Rating: 
Summary: I'm not a fan of this Club...
Review: I've read many reviews from other people touting the "greatness" of Matthew Pearl's debut novel. While I DO agree The Dante Club is a great achievement for Pearl as it showcases his Harvard education, I can't quite stomach the absolute opaqueness the novel exudes. After reading the novel, I know more about Dante and the historical circle of Longfellow, Lowell, and Holmes, but I don't have a very clear sense of the STORY, the murderous tale that is the premise of the novel. You will be absolutely blown away by the grotesquely wonderful opening of The Dante Club--maggots and all--but you'll quickly lose interest as Pearl takes you on a very long, DRY journey through a post-Civil War Boston. In a nutshell: You might get to visit the rings of Dante's Hell and appreciate Matthew Pearl's use of that classic as a launchpad for The Dante Club, but you're better served to put down--PUT DOWN!--this novel and quickly run to a more entertaining historical murder thriller like Caleb Carr's The Alienist.
Rating: 
Summary: Abandon all to-dos, ye who begin this book.
Review: The Dante Club is a plain old pageturning can't-put-it-down whodunit and just a whole lot of fun over all too soon. Yes, the Divine Comedy, and its translation into English, are central to the plot. And to many, me included, that's an irresistible draw. But the characters are interesting because they're human, not because they're brainy, successful cutouts. You've got people with obsessions. A father whose admirable son thinks differently. The grace note of a little girl's love for her father. Someone reaching a goal dragging the ball and chain of bias. The hero is the the major historical American, poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. I enjoyed liking him. But I really liked fictitious Nicholas Rey, First Black Policeman of Boston. He's the one with the ball and chain. Rey is wise, unstoppable, patient, cunning, dogged, and very smart. He's certainly the most interesting character. I can see Nicholas Rey, if someone new plays him whenever The Dante Club comes to order on the big screen, making that someone a star, and being mildly amused to have done so. ***
A note on the background:
You didn't go to Gangs of New York to admire the authenticity of the costumes, but you did, without a thought, accept the characters' clothes as right, and learned something, without effort or consciousness, in the process. You wouldn't read The Dante Club to savor the verisimilitude of the mood of the North after the Civil War--or bone up on race relations in mid-nineteenth-century Boston. These things are just sky on the day something big is happening. All the same, I think that as I whipped along my mind's weather eye registered, recorded, and was enlightened.
Rating:
Summary: The Dante Club
Review: Having read "La Divina Commedia" in Italian with the assistance of Longfellow's Translation I was right back in the Inferno.A book that could not be put down until finished and not wanting it to end.It will be highly recommended to my bookclub next month.
Rating:
Summary: Intelligent and Intense-- Read this book!
Review: Matthew Pearl's THE DANTE CLUB is an intoxicating blend of fact and fiction, utilizing real figures of New England history and the translation of Dante's Commedia into English as the basis for a superior thriller. Pearl's novel has easily earned its favorable comparison to Caleb Carr's THE ALIENIST, but I found THE DANTE CLUB to be a much more enjoyable read (more akin to Mark Frost's underrated THE LIST OF SEVEN), a gripping page-turner briskly moving its plot along and using thouroughly-researched period detail to lend authenticity to the tale rather than as elaborate window-dressing. I kept a copy of Dante's Inferno beside me while reading this (Pearl is a Dante scholar), and I have to credit this novel for stoking my interest in reading the rest of Dante's masterwork. I can't wait to read more from this author!
Rating: 
Summary: An engaging mix of history and mystery
Review: The use of true historical figures in a work of fiction is always a risky proposition, but The Dante Club succeeds in its task not only as a work of fiction but also as a window into an often overlooked historical period. Matthew Pearl captures the atmosphere and prevailing political landscape of 19th century Boston, as well as a personal perspective into the periods great literary minds. Against this backdrop he weaves an engaging tale of murder and madness, and introduces Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy to many of us who have never read it. I never once felt at a loss for not having read Dante, although it has interested me enough to do just that! I have recently read The Metaphysical Club in which Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. features prominently, and after reading The Dante Cub, I feel more of a connection to those poets and intellectuals of the 19th century. Pearl takes us to a different time, and entertains us with a great mystery all the while.
Rating:
Summary: The Dante Club: A Satisfying Read
Review: I just finished reading Matthew Pearl's 'The Dante Club'. I must say that I really enjoyed this book. I am a big fan of intellectual mysteries by authors such as Umberto Eco, Iain Pears, Arturo Pérez Reverte to name a few and I was not disappointed by this work. This book is a real page-turner, filled with murder and suspense. Although this is a fictitious work created by Mr. Pearl's inventive mind, it takes place during an actual moment in Boston/Cambridge history. In 'The Dante Club', Henry Wadsworth Longfellow is translating Dante's 'Divine Comedy' with the aid of the Dante Club, which is comprised of Oliver Wendell Holmes, James Russell Lowell, George Washington Greene and J.T. Fields in post-Civil War Boston. Mr. Pearl does an excellent job of capturing the atmosphere of the period as well as the attitudes that prevailed against the influx of immigrants and the so-called threat of foreign literature. The intellectuals of the Dante Club are shaken from their ivory tower when brutally mutilated corpses, directly resembling those found in Dante's 'Divine Comedy', begin to appear in Boston. The Club takes matters into their own hands when they try to stop their 'Lucifer'. The identity of 'Lucifer' is a satisfying surprise that you won't want to miss! I found the book to be well written and well grounded in history and literature. You need not be a Dante scholar to enjoy this book. I have not studied Dante since I was an undergrad, and Mr. Pearl does a good job of keeping the 'layperson' up to speed. If you are fond of intellectual mysteries then I think you will enjoy 'The Dante Club'. What else can I say? I wholeheartedly recommend this book. You will not be disappointed. Also, be sure to check out Matthew Pearl's informative website...
Rating:
Summary: Been There, Read That
Review: Matthew Pearl's "The Dante Club" is simply a cookie-cutter mystery with fancy trimmings. The trimmings in this instance being a killer driven mad by the images of Hell in Dante's "Inferno." The club of the title is a group of the original Boston Brahmins, including Oliver Wendell Holmes (the comic relief), Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, James Russell Lowell, etc, who are working together on the first American translation of "The Divine Comedy." The average plot and the obvious solution are slightly offset by Pearl's deft handling of Dante's work. A subplot about the first African American police officer in Boston serves no purpose at all. For exciting period mysteries, try "The Alienist" or "The Quincunx."
Rating:
Summary: Slow and boring
Review: Okay, I thought this book sounded interesting. Kind of like The Secret History; thought-provoking and invoking literature that I love. Rather, I found a plodding and boring story. The last time I put a book down before I finished reading was in 1995. Sadly, I've done it again. The second star, however, is for concept. It was a great sounding concept; sadly, it didn't deliver.
Rating:
Summary: Dante and Murder
Review: Noted Dante scholar Matthew Pearl presents us with a chilling mystery set against the backtrop of post-Civil War 1860's Boston. As four scholars, Oliver Wendall Holmes and Longfellow among them, labor to create the first American translation of Dante's Inferno in time for the 600th anniversary of Dante's birth they discover a rash of murder occuring in Boston that copies Dante's punishments of sinners in hell. Fearing the murders would jeopardize their translation, our four scholars turn their knowledge of Dante to solving the murders. Pearl has created a compelling and vivid murder mystery that will keep you guessing until the last page. Pearl's knowledge of Dante is incredible and his historical research must have been immense - 1860s Boston comes to life on every page. As another result of this book, I now have an interest in reading Dante's work, a book I purposely avoided reading in high school. This is a highly recommended work from an author that we can only hope keeps writing books like this one.
Rating: 
Summary: One of the Worst Books I have ever started to read
Review: I would give this book 0 stars if I could. I fell asleep every time I tried to read it. I am an educated person; I have even read The Divine Comedy. Pearl's prose is amatuerish, ponderous, and totally flat. I suspect that all the good reviews were written by the same person---they all sound eerily alike. This is one of the worst books I have ever picked up.
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