fascinating but sometimes goes a bit too deep. All in all, a good historical thriller and it certainly brings the world of 1860's Boston to life in the reader's mind.
dark
funny
informative
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book is about four old white elitist men solving a murder through their academic obsession of Dante. I would definitely call it dark academia in that retrospect. It's academia is nothing except Dante and a very gruesome description of flies( which was gag inducing to read , I hate flies). So if you're looking for a dark academia that spans multiple subjects this is not that it's just Dante and flies. There's a token poc policemen that just kinda feels random? The police in general are not very useful in this book. It just feels unnecessary to the plot??? He's subjugated to racism and violence for???? His whole character is that he's a black policemen and him being black has barely any affect on the plot and him being a policemen( all the policemen as previously said are useless) doesn't have any affect on the plot. You could have taken all the police characters out of the book and given them no povs or names and nothing would have changed. I don't know it just feels kinda "here's a black man! Diversity! Check ✔️" Also woman? Not relevant just a dead-wife-montage-in-the-begining-of-an-action-movie-for-motivation/plot. Plus two very well meaning daughters who just worry about their fathers and look up to them so. If you're looking for diverse dark academia with poc and woman this is big the book.
That being said, I did like it overall. The white men in question are very cute. I found the banter very silly at times and even laughed out loud. Dr Holmes and Lowell in my head are the cutest frenemies and Dr Holmes is my favorite character overall. I feel like he was the most flushed out character compared to the others. Amougest the gruesome murder I found it a cozy little read about silly old white Dante obsessed nerds.Would I read the second book? I don't know if it comes my way organically, yes. If I have to go out of my way to find it, no.
That being said, I did like it overall. The white men in question are very cute. I found the banter very silly at times and even laughed out loud. Dr Holmes and Lowell in my head are the cutest frenemies and Dr Holmes is my favorite character overall. I feel like he was the most flushed out character compared to the others. Amougest the gruesome murder I found it a cozy little read about silly old white Dante obsessed nerds.Would I read the second book? I don't know if it comes my way organically, yes. If I have to go out of my way to find it, no.
This novel had been on my reading list for quite some time, and I have to say I was slightly disappointed. The beginning was quite slow and provided a lot of useless background information that I did not find engaging. It was not until the 6th or 7th chapter that the book began to pick up a bit. From there, I found it quite suspenseful and enjoyable. Overall, a pretty good read but nothing spectacular. I loved the original plot line, however, and enjoyed how Dante was incorporated into it.