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3.24 AVERAGE
3.24 AVERAGE
https://adventuresinnonsense.com/book-reviews/review-dante-club/
This took me a few attempts to get through, but eventually I did, and enjoyed the historical aspect, though I don't typically go for mystery/suspense.
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
A very intense mystery with some rather gruesome crimes and a surprising turn or two along the way. I read Dante's Inferno immediately after taking the Bar Exam (which many people said was insane) but only after reading this did I realize how little of it I had absorbed (hey, my brain was pretty fried!). The debate as to the exact meaning of specific passages was quite illuminating for me. I came to love very much the main characters of this book -- Lowell, Holmes, Fields, Greene, Longfellow, and especially the fictional Nicholas Rey. I will have more appreciation for them and their work in the future, I think. Mr. Rey's character especially appeals because you can feel his isolation and loneliness and determination to do his duty in a way that I still cannot feel Dante's, despite the great literary minds in this book that tried to convince me otherwise. And I found the character of Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., later Justice Holmes, somewhat redeemed by this glimpse into his early life, though not enough to forgive him his bigotry in Buck v. Bell.
One of the questions for discussion at the end of the book is "did you figure out whodunit?" followed by another question, "really?" I think this is justified. Once it begins to be explained, it all makes sense, but until then the reader, like the great literary minds, is deceived. Any other comments would spoil the revelation, so I must leave it at that.
One of the questions for discussion at the end of the book is "did you figure out whodunit?" followed by another question, "really?" I think this is justified. Once it begins to be explained, it all makes sense, but until then the reader, like the great literary minds, is deceived. Any other comments would spoil the revelation, so I must leave it at that.
Fascinating story of Boston right after the War Between the States, including the famous poets of the time, and the whole controversy regarding 'allowing' foreign influences into America as the poets work on translating Dante's Commedia into English. Oh, and then there's the murders...
Take the movie Seven, where instead of the 7 deadly sins the killer bases his targets off of punishments of the circles of hell from the newly translated cantos of Dante's Divine Comedy into English. Then enter Longfellow, Oliver Wendell Holmes, and other major 19th century Bostonian figures to solve the crime set in the aftermath of the Civil War.
Did not grab me at all. Very dense writing and slow moving plot. Was bored pretty quickly.
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
A really interesting and mostly fast-paced murder mystery, with lots of discussion and descriptions of Dante's Inferno. I found it a bit stodgy at times, but that may have been unavoidable as the protagonists are members of the Boston intelligentsia in the 19th century (three are Harvard professors). I definitely recommend it to anyone who likes historical mysteries and watching historical figures interact with each other.