The Club Dumas

Rating:
Summary: Impressive writing.
Review: The quality of this book's prose was very accomplished and the general subject matter was interesting with regard to book-binding and forgeries. I can't say that the plot was entirely convincing because their was no particularly strong reason for Corso to not simply hand over the chapter he got from LaPonte, and he could easily have stolen the `The Nine Doors of the Kingdom of Shadows' from Fargas, himself, or Balkan could have done so, too, since he killed Fargas for it anyway.

I found the line drawings/engravings good to look at.

The film adaptation `The Ninth Gate, was a surprisingly good one, but it too had a few plot flaws.

That said, it reads well. and would encourage reading more books by this author.


Rating:
Summary: Textual Layering
Review: When I was ordering this novel, the storyline seemed oddly familiar. When I received the book and examined the jacket cover, I realized that not too long ago I saw a movie that had to have been based on it. The movie was "The Ninth Gate" with Johnny Depp. Knowing since childhood how much worse movies are than the books they depict, I found myself - rather unusually - in a situation of having seen the movie first, which made me hesitate, as some of the suspense of traveling through a new book, especially one representing the adventure genre, was necesarily missing. Of course, I didn't dwell on the feeling too long and plunged right in, and very quickly the book fleshed itself out from the bones of its Hollywood double. If you think that knowing the movie will keep you from enjoying this book (as if any movie could ever really do justice to a book!), please reconsider.

Aside from a smart, erudite and engrossing storyline, this book goes on to subtly examine the roles of writer, reader and narrator, with all the attendant critical dilemmas of perspective, genre, fictional boundaries, originals and copies, story-within-a-story - reading oneself into one and writing oneself out, with the resulting constant feeling of the author's wink and smile as you read on, especially at the unmasking. If you don't read with such collegiate thoughts in mind, such ideas will not hinder what is just a good read, so read anyway.

Of course, the book is much more magnetic and seductive if you have ever lost your heart to a Dumas novel. So there is no question that part of why I enjoyed it as much as I did is that one particular Dumas novel is one of my favorite books of all time. If you feel the same, even if you may be slightly embarrassed at what seems like a light choice of favorite, don't be: certainly, the "actual" Club Dumas of the novel will make you feel in good fictional company. If you consider yourself more of a "serious" reader, the lit. crit. possibilities I mentioned should make up for what appears to be a light read. It's a book lover's book, a "reader's" book, and as such extremely well done. Enjoy.

Rating:
Summary: 9.5
Review: While I was living it St. Louis, I took this book to Forest Park with me everyday. I finished it under the huge fountain beneath the Art Museum, and beside the man-made stream near the Muni. This book was one of the most entertaining reads I have come across in the past year.
Miles better than the movie. And I'm sorry some of these other reviewers didn't enjoy it as much as I did. Maybe it's because I would love to have a job (quest) like the main character had. I found myself turning back and forth from the current page that I was reading to the diagrams of the ancient text (while keeping a close eye on the jogging beauty's passing by). TALLY-HO SUCKAHS!!