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3.24 AVERAGE
3.24 AVERAGE
Matthew Pearl is a talented new writer. I read his debut novel, The Dante Club, and I had really liked it because of the setting. Starting with The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco, Literary Mystery (maybe not the best name for this genre) which is Crime Fiction with a literary twist has been one of my favorites.
In The Dante Club, Pearl takes on the events around a literary club which started with Dante's La Divina Comedia and folded into grisly murders that seem to copy Dante's punishments in L'Inferno. It is a pretty enthralling book and I enjoyed reading it a lot.
In The Dante Club, Pearl takes on the events around a literary club which started with Dante's La Divina Comedia and folded into grisly murders that seem to copy Dante's punishments in L'Inferno. It is a pretty enthralling book and I enjoyed reading it a lot.
I really enjoyed this murder mystery book. The writing was superb and I couldn't put it down. I think combining the murder plot with the history of translating the "Divine Comedy" by Dante into English was a winning combination.
In all honesty I could never quite get the feel of being transported by this book...no matter how I expected to be. The author choose a great historical nugget to expand upon, and yet I could only begin to feel I was present before he would lose me again. Not one of the protagonists could I define clearly enough to have felt I befriended them, even Longfellow whom I longed to grow my empathy for. Despite this, I am glad I persevered to the end. Unlike many mysteries you can't guess the end near the beginning.
Did not finish. Could not get into either the time period (1865) or the characters (scholars of the time--Longfellow, Oliver Wendell Holmes, J. T. Fields, etc.). Maybe I just don't know enough about Dante's Inferno. Whatever it was, I wasn't into it.
I started this book with high hopes - it's a New York Times bestseller! I found myself a little let down. The writing was well done (reminiscent of Austen's flowery prose) and I truly enjoyed the way Pearl depicted literary giants like Longfellow, but it was extremely difficult to follow the storyline.
Definitely not on my list of recommendations.
Definitely not on my list of recommendations.
This is far from my typically read. I got a good deal on the book from a used book store, and having studied Italian (which includes even a brief encounter with Dante), I was intrigued.
I did like this book, even though it's a historical murder mystery, and two out of three really don't appeal to me. So there's a series of murders happening in post-Civil War Boston and they are all taken out of Dante's descriptions of Hell in his Divine Comedy. Dante's work is just started to being introduced to the US, so there is only a small team of experts trying to translate it into English.
It's gruesome in places (it's murder, what can you expect), but I think it raises an important point, albeit a different one. I read whether in the book or in the brief research I did that it's kind of about the de facto censorship in the publishing industry relating to the fear that certain things aren't good for society, specifically excessive violence in literature or some sort of medium that encourages violence in real life. That isn't the impression I got. From reading it, I think (trying to limit spoilers) the point is that violence encourages violence, but we use the media as somes ort of scapegoat because we don't want to own up to the air we are creating.
I did like this book, even though it's a historical murder mystery, and two out of three really don't appeal to me. So there's a series of murders happening in post-Civil War Boston and they are all taken out of Dante's descriptions of Hell in his Divine Comedy. Dante's work is just started to being introduced to the US, so there is only a small team of experts trying to translate it into English.
It's gruesome in places (it's murder, what can you expect), but I think it raises an important point, albeit a different one. I read whether in the book or in the brief research I did that it's kind of about the de facto censorship in the publishing industry relating to the fear that certain things aren't good for society, specifically excessive violence in literature or some sort of medium that encourages violence in real life. That isn't the impression I got. From reading it, I think (trying to limit spoilers) the point is that violence encourages violence, but we use the media as somes ort of scapegoat because we don't want to own up to the air we are creating.
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Held my interest and made me want to keep reading. I loved the poetry mixed with suspense
Content Warnings
Moderate: Cursing, Death, Mental illness, Blood, Murder
dark
informative
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated