Rating: 
Summary: Pretentious, evocative ... ultimately rewarding
Review: In the initial chapters of "The Dante Club", the author's language proved a significant barrier. Awkward word coinage, showy phrasing, literary allusions seemingly designed to show off the author's breadth of arcane learning --- all of these contributed to a pretentiousness that was seriously off-putting. However, something happened as I read on. Either the author dropped his attention-calling approach, or I got used to it, or perhaps I just got smarter.Eventually, all those literary allusions began to seem better integrated into what proved to be a well-structured, multi-faceted murder mystery. The author's own detective work into local 19th-century history contributes to fully-dimensioned characters, both real (Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Oliver Wendell Holmes, many other Boston notables) and imagined. Even Longfellow House becomes a palpable character in the story. And if you've ever wondered what Boston and Cambridge were like in 1865, this book will give you a detailed and lasting image. It might even be an authentic image (although Cambridge must have been a much more compact place then, given the territory these mostly aged detectives manage to cover on foot). A few more-than-incidental complaints remained. The number of red herrings is preposterously large. And the author's revelation of the killer is blunt and accomplished in a disappointingly uncreative manner. But even with these caveats, the novel makes for a mostly rewarding read.
Rating: 
Summary: Brings the world of 1860's Boston to life
Review: This was a fast-paced, action packed and very compulsive read! Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Oliver Wendell Holmes and James Russell Lowell team up with 19th-century publisher J.T. Fields to catch a serial killer in post-Civil War Boston. It's the fall of 1865, and Harvard University, the cradle of Bostonian intellectual life, is overrun by sanctimonious scholars who turn up their noses at European literature, confining their study to Greek and Latin. Longfellow and his iconoclastic crew decide to produce the first major American translation of Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy. Their ambitious plans are put on hold when they realize that a murderer terrorizing Boston is recreating some of the most vivid scenes of chthonic torment in Dante's Inferno. What a talent Matthew Pearl is. He's managed to combine the traditional academic themes with a more convential mystery story to great effect. You really get a feel for the four main protagonists, and you are placed right with them in their search to find the killer. I new very little about Dante's works before I read this, but it doesn't matter. You can read this book on SO many levels. This a first-rate thriller, with a deft and elegant plot, and I sincerely hope that we hear more from Matt. Pearl in the future. A must read!
Rating:
Summary: A bit dense, but a thrill.
Review: This is a great book. It is a bit dense, using images from Dante that may not be well now to everyone, but well worth the time and energy to read. The book stays with you long after you've read it.
Rating:
Summary: Well written historical novel that lacks - pizzaz
Review: The murder mystery doesn't hold it's own. I found the mystery part of the book to be predictable. You really need to be interested in both the times, post-Civil war Boston and the characters, nineteenth century, writers. The author certainly brings historical Boston and Cambridge alive, but I found the main characters to be dull. In a good novel, you really care about the outcome of the characters, and in this book, I found myself disinterested. Part of the problem is that we know that the main characters are most likely not in mortal danger, unless this novel is going to greatly deviate from well known history. The other problem is that the characters remain both stuffy and Victorian throughout the book. The major character issues are not resolved. Basically it ends on a yawn. The book might have been better with less emphasis on the authors and more on Rey, the black patrol man, who struggles both against racism and the murderer.
Another problem is that I didn't learn much about Dante. This book doesn't have to be another "Davinci Code", but theming murders on Dante's writings is less interesting than if the writers knowledge of Dante, perhaps some poetic clue, was effective in solving the mystery. One last issue is that I found the pacing slow at the beginning. It picks up about mid-way through.
I finished to book to find out "whodunit" without that issue, I might have stopped. I will say in defense of the author that the book is very well written and his historical research is top notch as well.
Rating: 
Summary: The Dante Club
Review: Mattew Pearl's recent novel, the Dante Club, combines history, suspense, and mystery in a truly unique reading experience. Famous, well known characters such as Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Dr. Oliver Windell-Holmes and James Russell Lowe are intricately woven into a plot which develops around their translation of Dante's Divine Comedy. Their work is disrupted however, when a series of murders in Boston are modeled after mankind's punishment in hell as described in Dante's Inferno. The murder of prominent citizens modeled after their translation make them suspect. These noted historical authors work closely with a black police officer, Nichola Ray, to prove their innocence and solve the murders. The vivid description of Boston in 1865 and the unique literary skill of Mattew Pearl to weave the history of the civil war and racial relations into this time period is pure genius. The words used to describe the Boston street scene at this time in history are reminiscent of Caleb Carr's description of New York City in his book the Alienist. This book is a must for any reader who enjoys historical fiction and I would strongly recommend it to them.
Rating:
Summary: Slice n dice
Review: I heard the abridged audio version of this book on the way to New Orleans. I hope the disappointments I have are a result of leaving too much out and not what's actually in the complete novel. The story's OK, the detail is interesting, the mood is engaging. I just couldn't get into the thing enough to sit in my car and listen after I'd got back to the hotel. I often found I was waiting for 4:00 so I could switch to All Things Considered. But I finished it. It wasn't bad. I had two big beefs. The big one has to do with the trendy conceit of having a team of famous historical characters -- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Henry Longfellow and the like -- solving a murder. Yeah, that's what I thought, too -- I kept cringing when I would automatically think of Sherlock, then try to wrench my mind back to Oliver Wendell. And a poet going over bloody crime scenes? Kind of a conceited conceit. I just couldn't really get into the characters because of the nonsequitur-ness of the idea. The other was the choppiness of the story. Maybe it was just a sloppy job of abridgement, but there were a number of places where some meat was missing. Only a couple of key details (there are definitely worse abridgements out there), but some of the flow was ruined. It wasn't bad. If you're at Cracker Barrel, and the choice is between the same Mary Higgins Clark you listened to last trip, Dianetics, and The Dante Club, Dante is an easy pick, and it will be worth the listen. There are better ones out there, though. Quick: the first chapter of Dante's real Inferno is on the last disk. Just a teaser, but enough to really see the attraction. The reader is obviously as thrilled about it as I am, does a much more convincing job on this small bit than any of the main part of the novel. Can't wait to read it!
Rating:
Summary: Animatronic
Review: I couldn't finish this one. The Dante Club members were animatronic famous people - I couldn't tell any difference between Holmes, Lowell, and Longfellow. The black policeman hung about being noble and long-suffering. I suppose if you love Dante you'd like this book.
Rating:
Summary: "Dante" is a promise that is fulfilled
Review: Many books --mostly by young and debutant writers -- are released as a big promise. But, unfortunately, most of them are never able to fulfill it. So, it is a great pleasure to come across a book like Matthew Pearl's "The Dante Club". This novel is everything that it had promised and little bit more. At this point, the plot is widely known. In 1865, a group of Bostonian scholars is translating Dante's masterpiece. While they are dealing with "Inferno" (Hell) a murderer is executing people based on the most terrifying scenes of this poem. This not only endangers lives, but also jeopardizes the translation itself. Mixing real personalities and fictional characters, the writer creates a novel that if is not real, could have really happened. It is clear that Pearl has an eye for the macabre and it is very effective for this novel. He also makes a literary analyzes of Dante and the process of translation. Not a boring and inaccessible thing, but with his text he brings to light questions that many translators might have had --not only when it comes to Dante. The process of humanization of historical figures works more than fine. They way they behave and think are quite real, and it is almost impossible to think that those events never happened. And, as Pearl states in an interview in the book, it is not required to be familiar with Dante's work. But, I think that those who don't know the Italian poem will feel very likely to read it --at least its "Inferno". Thinking of "The Dante Club" comes to my mind another bestseller, "The Da Vinci Code". But while Dan Brown's novels lacks character development and profundity in the situations, Pearl has succeeded in creating a thriller that is bloody good, with believable characters and beautifully written. It also reminded me of Calleb Carr's "The Alienist", but, again, I think that "Dante" is much better. It is a winner.
Rating:
Summary: Probably worth about 4-and-a-half stars
Review: Historical Fiction has always been a popular choice for many readers. The "Dante Club" has rightfully earned its place as one of the best of the genre. Matthew Pearl delivers to us an impressive first novel which enlightens the City of Boston, circa 1865.
Pearl's premise for the story is outstanding. A serial killer has re-enacted various Dante styled punishments for those he felt deserved to die. It is up to America's first group of Dante scholars (Longfellow, Holmes, Lowell, and the Publisher Fields) to solve the murders without blemishing their own outstanding reputations. Pearl's novel does have a few drawbacks. The pace is somewhat uneven, and in places you find yourself skimming along. Also, the characters are not completely believable. Oliver Wendell Holmes' extraordinary ego is well documented, but Pearl paints him to be very one-dimensional and somewhat frail. We also have the great Longfellow- who was one of the two masters of his era (Along with Emerson), but Pearl reveres Longfellow to the point where he becomes almost saintly. Shy and understated but loved to an unbelieveable level. It almost seems that Pearl exaggerates each characters personality in order to fit into the framework of his story. I guess authors this isn't the greatest sin any author has committed. This may be a perfect example of a novel that makes a great read, but would not make it as a movie. The weakness of the characters can be overlooked while reading the story, but it would make for a very weak (and unbelievable) movie. So where does the story rate- well I would put it slightly ahead of "The Devil in the White City", but behind Caleb Carr's fine work ("The Alienist" and "The Angel of Darkness"). If you like historical fiction- I am sure that this will be a happy find.
Rating:
Summary: Nothing special
Review: The idea behind the book is wonderful - murder's are being committed using scenes from Dante's Inferno. However, the book falls on it's face due to a poor writing style. The characters are there, but you never get the feeling of being there with them. A bit of knowledge of The Inferno helps to read the book. (I put the book down to reread The Inferno. That helped some.) This would be a good book to take to the beach. If you are looking for an in-depth, serious read, skip it.
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