Rating: 
Summary: Enough already.
Review: While the plot is creative and the author sets some interesting scenes with great detail, this is a laborious read. I felt that the author was trying too hard to prove his brilliance to the reader. Many of the sentences were too complex and the language was inefficient. While that style is reminicient of literature of the era, it made tedious what could have been a dynamic storyline.
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Summary: Wonderful historical mystery/thriller !
Review: I don't usually read mysteries, but since this book has a historical setting, which I love, I gave it a try. I loved this book! The concept is so imaginative and it made me look deeper into the actual writings of Dante and the American poets -- works I hadn't thought about since College Prep. English in high school. I will buy Matthew Pearl's next book. But one note: another reviewer was outraged by the "antagonistic" foreward in this book. I presumed the foreward to be just more fiction, created by the author, and found it compelling.
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Summary: Good first novel
Review: Author is a Dante scholar and his erudition is evident throughout the book. Historical characters (Lowell, Longfellow, Holmes, et al) are fun, but sometimes seem like caricatures. About half- to two-thirds the way through, the pace starts to drag a bit. It accelerates in the last 50 pages or so, but there were precious few clues for the reader to figure out who the murderer was. But still recommend the book for those who like mysteries, historical novels, and/or Dante.
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Summary: Literary Suspense At Its Best!
Review: You should not expect to find a mere escapist tale in Mattew Pearl's The Dante Club. Because this is one mystery suspense masked by a high literary quotient that makes the reading of the book very challenging and yet completely satisfying. This book takes you back to the 1800s, just as the first translation of Dante's famous Italian Poem The Divine Comedy is being done. The poem was truly translated in this period by a group of men belonging to what was then known as the Dante Club and later became the Dante Association. But with his novel, Pearl has concoted an intricate murder mystery that is centered around the poem itself. Someone is killing men in Boston in a way very similar to that which is described in Dante's poem. Now this group of professors and literary men must discover the killer before the truth is unearthed and the poem becomes banned forever, as many have tried to do. Pearl knows his way with words, and he knows how to craft a plot so restless and intriguing that it grabs its readers by the gut and keeps squeezing with each new page. And he is even able to give his reader somewhat of a small lecture on Dante throughout the novel, giving us long anlysis of the amazing poem (as told through the characters themselves). I do not recommend this book to someone looking for a breezy read. The Dante Club is the kind of novel that you have to take your time reading. It is drenched in historical data, and factual annecdotes that aren't always obvious on the surface. The author's prose is both complicated and beautiful, almost poetic. He is able to give us a lot on Dante without ever denying us the thrills that should be delivered by a mystery tale. The Dante Club is a great read that will leave you feeling both rewarded and exhilarated in the end.
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Summary: A Great Piece of Genre Fiction
Review: A few months ago, I read a brief description of The Dante Club, by Matthew Pearl, so I did a bit of online research about the novel, and uncovered the first chapter at the author's website. After reading a few reviews of the work, I felt that I should read the entire thing, but first I had to wait for its publication. Each of the protagonists in this work appeals to me. They are American historical figures who lived and worked in Boston during the 1860s. These fellows notice a literary pattern in a rash of local killings, so they are compelled to discover the criminal's identity. The bulk of the work is fictitious, of course, but the novel's premise intrigued me. Later, I ordered it and read the whole thing over a rainy weekend. Then, I found it necessary to let this book slosh around in my skull before I recorded my thoughts. As a rule, I enjoy novels that are grounded in historical fact. Pearl's work is no exception. His research efforts seem of indisputably high quality, and although I cannot profess to know anything about Boston or the post-Civil War era, or even academics in Harvard, this novel resonates because of its firm historical footing: it is better than many similar genre novels. This book hit a particular chord with me, because, you see, my employer is going through a transition much like the one Pearl depicts in 1860s Harvard. Our employees feel that, on one hand, we may be on the cusp of something new and grand; or, perhaps, if the glove is forced onto our ill-fitting other hand, a recalcitrant few in our administration may ensure that our work crumbles. It is this particular sentiment that I liked the most about Pearl's novel. I enjoyed the lift it gave my heart. I like to see that somebody can indeed defeat the system and push a worthy agenda. All he has written about the Harvard Administration has basis in historical fact, I assume. If so, kudos to Messrs. Longfellow, Holmes and Lowell for publishing Dante's Inferno in an atmosphere that simply rumbles with academic dissent. This novel starts with great strength. My favorite sentence, in fact, is the second: "...the Irish woman who had discovered the body was blubbering and wailing prayers unfamiliar (because they were Catholic) and unintelligible (because she was blubbering)." I remember thinking as I read this, "Wow, this guy is young and has writing potential. What a great opening." Pearl's care for words is nearly as strong as his interest in historicity. It is obvious that throughout the novel he has worked hard to build a strong narrative voice. Despite his strong opening, however, Pearl falls short with annoying consistency. A few areas glare at the reader; especially with voice transitions in the text. I recall, in particular, a scene where the narrator's mind enters a location with Professor Lowell, and emerges from the place with Professor Holmes, without even a transitional break in the narrative. For me, these moments produce disturbing ruptures in what was otherwise a very good read. I also felt that the end of the novel drives the work to anticlimax. The third-to-last chapter is very exciting, and the final chapter is excellent, but the penultimate chapter deadens the story. Many readers will enjoy this chapter, because the murderer's identity and life history are revealed. It was not the information that bothered me but its delivery. It left me with the feeling that I had ridden to the top of the Ferris wheel, and was forced to wait for a half dozen other cars to disembark before the experience ended. The novel has been lauded as a mystery, and so it is, complete with a police chief, and the intelligent but misunderstood beat cop. If Pearl's book has a downfall, it is his construction of a heavy plot-dependency, rather than a strong treatment of a theme. A powerful, cohesive theme would have done wonders for the work; instead, the author seems to sell himself short of his full potential. As a mystery, this work is very good, but there are loads of very good mysteries out there. As a work of literature, it had the proficiency, but did not quite attain greatness. I also struggled with one character, a beat cop. Although I readily admit that I enjoyed the character--he was well-conceived and entirely believable--I take issue with the necessity of this character at all. Pearl tells his reader that no such person existed at this time in history, so why was he there at all? His presence adds to the plot intrigue, I suppose, and serves to unveil the corrupt tactics of the post-War Boston police. But police corruption could have been unveiled any number of other ways. This novel is rooted so deeply in history that when it employs a fictitious secondary character, it only detracts from the story's overall believability. In this novel, the line between fact and fiction is already very thin, and Pearl tends to construct his plot by erring on the side of fact. An important and extremely noticeable fictitious character is in stark contrast to Pearl's original vision. I cannot finish this review without mention of the foreword. Its author used a tone that is antagonistic, condescending and seemingly jealous of Pearl's project. Shame on this person: the foreword is a pompous embarrassment that does nothing for the novel itself, and generally discredits the academic integrity of the writer of the forward itself. I read it three times with complete disbelief, hoping each time that I misunderstood what the writer was saying. Take my word and skip this foreword: Pearl's work is due far more credit than these misanthropic statements give him. Finally, a personal note to Mr. Pearl: Your work is excellent. If you develop a major theme, this will strengthen your prose substantially. I am confident that with your skills, you can produce a real gem.
Rating:
Summary: The Dante Club
Review: I am a sucker for new authors. Matthew Pearl is going to be around for a long time and I can't wait for his next book. The Dante Club was not only a great period mystery but it also reminded me to get back to the great American writers of the past.Make sure this book sits on your bookshelf where people can see it.
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Summary: Pearl Debut Warrants Both Attention and Merit
Review: Matthew Pearl has clearly put in many hours of research in crafting the relationship of the Fireside Poets as the inaugural members of the Dante Club. In doing so, he has delivered a very satisfying thriller set in post-Civil War Cambridge, which proves to be a perfect setting for this disturbing tale of the hunt for a serial killer who has taken to replicating the gruesome punishments of Dante's Hell. Pearl has a genuine gift for storytelling and his writing is flawless, giving life to a fascinating cast of characters that readers will find both extraordinary and amusing. The imagery he conjures is astounding...a most impressive debut from a young author who will no doubt continue to entertain and inform us for years to come.
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Summary: Terrific, Fast Paced & Satisfying Reading
Review: I love mysteries that interweave history, factual detail, and fiction into a tight-knit thriller. This is just what Matthew Pearl has done with The Dante Club. It was a fast read as I raced through the pages to find the next twist and turn. The entire story, and the resolution left me smiling and completely satisfied, a result not too often found in a novel these days. I can't wait for the next one out of Pearl's pen.
Rating:
Summary: Good writing, uneven story telling...
Review: I enjoyed the writing and the historical component of this book. I found the story to be a bit jagged with little chance of actually figuring out who the killer is until the very end. However, it did introduce me to some of Dante's, as well as Longfellow's prose, so it was worth it.
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Summary: The Mysteries of Translation
Review: While reading Matthew Pearl's The Dante Club, we understand that literature, life (and death) can be very close, that reading, writing and translating are indeed passionate activities, true adventures. Words can bleed, for sure, but they can also breathe, gain life and give life.
The Dante Club is both an historical narrative and a mystery novel that recalls characteristics of Umberto Eco's Il Nome della Rosa. In the political machinations going on inside the walls of Harvard College, we recognize Eco's monks and abbots, who consider themselves as the unquestionable guardians of truth, knowledge and faith and that would resort to every means in order to keep those sacred principles to themselves. 'Thou shall not share your knowledge with the commons' seems to be some characters' motto. 'The motto of the College is 'Christo et Ecclesiae' and we are beholden to live up to the Christian spirit of that ideal', says the sinister Manning. But we are to learn that: 'The motto used to be 'Veritas',Truth'.
Along the pages of The Dante Club, there is a mirror play between author and translators, between the plot and the translating process itself, with an unexpected epilogue that questions the reality of real life and shows the dangers and mysteries of the task of the translator.
As a teacher of Literature and Literary Translation, I strongly recommend this novel as a complementary reading and motivation for my students. Future translators are offered a romantic perspective of their job, that appears to be thrilling, defiant, non-conformist. When a translator complaints about his/her career being nothing but sitting in a lonely room and rewrite someone else's words among a pile of dictionaries, he/she must think of Longfellow's slow recovery from tragedy through his impassioned work, of Fields's commitment to his writers, of Lowell's determination, and even of Holmes's weaknesses which, in certain moments, we all share. A good translator ' just like a good writer or a good police officer ' may write his/her name into History. Translators like the ones at The Dante Club have the power to subvert the system, because their mission is, indeed, to bring new worlds into their already old Ivy League world.
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