Reviews - The Divine Comedy

2.67k reviews for:

The Divine Comedy

Dante Alighieri, Clive James

3.85 AVERAGE

morhane's review against another edition

3.0

adventurous fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

thespinalstack's review against another edition

2.0

Well, as much as I love speculation on the judeo-christian interpretation of what the after-life may be if it exists; i have to say i didn't enjoy reading this book. Now, bear in mind that I did have to close-read it (which is always a fun killer) and I had a tight deadline to back it up. Looking at the pure content I enjoyed most of it. This translation was incredibly easy to understand and didn't lose any of its poetic value and the notes along the way provided much needed insight at times. The story reads like a beautifully terrible poem at times, and at others like a bad Insert-here-senpai/ reader fan fiction. Reading about how Virgil carries Dante in his oh so big strong arms could get awkward at times. Since I'm a fan of the Greeks more so than the Romans I don't exactly agree with Dante casting every Greek hero into the inferno just because he was from Florence and he felt like it. Also, the values he holds are outdated which of course is to be expected since the story was written years and years ago; though i'm not sure that makes up for the fact that flatterers are somehow worse than murders. Despite this I think there is still a lot of value in reading this epic poem and I see why it is still taught. I probably wouldn't read it again given the choice, but it wasn't the worst thing in the world.

bloupibloupreads's review against another edition

2.75

Plot or Character Driven: N/A

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

aurorussy's review against another edition

5.0

challenging dark reflective tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

katie_molho's review against another edition

3.0

Ok I’m gonna preface this by saying I have a short (ish) attention span but a love of literature.
I enjoyed this book BUT it feels long… like there are points where I was dragging to get through it. The writing it beautiful and I’m definitely gonna have to reread it. It is definitely a book that you can’t just pick up Willy Nilly to read. This is a “lock in” book.

drdumpling's review against another edition

4.25

adventurous challenging reflective slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

neonnoen's review against another edition

DID NOT FINISH: 70%

It really has great imagery but it is so dated and constantly references, now, ancient history that it has severly lost its impact. I can see why it is a classic but it just doesn't hold up to modern literature standards. Even with a leniancy on its 1300s grammer/translation, Inferno is lost to time.