Rating: 
Summary: Great premise; poor execution
Review: A Harvard alumnus who is also a Dante scholar writes a thriller that involves crimes that mirror some of the horrors that take place in the Inferno. In addition, the author sets the novel in the mid 19th century and includes such luminaries of literature as Longfellow, Holmes, Lowell, and Emerson (in a cameo). Great credentials. Excellent premise. Should be a great book, right? Well, I had hoped so when I secured a copy. However, the story lags. The pacing is too slow. The editors could have eliminated 100 pages and greatly improved the book. Pearl is a first-time novelist; as a matter of fact, he claims to have written very little fiction before beginning this novel. His inexperience is evident throughout the book, as is his potential as a writer. There are moments in the novel when Pearl piques the reader's interest by creating fine details of 19th century Boston and by describing gruesome scenes. His dialogue, though, is stilted (supposedly this was done on purpose to mimic how erudite Bostonians spoke in those days). But, sometimes the plodding plot and wooden dialogue makes the reader want to turn the page and hope for something better or close the book forever. I chose to finish it. Pearl is a writer with great potential. I believe he will reach that potential only when he learns to trim the fat and pickup the tempo.
Rating: 
Summary: Scooby Doo with famous Americans
Review: I found this book interesting because I was living next door to Longfellow's house at the time I read it and I am a Bostonian. So it was interesting to see what Boston was like then for these famous people. However, the plot turned from interesting to ridiculous. And then it simply felt like a Scooby Doo episode with famous American literati. Zoinks.
Rating: 
Summary: Boring, Boring, Gone
Review: I love well written books, some badly written books, this one is out of the ballpark when it comes to BORING. I have always finished a book, until now, this was the worse book I have attempted to read in 30 years.
Rating: 
Summary: Entertaining and educative!
Review: Fiction, suspence, science, literature, poetry and history come together in this well-researched and brilliantly written novel that satisfies readers' appetites on many levels. Whether you chose this novel because of your familiarity with Dante's Comedia or simply chose it hoping for a good read, you will walk away from this experience intellectually and culturally enriched while being thoroughly entertained.
Rating: 
Summary: Four 1/2 stars . . .
Review: I did not read this novel, but listened to the audiobook. As read by Boyd Gaines, it was thoroughly engrossing and entertaining. I enjoyed every minute of it and would highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys historical fiction and/or mysteries.
Rating:
Summary: Good plot !
Review: I appreciated the plot of this book very much and look forward to the author's next novel. Fans of Dante will find it a irresitible buy. While reading it, I began to feel that the Victorian affectations in dialogue detracted from it's appeal. I would recommend it for a leisurely read.
Rating:
Summary: Don't Bother
Review: I am one of those people who always gives a book a fair chance to impress or entertain me. Even if I am bored, I'll keep reading in the hopes that it will get better. This one didn't, and after getting halfway through it, I had to put myself out of my misery. I was so disgusted with it that I threw it in the trash rather than passing it on to someone else. Before you decide that it must have been just too highbrow for me (the last person I told I hated it replied, "Danielle Steele must be more your speed"), let me say that I teach literature and my area of expertise is the Renaissance. Let me also say, to anyone who thinks of attacking from the opposite direction, that I enjoyed Caleb Carr's THE ALIENIST. And Ian McEwan, Gunter Grass, Ha Jin, Toni Morrison, and Henry James number among my favorite authors--a pretty eclectic bunch, I'd say. Dante is not the problem, nor is the idea of a mystery involving well-known persons. It is Pearl's boringly pretentious style. He is much more impressed with his own cleverness than I could ever be with this book. Some reviews I've read marvel that this is a first book; I say, "It shows." I'm told the ending makes it worth sticking with; but as Carly Simon said, "I haven't got time for the pain"--especially when there are so many excellent books out there I'm dying to read.
Rating:
Summary: A Fun Historical Who-Dun-It!
Review: I was a little disheartened to read reviews of this book on Amazon professing the ease at which other readers figured out the culprit in this book based on Dante's Divine Comedy. I was left guessing until the very end! I assure you that most readers will share my experience. If anything, after finishing the book you will proclaim, "I should've known!" This is a truly well-written book based partly in fact - "The Dante Club" really did exist. While the situation is entirely fictionalized, Matthew Pearl does an excellent job of weaving fact and fiction into an easy-to-read, page-turning novel. This book has sparked my interest in reading the Divine Comedy again. If you have not read Dante for quite some time - or never at all - wait until after reading "The Dante Club." Pearl does a good job of explaining all you need to know about Dante to understand the plot of this novel, plus it makes the novel slightly more mysterious if you don't quite know what is around the corner.
Rating:
Summary: good book
Review: i may just be a Dante fanactic, but i enjoyed this book very much. having just read the Inferno, i was so excited to find all the things i remembered from it in this book. i think matthew pearl did a great job with the story line while giving more information about dante. all in all, i learned a lot and enjoyed myself while reading this book. i would recommend it to people who have already read the Inferno though.. i would imagine much of the story would be lost without having read it.
Rating:
Summary: "A Fable for the Critics"
Review: Borrowing a title that Pearl attributes to the works of his character, the poet and teacher Robert Lowell, I see "The Dante Club" as a 'fable' for Dante scholars. Pearl has depended on the 'light-heartedness' of a who-dunn-it mystery to interpret some gruesome images in "The Divne Comedy." I feel that I've read a well-crafted book that makes light of historical realism. I don't, however, feel that I've read the original, Dante's own "Divine Comedy." (As I admit regretfully, I've not yet read Dante.) Pearl's novel is a tentalizing lure to discover Dante in a specific historical moment. It comes across as a fabulus tale of presenting Dante to 'our' America who is always seeking its own identity and unity.
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