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brentmayberry 's review for:
The Little Book
by Selden Edwards
After polishing off [b:The Time Traveler's Wife|14050|The Time Traveler's Wife|Audrey Niffenegger|http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/31DB3K45TXL._SL75_.jpg|2153746], I had [b:The Little Book|4746029|The Little Book|Selden Edwards|http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51l%2BJqX5pNL._SL75_.jpg|3034636] recommended to me since it was also a story of relationships and time travel.
This time, though, our hero, Wheeler Burden, gets to stay in one place: turn-of-the-century Vienna. I'll leave you to discover the circumstances behind his arrival, but what I can tell you is he gets to meet, along with Sigmund Freud and Mark Twain, a father he never knew and a grandfather he wished he never met. The characters are well-constructed, and the story weaves them together in a rich, swirly, surprising way.
Who knew Vienna in 1897 had such a concentration of thinkers, artists and scientists? Selden Edwards does a masterful job of placing historical gems throughout the story: notes about how the city was built, its history of repelling Turkish invaders, political intrigue, rising anti-Semitism, the flourishing of philosophy, music, psychology. I'm anxious to walk the Ringstrasse someday. I admit to geeking out a bit when it comes to history, which is one of the reasons I loved [b:The Historian|10692|The Historian|Elizabeth Kostova|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170833655s/10692.jpg|3061272] so much.
Edwards has a semi-anachronistic writing style that made understanding his characters a bit of a challenge, but so rewarding in the end. Maybe that's what happens when you take 30 years to finish your novel. It was refreshing, actually, after reading [b:The Lost Symbol|6411961|The Lost Symbol (Robert Langdon, #3)|Dan Brown|http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51jHvD-ZUrL._SL75_.jpg|6600281]. No offense, Dan Brown.
This time, though, our hero, Wheeler Burden, gets to stay in one place: turn-of-the-century Vienna. I'll leave you to discover the circumstances behind his arrival, but what I can tell you is he gets to meet, along with Sigmund Freud and Mark Twain, a father he never knew and a grandfather he wished he never met. The characters are well-constructed, and the story weaves them together in a rich, swirly, surprising way.
Who knew Vienna in 1897 had such a concentration of thinkers, artists and scientists? Selden Edwards does a masterful job of placing historical gems throughout the story: notes about how the city was built, its history of repelling Turkish invaders, political intrigue, rising anti-Semitism, the flourishing of philosophy, music, psychology. I'm anxious to walk the Ringstrasse someday. I admit to geeking out a bit when it comes to history, which is one of the reasons I loved [b:The Historian|10692|The Historian|Elizabeth Kostova|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170833655s/10692.jpg|3061272] so much.
Edwards has a semi-anachronistic writing style that made understanding his characters a bit of a challenge, but so rewarding in the end. Maybe that's what happens when you take 30 years to finish your novel. It was refreshing, actually, after reading [b:The Lost Symbol|6411961|The Lost Symbol (Robert Langdon, #3)|Dan Brown|http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51jHvD-ZUrL._SL75_.jpg|6600281]. No offense, Dan Brown.