Rating: 
Summary: Good, but not great
Review: This novel had great promise. A murder mystery involving some of the foremost men of letters in Boston. The crimes revolving on an upcoming translation of Dante's Divine Comedy by Longfellow. However there are defects. The largest problem arises from the rapid switching of narrators. There is no single narrator of the story. Instead, Pearl switches between four main, and a couple minor, characters. These rapid and disjointed changes of narrative voice are becoming more common in recent fiction. I can only surmise that authors are trying to protect for an eventual translation into a screenplay. There is no structural reason for the point of view to change as often as it does in this novel. I suspect the customer reviews with very low ratings are a direct result of the awkwardness of Pearl's narrative style. Next, Pearl attempts to convince the readers of the importance of Longfellow's translation by suggesting that Dante's work was unknown in the United States of America. This is not exactly the truth. The Rev. Henry Cary 1805 translation was fairly common, and in fact was reprinted in New York by Appleton in 1845. Rev. Cary was an Englishman, and Longfellow's translation was the first done by an American, but that doesn't mean the Rev. Cary's translation was poor or unobtainable. Having read both, I actually prefer Cary's translation. I'll grant that this is a matter of taste. Which brings me to my last point. There is almost nothing in the work to inform the reader that during the middle of the nineteeth centuary the American literati were deliberatly attempting to create an American style of English. There was an intense desire to create an American language and show the world that American authors were as good as any European authors. Maybe this point is not essential to the story, but Longfellow's translation of Dante was not strictly a personal goal. It seems strange that these last two points were only mentioned by an Italian immigrant. These quibbles aside, this is not a bad book. For a first novel it could be a lot worse. If Pearl learns from the awkwardness of his narrative style, his future books will be far more accessable to his readers.
Rating: 
Summary: 'The Dante Club' holds no bars!
Review: Matthew Pearl has taken a clever setting and clever use of real characters to pose some very dramatic and very readable situations. Mr. Pearl's intelligent and intellectual approach in "The Dante Club" is refreshing to read; it also gives the opportunity for the reader to think and to understand Boston following the Civil War. Using as principle characters Longfellow, Oliver Wendell Holmes, and James Russell Lowell (among others), Pearl's murder scenario very cleverly surrounds--even is inundated by--Dante's "Divine Comedy." There's deaths aplenty, each a symbolic reference to one or more of Dante's "crimes in hell." What to do? This trio, among others, has been working diligently to translate Dante into English. Alas, there are forces who violently (indeed) oppose such work, among them some of Harvard's academic elite. The wisdom, the art, the bravery of Pearl's "characters"--combined with some he's clearly created, such as the police chief and his African-American officer--make this story gripping and fascinating. Pearl's wit, his scholarly touch, his fast-moving writing style certainly make this historial-fiction cum police procedural one not to miss. An excellent read!
Rating:
Summary: The Dante Club is a pearl of wisdom!
Review: Matthew Pearl has taken some real characters (Longfellow, James Russell Lowell, and Oliver Wendell Holmes, to name three) and produced a mystery that is not only readable, but fascinating and enjoyable. In "The Dante Club," Pearl gives us not only an interesting perspective of the personal lives of these American literary giants, but also he's added touches of humor (quite welcomed in
this case!) and some erudite "lessons" in history, literature, and the Bible! Murder seems to be running rampant in Boston. Our characters are busy translating Dante into English and there are unseen elements who oppose this, quite violently. Harvard Yard has never seen the likes! Methodically, logically, the mystery begins to unravel, with a story line that is mesmerizing, to say the least! Pearl is to be commended--and here's hoping he's planning other such literary adventures!
Rating:
Summary: A Thinking Person's Novel
Review: This is a book about a book that a group of literary scholars get together to discuss. And then the murders start. Although the book begins slowly, the reader quickly understands the author's need to lay the proper historical and cultural foundations. From there, the mystery takes off. I never did figure out who did it even though it was staring me right in the face the whole time. Anyone who loves literature will love this book. The attention to detail is magnificent. This is not the fluff of the majority of stuff available for our reading pleasure today (ie, Grisham, Patterson or Cornwall). It is a highly entertaining book of substance.
Rating: 
Summary: Its reach exceeds its grasp
Review: In 1865, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and his circle are working on the first-ever American translation of Dante's Inferno, when a series of killings modelled on the punishments of Dante's Hell start to take place. The high-class gentlemen of Cambridge, realizing that their unique knowledge of Dante will make them prime suspects, find themselves unexpectedly mixing with the lower orders of post-war Boston to try and solve the crime before they are fatally implicated. There are a lot of great things in this book. The murder mystery is enjoyable, you can become very fond of the characters even when they're being unbearable, the murders are enjoyably gruesome, and there turns out to have been a great clue sitting in front of your face all along. The book also reflects on many of Dante's themes -- exile, death, redemption. In particular, many of the characters in the book mirror Dante's descent into Hell followed by redemption. Dante returns from Hell; Dante is returned from obscurity through the efforts of the club; Longfellow recovers from his bereavement; Holmes and his son move towards a reconciliation. All this is nicely done and doesn't seem contrived, even if you can't help noticing that everyone seems to find Hell more interesting than Heaven. I was struck by another, more modern thread running through the book: all the information in this book wants to get out. The information contained in the translation can't be suppressed; the information about what the club has been up to leaks; knowledge of what it was really like to fight in the war informs the whole book; each of the victims have secrets which, when discovered, lead to their deaths. There's a somewhat gratuitous but atmospheric scene where academics burn books on evolution, just to hammer this point home; this information too will get out. These are all virtues. But the book is slow to start and badly edited. The action jumps from one location to another jerkily. Information is withheld from the reader unnecessarily, even if just for a few pages. Some characters are named at the start of the scene, while others in the same scene are first described, then named some time later. I was torn between annoyance at the clumsiness and interest in the whodunnit. In the end, I'm glad I read it, but I wish an editor had spent more time on it. Its reach exceeds its grasp, but what a reach.
Rating:
Summary: Would not and could not put this down
Review: I thoroughly enjoyed this novel. I have never read Dante and now I can't wait to pick up my own copy. The author's love for literature and the characters showed in this great novel. I definitely would recommend this book to anyone who is in to mystery novels. I look forward to Matthew Pearl's next book.
Rating:
Summary: Great Book
Review: I was very plesantly suprised that with the Dante Club. I found that the mix of Fact and Fiction was a pull for the story and you had to keep reading beacuse the mistury was well covered up in the story. You really don't know who done it till Matthew reveals it. He has a splindid ability to keep the reading wondering what is coming next. Read this splendid book to find out how history could have happened.
Rating:
Summary: Literary fiction that bleeds
Review: This book is reminiscent of The Alienist by Caleb Carr. Both books take famous figures from the past and surround them with serial killers that seem ripped from present headlines. Both are excellent reads, thrillers that keep you turning the pages, and you walk away from each having spent an enjoyable number of hours and with a few new facts about city life in the end of the 19th century. Both also turned my stomach at times with their VERY graphic descriptions of the murder victims. (I was eating lunch as I started to read about the Dante Club murderer's 3rd victim - mutltitasking recommended if you're hoping to shed a few pounds). While Carr's book had me on the edge of my seat when I first read it - The Dante Club was still very enjoyable though a bit easier to set down. The writing is smooth and clear, the characters drawn well enough, and the description of life in Boston during that time period very interesting. I especially liked the character of Nicholas Rey - and was disappointed by the narrowing of his role as the book moved into the 2nd half. Having not read Dante's Inferno, I was scrambling a bit at first, but once the book neared it's climax, my ignorance seemed not to matter. A worthwhile read - and if Pearl writes another - I'll pick that one up as well.
Rating:
Summary: Moving murder mystery into literature
Review: This most wonderful book contributes to the murder mystery--in the same way that Tony Hillerman, Caleb Carr, John Dunning, and Nevada Barr did by taking the genre out of pulp fiction. This effort takes it literally into the field of literature. As Henry Wadsworth Longfellow translates Dante's Divine Comedy, a group of literary friends assists him. The group includes the elder Oliver Wendell Holmes, James Russell Lowell, George Washington Green, and James T. Fields. That much is history. The novel takes off by spinning Dante's tales of Hell into murders ever so real in post-Civil War Cambridge and Boston. After reading this--can a murder mystery be said to be fun?--I do not see how I can continue to neglect my copy of Longfellow's Dante.
Rating:
Summary: Leaves the Reader Craving for More Dante
Review: I bought this novel on the strength of the title alone and found that, at some point, I was simply unable to put it down. The discussions of the Inferno cantos by our literary forefathers are riviting (what a book club!), and the historical foundation of the novel is incredibly detailed and interesting--I was there! Not a student in the conventional sense, I am now fully engaged in the pursuit of Dante's Divine Comedy. Matthew Pearl's The Dante Club has found it's place within my collection of great literature.
| 
