Rating: 
Summary: Incredibly clever
Review: This book is incredibly clever and draws the reader in from the first chapter...blends exceptional mystery writing with history to make a really good read! If you like this one, try The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins...
Rating: 
Summary: Brilliant!
Review: This was an excellent book. One of the best books I have read in many years. Iain Pears is an extremely intelligent and talented individual. I look forward to reading his other books.
Rating:
Summary: worth it in the end
Review: It took me a while to get into this story, perhaps because l didn't like the first character who narrated the story. Once I got to the second part, however I was involved with the storyline and it all started to intertwine and become very interesting. A good read, but not a book to read in little spurts, go and hide yourself for a couple of hours here and there and lose yourself in another century.
Rating: 
Summary: This book is like a bad long-term relationship
Review: I read this book through till the end but I don't know why. All I can think is that it was like a bad long-term relationship. It looked so enticing at the beginning, and then by the time I got to the middle I was very confused and couldn't keep any of the accounts straight, and wasn't even finding the characters very interesting, yet I thought--well, I'm 400 pages into this thing so I can't stop now. And so on and so forth. I kept thinking I should put it down, and then I'd think, well I've invested so much time and effort already, maybe it will all be worth it in the end. Well, it wasn't. I thought this book was a big tease. Really overrated. Not one interesting character and by the end I didn't care at all who killed Grove and the "revelations" were poor consolation.
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Summary: Twists of fate make for a genuinely literary mystery novel
Review: This is a long (680 pgs in my paperback edition--bought from A.c, by the way) historical novel set in reformation England-mostly Oxford. The story comprises four distinct memoirs-seemingly written in about 1680-that recall events during 1663. The characters are mostly historical figures-actually two of the narrators are fictitous, two are genuine, while secondary characters include Robert Boyle, James Locke, and other lesser know figures of the restoration. Pears' historical knowledge seems formidable and the reader can look forward to learning much about this era. Most impressive to me was the great authenticity of the narrative voices and the almost flawless resolution of an intricate story line. This is a mystery, much in the tradition of "The Name of the Rose," but with a deep bow to "Roshamon." For the story to work, each of the narrators has to come across as a genuine character of the 17th century. Pears accomplishes this by skillfully blending the style and syntax of the era with contemporaneous prejudices and ignorance. Every once in a while you can hear the style relapse to modern-speak for a bit, but Pears gets so much right that it's hard to quibble. The characters profess belief in magic and archaic medical theory with casual conviction. They are mired in-to modern ears-an appallingly oppressive attitude toward women and "common" people. At the same time, these are the leading scientists and philosophers of their time; hearing them you get the strong sense that their society is beginning to break free and move toward genuine science and egalitarian politics. It is a remarkable achievement for a novel-all the more so because it is also a gripping thriller. What the memoirs are trying to explain are the events surrounding the death by poisoning of an Oxford don, Robert Grove and the subsequent execution of a young serving woman, Sarah Blundy, who is convicted of the murder. The first narrator identifies himself as Marco da Cola, a Venetian student of medicine who gets stuck in Oxford due to complications with his family's business. Although da Cola becomes convinced of Sarah's guilt, the reader develops great sympathy for her. Pears draws Sarah as a combination of a Christian mystic and a proto-feminist. This works for the plot and to make her an appealing character. But the combination of religious fervor and sexual freedom she proclaims is one note that does seem a bit too modern-perhaps one grows to love her because of this very whiff of modernity. Each narrator that follows retells the story with differing interpretations of the facts and with addition of separate layers of motivation. Be warned that the next two narrators espouse attitudes that are very hard to stomach-despite their great self-satisfaction. Contradictions and complexities accumulate until the mystery seems utterly insoluble. Then at the end, by some alchemy of literary skill, Pears manages to explain everything in the last few pages. A word of advice: even though this is a long read, do not succumb to the temptation of skipping ahead. One minor frustration-the significance of the very odd title is embedded in the front-pages to one of the sections (the fourth, I think) and is easily missed. Turns out, it's a quote from Bacon describing a piece of compelling evidence that trumps all prejudices. Fingerpost indeed is what it takes to sort the whole thing out. The parallels with Ecco's "The Name of the Rose" are very striking. A cloistered male setting (academic rather than ecclesiastic), a poisoning, an innocent female brutally prosecuted, a preoccupation with texts-including a purloined book that is the key to a cipher that is a major key to the plot, etc. There are surely more-including some that can not be revealed without spoiling the suspense. To me, Fingerpost compares quite favorably with Rose. I liked Rose very much, but ultimately it seemed that Ecco was more concerned with philosophy and semionics-whatever that is-than with character and story. The chase through the library maze and the cataclysmic fire at the end of Rose pushed the whole book over the edge of melodrama, in my opinion. Pears is more restrained in burdening his story with symbolism-though there is an obvious touch of semionics in the experiment with the dove in the vacuum chamber-watch for it early in da Cola's narrative. By staying focused on the fully imagined people of the day, their authentic history, and in the mechanisms of a wonderfully realized plot, Pears writes a very satisfying and moving book. He solves the mystery of the Fingerpost, but he leaves you to ponder more profound and lasting mysteries. Somehow, the course of history has moved from the deep ignorance, tragedies, and injustice of that long-ago time to a perhaps more enlightened era. But just as certainly, many of the beliefs and practices we take for granted today will seem primitive and cruel 300 years hence. Just which beliefs are they?
Rating:
Summary: A Challenge and a Mystery
Review: I'm just pleased to see so many people taking the time to read and reflect on such a challenging piece of fiction. Pears is British, and a lot of the urgency of the novel is, perhaps, lost on Americans, who usually have learned little about the turbulent, "earth-shattering" times of Cromwell and the Restoration (even though England's experience was very important to the history of our development as a nation and our revolution). There is much to ponder here, and the reader with time on her hands will profit most from this deep work. The prose was elegant and stirring. The characters were vivid and sharp. The mystery itself was a little flat, for my taste. As I read, I didn't come to care about it as much as the times themselves. The post-modern taste for the relativism of meaning and value was appealing, though the characters themselves might be astounded by how we in our deconstructionist era read such winding narratives. The meaning of the story hasn't gotten through to me yet, and is certainly wide open for debate (like many a modern novel, as well). It was a profoundly sad book in many ways. The twisting plot reflected our twisted minds, and the twists finally wearied and saddened me. Comparing the events of the book with American modern times, one might be astonished at how little we have progressed on matters of religion in 300 years, for we still struggle on with tolerance and openness. A fine novel for the thinking woman and man. It repays a lot of what you will put into it. Anyone who wishes to discuss the novel, drop me a line.
Rating:
Summary: Too long and way overrated.
Review: I agree with Salon reviewer Daniel Reitz. The real talent here was in the marketing.
Rating:
Summary: Remarkable but demanding historical novel/mystery.
Review: Readers who are not already conversant with the history of science in Restoration England may have reason to gripe about this book, but anyone who does have even slight familiarity with that subject will love AN INSTANCE OF THE FINGERPOST. I am not sure why people insist on juxtaposing it with THE NAME OF THE ROSE, for these books are alike only in being erudite and historical with a murder to solve. Otherwise, they are profoundly different -- but readers who took to Eco's fine novel of ideas and history and mystery will find comparable ideas and history and mystery in Pears's pages. By all means read it slowly and carefully and savor it as it goes, and do not skip ahead. One of the themes of the book, as the back cover makes clear, is the chanciness and sometimes the untrustworthiness of narrators. I give nothing away by saying that. Historians and those who are historically inclined will like this book the best.
Rating:
Summary: Splendid!
Review: Intricate historical detail, captivating characters, intense suspense, an incredible story. I do not believe I have so devoured a book since Allison Weir's "Life of Elizabeth I" (non-fiction). History books can often be dull and lull us to sleep. THIS book, although it be fiction, relates some true history in the most enjoyable manner. A very nice departure from the cold facts I so often choose to read.
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Summary: How the book was viewed by myself...
Review: Having just this moment finished reading An Instance Of The Fingerpost, I felt compelled to review it here. Imagine my surprise when I saw the tirade levelled against its use of grammar. Might I remind people that 1660s English vernacular has likely been changed somewhat in the three hundred years thence? As a British student of history, science and language, I must point out that in all three respects, Mr Pears' book is almost impeccable. And with that minor diatribe of my own complete, I'd also like to say that I enjoyed the book immensely. I found it intriguing and informative, and very involving. I agree that it lacks a big conclusive revelation and hence a happy ending for all concerned, but I would imagine that the real truth of the human nature is similarly elusive, and such an ending would have been unrealistic - potentially even detracting from the reader's enjoyment. Full marks to Pears here. Long may he continue to entertain me thus so.
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