The Dante Club: A Novel

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It's a hit!

Whew! I finished! I was warned not to by my fellow book club members, who in turns said reading this novel, densely packed with historic and anti... (show more)

Whew! I finished! I was warned not to by my fellow book club members, who in turns said reading this novel, densely packed with historic and antiquated literary references, was like “taking vitamins” or “a reading assignment for college,” rather than a fun chick book club read; and who either quit reading it after a few chapters, or skipped to the end so they could discuss it last Wednesday night, or never picked it up to begin with. But as I have a contrary nature, all that bad press just made me want to finish the book anyway, just to prove I could. At first, I was disgruntled that every single character was a middle-aged, bearded poet or publisher—not at all your typical, dashing, swashbuckling hero of modern novels—whose literary pursuits and Hawthornesque dialogue made for an appalling slow pace; but then the first hideous murder was discovered, with lots of vivid colorful details to capture my morbid interest just in time to keep plodding on. When I made it to about page 90, I was hooked, and by the end of this book, I felt every one of these eccentric, moody, intriguing men were dear old friends with whom I had been through a traumatic adventure together. I was proud of them all (hope that doesn’t give too much away), as well as myself when I made it, coughing and wheezing, to the last page. The plot cleverly paralleled Dante’s Divine Comedy, which their club was translating from Italian for the Americans for the first time in turbulent post-Civil-War Boston, pulled me along to what became a typically satisfying murder mystery, but dressed up with nice, big words. My favorite: elegiac. (show less)

 

 

by Adriane Collier DeVries

No, it's a flop!

Well two or three years ago I purchased both the Poe Shadown and the Dante Club at the same time. I had heard good things about both and mixing fic... (show more)

Well two or three years ago I purchased both the Poe Shadown and the Dante Club at the same time. I had heard good things about both and mixing fiction with literary history seemed intriguing to me.

I read the Poe Shadow first because Edgar Allen Poe is my favourite poet and also one of my favourite "old" authors.

The book was boring beyond all belief, and so it has taken me this long to work up to reading this one.

On the bright side this book is more interesting than the other, on the down side it is still largely boring.

I did like that the author did not fall in the trap of making all of the characters similar, each had their own personality.

I also appreciate the author's apparent respect for Dante Divine Comedy itself, even if my read through the Inferno didn't glean such profound thoughts as the author attributes to it.

In fact the most interesting thing about this book is that it makes me want to reread Inferno and move on to the other books.

That being said the story in this one is not particularly clever, or entertaining.

I do not think I will be returning to a Matthew Pearl books in the future. (show less)

 

 

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  A complex novel of nineteenth century literary Boston. The interweaving of Dante's Divine Comedy into a serial killer thriller is ingenious but the premise involves extensive exposition by conversation. I found this sense of overhearing the story to be rather distancing. So, although I was interested, I will not be reading Pearl's other novel.

   

  by Facebook User on Aug 03, 2007 at 10:36PM

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  I think it is pretty fun to read about historical figures and events in a context outside of a textbook. I enjoyed reading the book and was partial to the Boston setting since I grew up around there. The murder plot was well written but I think the author tried to make a couple of points about society during the time period that weren't really clear; the uptick in violence after the end of the Civil War and a city dealing with the black man's changing place in society. The copy I read had ... (show more)

  I think it is pretty fun to read about historical figures and events in a context outside of a textbook. I enjoyed reading the book and was partial to the Boston setting since I grew up around there. The murder plot was well written but I think the author tried to make a couple of points about society during the time period that weren't really clear; the uptick in violence after the end of the Civil War and a city dealing with the black man's changing place in society. The copy I read had an interview with the author at the end that explains this but otherwise I wouldn't have picked it out. I think he could have developed the charachter of Officer Rey and included him more in the story instead of just using him when necessary to drive the plot forward. Other than that, it's easy to read, even if you don't have a vast knowledge of the time period or the famous poets. (show less)

   

   

  by Facebook User on Oct 21, 2009 at 07:31PM

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