A review by pjarbuck
The Dante Club by Matthew Pearl

4.0

Pearl does an excellent job of interweaving true history, whether Dante or Longfellow era, with murder mystery fiction. It reminded me of a better Da Vinci Code, both because I enjoy Dante's works more than Da Vinci's and because the book had a more specific focus in the Divine Comedy. Prior to this, I had no knowledge of Longfellow's translation, and thus, often misappropriated modern American Christian views of Hell on Dante, despite the contrary presented in this novel. I am excited to read other works by Pearl and re-read the Divine Comedy, but the book has other sub-themes that I find interesting and wish to explore including: PTSD in civil war veterans, Calvinism, and the works of Longfellow himself. Recommended for anyone who enjoys history and murder mysteries in the vein of Dan Brown (although I find Pearl's less accessible, fantastic, and more intellectual). It is also a good update/review for anyone who has read Dante's Inferno.