A Dead Man in Deptford

Rating:
Summary: Dead Man in Deptford
Review: A novelization of the career and death of Elizabethan writer Kit Marlowe.

Wonderfully clever on a sentence level, and also a realistic evocation of period mentalities. I found nothing that seemed anachronistic here; the characters are steeped in the thought, literature, and problems of their times.

Sometimes the cleverness detracts from the story. The unusual dialogue punctuation in particular makes conversations hard to follow. At times the themes have great power, but too often they, as well as plot and characterization, sag under the weight of verbal expression. A framing device -- as well as a puzzling new voice coming in at the end -- doesn't add much and seems unnecessary.

Overall, I found this to be an ambitious and well-written book which will probably lose a number of readers who can't follow its verbal twists and turns, but which is well worth reading.

Rating:
Summary: I didn't find it dull...
Review: I just wanted to commend the "Reader from Port Townsend, Washington," for writing one of the best customer reviews I've read in all my time surfing the Amazon web. I didn't finish the book, but am giving it 5 stars out of respect for my Port Townsend comrade.

Rating:
Summary: Breathtakingly fine work...
Review: Marlowe is presented in full here. You can feel him touching the pages as you read them. You can taste the food he eats, drink what he drinks. This is a visceral book. Burgess was a linguist, so, of course, the dialect might prove a challenge to some, but, in the same way that the invented slang of Clockwork Orange made the experience of that book more vivid and real, the Elizabethanisms of Dead Man only give it more depth and color. The "Elizabethanisms" of this book are, in any case, less challenging than those served up in Burgess' earlier, more difficult but also astonishingly rewarding Shakespeare book "Nothing Like The Sun". Disregard those few on here who warn you off this book, particularly if you revel in language that comes rich and thick and genuine.

Rating:
Summary: Breathtakingly fine work...
Review: Marlowe is presented in full here. You can feel him touching the pages as you read them. You can taste the food he eats, drink what he drinks. This is a visceral book. Burgess was a linguist, so, of course, the dialect might prove a challenge to some, but, in the same way that the invented slang of Clockwork Orange made the experience of that book more vivid and real, the Elizabethanisms of Dead Man only give it more depth and color. The "Elizabethanisms" of this book are, in any case, less challenging than those served up in Burgess' earlier, more difficult but also astonishingly rewarding Shakespeare book "Nothing Like The Sun". Disregard those few on here who warn you off this book, particularly if you revel in language that comes rich and thick and genuine.

Rating:
Summary: Challenging but worth it
Review: Our book group comprised of many retired teachers read this book recently; some members balked at its difficulty, but those who persevered felt that reading the book was a very rich experience. How else could you really sense the danger, the intrigue, the raw energy, and the vitality of the times. Burgess brings the period alive brilliantly through his inventive language and ironic humor. The book gets easier as it goes along, so stick with it; you'll be rewarded.

Rating:
Summary: Challenging but worth it
Review: Our book group comprised of many retired teachers read this book recently; some members balked at its difficulty, but those who persevered felt that reading the book was a very rich experience. How else could you really sense the danger, the intrigue, the raw energy, and the vitality of the times. Burgess brings the period alive brilliantly through his inventive language and ironic humor. The book gets easier as it goes along, so stick with it; you'll be rewarded.

Rating:
Summary: Fantastic!
Review: Regardless of whether you are a diehard Marlovian or not, Burgess' novel is a well crafted, loving treatise to the loftiness and the bawdiness of Elizabethan English. The story of Kit Marlowe, the Jim Morrison of his time, is richly imagined using the scant but intriguing information left to us. I recommend this book highly.

Rating:
Summary: Stick With It, It's Worth It
Review: While some have said this is a difficult book (and I must admit I felt that way at first) if you relax and stick with it you'll find that it will begin to flow very smoothly.
Burgess takes us into the mind of Marlowe; his images are vivid. There were many passages that I had to reread, not because they were difficult, but because they were so beautiful. Sir Walter Raleigh introducing Kit to tobacco is marvelous.
I have to agree with those who found that following the characters was a bit confusing. I had the good fortune to have read Charles Nichol's book 'The Reckoning" first, a true story about the death of Marlowe. That work is a great introduction to most of the players in Burgess's book.
Please, don't be intimidated by "Dead Man", it is a pleasing and enlightening work.