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3.24 AVERAGE
3.24 AVERAGE
A great story, well written with subtlety intertwined historical details featuring the Cambridge poets and a Dante criminal.
I just don't want to read this book. Well, to be honest, I DID want to read it, but now a few chapters in, I find that the plot is scattered and the characters are not being developed. It is too easy to put down. So, I am putting it down.
The story is interesting, but I felt like the beginning was really slow an didn't really pick up until 100 pages in. Even throughout the middle, there was a lot of meandering in the story, which made it hard for me to stay interested.
I had a hard time getting through this book. Despite being a murder mystery with 19th Century Boston reinventions of [a:Dante Alighieri|5031312|Dante Alighieri|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1310943198p2/5031312.jpg] contrapassi, it was not able to hold my interest too well.
The characters were historical figures like [a:Henry Wadsworth Longfellow|2697|Henry Wadsworth Longfellow|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1211861766p2/2697.jpg], [a:Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr.|1203736|Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr.|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1211860364p2/1203736.jpg], and [a:James Russell Lowell|15585|James Russell Lowell|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1267574915p2/15585.jpg], but they never came alive to me, and only Holmes and Lowell had some vibrancy.
I will say this book has made me want to reread the source material, the [b:Inferno|15645|Inferno (The Divine Comedy #1)|Dante Alighieri|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1520255019s/15645.jpg|2377563].
Read with some friends from OSU for a book club
The characters were historical figures like [a:Henry Wadsworth Longfellow|2697|Henry Wadsworth Longfellow|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1211861766p2/2697.jpg], [a:Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr.|1203736|Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr.|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1211860364p2/1203736.jpg], and [a:James Russell Lowell|15585|James Russell Lowell|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1267574915p2/15585.jpg], but they never came alive to me, and only Holmes and Lowell had some vibrancy.
I will say this book has made me want to reread the source material, the [b:Inferno|15645|Inferno (The Divine Comedy #1)|Dante Alighieri|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1520255019s/15645.jpg|2377563].
Read with some friends from OSU for a book club
13% in and nothing is really happening. A lot of words spent talking about the characters in the Dante club and various other topics establishing the setting and the premise without any promise of anything interesting.
Fairly interesting mystery. Not as exciting as Dan Brown's DaVinci Code, which I think this emulated to a certain degree. Probably more of a 2 1/2 stars.
Right after the Civil War, prominent Boston and Harvard men Oliver Wendell Holmes, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, James Lowell, etc. take on the task of translating Dante's Inferno into English. At the same time, men are murdered in Dante-esque fashion and the Dante Club members wonder if it is their doing that the murders are occurring and how can they help the police without incurring doubt upon themselves.
Right after the Civil War, prominent Boston and Harvard men Oliver Wendell Holmes, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, James Lowell, etc. take on the task of translating Dante's Inferno into English. At the same time, men are murdered in Dante-esque fashion and the Dante Club members wonder if it is their doing that the murders are occurring and how can they help the police without incurring doubt upon themselves.
While the "old-time" writing certainly doesn't appeal to me, I did enjoy the extremely well-crafted whodunit. Nicely done. Apparently the fourth try is the charm.
4.5 stars. had one of the most gruesome descriptions of a corpse i've ever read. truly epic.
I'm never swearing off an entire genre again. Last week (two weeks ago?) I swore off mysteries, and apparently have been irresistibly drawn to them ever since.
This is one of the best of the bunch, though. Pearl tells the story of a series of murders in Cambridge, Massachusetts, that are somehow (I'm being deliberately vague here; I'm not used to reviewing mysteries and I'm trying to avoid spoilers) tied to a group of local poets, including Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and Oliver Wendell Holmes, who are writing the first American translation of Dante's Divine Comedy. The book is entranching in it's detail and drama. It's wonderfully well-written, serious and dramatic with moments of humor to keep it from getting too heavy. (My favorite of these was, "As your publisher, I order you to put down that gun!")
The only thing that tripped me up was the apparently random inclusion, at several points, of the debate over Darwinism. These didn't seem to fit and felt like the author was trying a bit too hard to make the book erudite. But, barring those few distractions, this is a wonderful story, well-told and well-researched. The fact that it never actually happened is entirely beside the point. It's a beautiful book.
This is one of the best of the bunch, though. Pearl tells the story of a series of murders in Cambridge, Massachusetts, that are somehow (I'm being deliberately vague here; I'm not used to reviewing mysteries and I'm trying to avoid spoilers) tied to a group of local poets, including Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and Oliver Wendell Holmes, who are writing the first American translation of Dante's Divine Comedy. The book is entranching in it's detail and drama. It's wonderfully well-written, serious and dramatic with moments of humor to keep it from getting too heavy. (My favorite of these was, "As your publisher, I order you to put down that gun!")
The only thing that tripped me up was the apparently random inclusion, at several points, of the debate over Darwinism. These didn't seem to fit and felt like the author was trying a bit too hard to make the book erudite. But, barring those few distractions, this is a wonderful story, well-told and well-researched. The fact that it never actually happened is entirely beside the point. It's a beautiful book.
adventurous
medium-paced