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3.24 AVERAGE
3.24 AVERAGE
As a very self centered principle, I despise coffee that is not too strong or gone cold for it leaves a bad taste in my mouth. This book gave me similar feelings. Built on a foundation of Boston in the 1850's, the lushly fertile literary backdrop of Harvard, historical figures of the like of Emerson, Henry Longfellow, Dante's Divine Comedy that develops into a string of murders....but all this combined brings a very dull thriller to the reading table.
The author tries dropping a lot of heavy names into the plot : Dante, Emerson,Harvard,the Civil War, Racial Bigotry all in the hope of making an erudite thriller but I must say Mr. Pearl, the closing chapters were a literal hogwash. All these characters who instead of saying a simple "damn it" utter "By the lord in heaven, I will be thrown to the deepest abyss of hell" and the climax made them all seem like blundering idiots.
Enough of stone throwing, I don't want to keep on writing words on words about a book which I did not like. Keeping the plot aside, there were some parts I did like, the ambiance being but one of them.
P.S : I should have run away from this book when I saw Dan Brown wrote that this book was amazing...my bad, I should never listen to this guy again...
The author tries dropping a lot of heavy names into the plot : Dante, Emerson,Harvard,the Civil War, Racial Bigotry all in the hope of making an erudite thriller but I must say Mr. Pearl, the closing chapters were a literal hogwash. All these characters who instead of saying a simple "damn it" utter "By the lord in heaven, I will be thrown to the deepest abyss of hell" and the climax made them all seem like blundering idiots.
Enough of stone throwing, I don't want to keep on writing words on words about a book which I did not like. Keeping the plot aside, there were some parts I did like, the ambiance being but one of them.
P.S : I should have run away from this book when I saw Dan Brown wrote that this book was amazing...my bad, I should never listen to this guy again...
Loved this one...but couldn't finish his next one: The Poe Shadow.
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Great mystery. Fun characters, classic "we can't tell the cops" scenario, false leads and dead ends, close escapes. And everything tied up nicely in the end. I would say, as historic-literary-figures-turned-sleuths stories go, I have to give The Pale Blue Eye a slight edge. But this is still well worth the time. Near the end, I couldn't read it fast enough!
The only annoyance to me is the extremely high pedestal Dante is placed on. Yeah, Inferno is a good story, and probably quite unique in its time, but I'm not sure I believe everything the protagonists were asserting as to the depth of his work and its value to mankind. What I don't know is whether this opinion is the author's, or just what the author thought the real-life counterparts to the protagonists believed.
The only annoyance to me is the extremely high pedestal Dante is placed on. Yeah, Inferno is a good story, and probably quite unique in its time, but I'm not sure I believe everything the protagonists were asserting as to the depth of his work and its value to mankind. What I don't know is whether this opinion is the author's, or just what the author thought the real-life counterparts to the protagonists believed.
A bit slow, particularly in the beginning, but engaging. Interesting takes on Dante, having just previously read the Inferno.
A serial killer strikes in 19th century Boston, using the methods described in Dante's Inferno to dispose of his victims. I haven't ever read Dante, and after this, I really don't want to. Nasty stuff. I think he must have been seriously ill to come up with such tortures as this.
The appeal of this book was in watching Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes, and James Russell Lowell, along with publisher J. T. Fields wander around trying to solve the crimes. It reminded me of The Alienist, but this one was just not as good. It wasn't awful, but I didn't feel that I really knew the characters as well as I needed to. The plot was also really farfetched. But it was compelling enough that I finished it. 3 stars
The appeal of this book was in watching Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes, and James Russell Lowell, along with publisher J. T. Fields wander around trying to solve the crimes. It reminded me of The Alienist, but this one was just not as good. It wasn't awful, but I didn't feel that I really knew the characters as well as I needed to. The plot was also really farfetched. But it was compelling enough that I finished it. 3 stars
Parts of the book felt ponderous to me, but overall, I enjoyed it. The idea of America's first Dante scholars (Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Oliver Wendell Holmes, James Russell Lowell, and J.T. Fields) solving the mystery behind murders based on scenes in Dante's "Inferno" appealed to me. I preferred Pearl's historical fiction on Poe to this one, however.
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I didn't know much about Dante when I read this book, but I still thought it was interesting. It takes place in Boston (a picture of Park Street Church is on the cover) and involves the likes of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and Oliver Wendell Holmes. I recommend this book if you like mysteries and/or historical novels.