Rating: 
Summary: Meticulously plotted, very informative, FUN!
Review: Mr. Pears has written an extraordinary historical mystery -- meticulously plotted (with loose ends all wrapped up!), excellent characterization, and an obviously thorough knowledge of the period and people about which he writes.I found this book thoroughly enjoyable and I learned so much about 17th Century English history, a period in which I previously had little or no interest. Also, to my own surprise, I had difficulty putting this book down. Plus it met my own personal criteria for knowing a book is great -- until I finished it, no matter what else I was doing, I couldn't stop thinking about it. I wish all books were as good as this one, except I would never get any work done!
Rating: 
Summary: thrilling, but stylistically not sufficiently differentiated
Review: Beautifully written, well paced, complex story, good period evocation and yet somewhat unsatisfactory. The four characters who in succession recollect the same events sound too much alike. Of course the stories they tell are very different, yet stylistically they are hard to distinguish. Their differences concern substance and one wishes this had been reflected in form as well, it is literature after all.
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Summary: Mesmerizing -- the best historical fiction
Review: This book explores the reasons the characters act the way they do -- giving the reader an understanding of (an empathy with) the authentic intellectual life of another time and place. As a teacher, I made the mistake of picking this up just at the hectic end of the school year so I couldn't read it for long stretches -- but no matter. It was completely satisfying even two pages at a time! And it taught me a great deal and made me want to learn more about this period of time -- the highest praise I can give to a book. Everybody I know is going to get this book for Christmas (if I haven't convinced them to read it already!)
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Summary: Comparison to Eco ?
Review: I loved this book, and also `The Name of the Rose' (but surely not Eco's other books). That said, other than the superficial comparison of one period mystery to another, they are completely different books. Eco's was more steeped in place and time, and the background was almost entirely theological. Pears' plot is enormously more intricate, involving political, religious, medical, and romantic elements. Mysteries and enigmas on all sides abound. Given the number alone of the issues posed to the reader, the ending is astonishing in its completeness and satisfaction. With all due respect to some of the posters, those readers who find fault with the second narrative have missed the point, somewhat akin to the teenage fans of `Titanic' who wonder why Jack had to die. Finally, the comparison to Rashomon is apt in that both utilize the narrative device of different perspectives (coincidentally four in each case), but that marvelous film left the audience wondering what had really happened. Pears' conclusion, in contrast, is emphatic and unambiguous.
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Summary: Thought-provoking and readable
Review: I came to this book because of a taste for historical novels, and found that my enjoyment of it mounted progressively until by the end it gripped like a vice, and on a business trip to Japan I found myself ducking back to the hotel for ten or fifteen minutes between meetings in order to savour a few more pages. It was almost a wrench to finish it, and yet my eye was drawn on from page to page as Pears toyed with my notion of truth. By turns didactic and arch, the book is a prime example of historical fiction, interweaving as it does the factual and the invented. The overall theme about the nature of truth being dependent on the perspective of the observer is thoroughly contemporary, and undermines the reader's sense of superiority in observing the endeavours of the characters to understand matters as diverse as the circulation of the blood or the philosophy of politics. I have bought copies to give to my friends, which is the highest recommendation I can make.
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Summary: Unputdownable.
Review: The best mystery book I've read this year, or at least a close tie with Barnard Bastable's (aka Robert Barnard's) latest. Anyone who has ever lived in Oxford, or in England, will be unable to resist this one. I cannot recommend it highly enough.
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Summary: Well written, fascinating look at ambition and human nature.
Review: The ending is one of the best I've read in years.
Rating:
Summary: An mostly excellent historical mystery.
Review: Pears' novel is an ambitious, suspenseful mystery set in 17th century England that succeeds on almost all counts: plotting, period detail and writing style. I have always been fascinated by this period in English history and was eagerly looking forward to it, especially after reading all the glowing reviews by other readers. The powerful ending almost had me cheering! The comparison with "Name of the Rose" is fairly apt, although I feel that Eco's novel is even more weighed down by philosophical digressions. Weaknesses? The appropriately baroque plot necessitated by multiple viewpoints skimps a little with period detail and renders some of the lesser characters a bit bland. But maybe that's just me being picky!
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Summary: Wonderfully engrossing mystery about the nature of truth.
Review: While this book is very long at over 700 pages the story never lagged. I particularly liked the way the author told basically the same story form four different points of view. When the narrator shifts there are different truths revealed, and it was particularly amusing to learn what all the narrators thought of each other. Even though I strongly disliked the second narrator, he was a misogynistic pig, it did not detract from the tale but rather enhanced the narrative. I highly recommend this book although if you will be carting it around for a bit, wait until it comes out in paperback!
Rating:
Summary: Superb historical mystery writing, great mystery AND history
Review: I've never read Iain Pears before, but this is one of the finest, most intricately plotted, fascinating historical mysteries I've ever read. It's a delight on many levels (the history and biography of the characters alone is worth the read), but the mystery itself remains at the core of the book, and I had utterly no idea "whodunnit" until the very last pages. Each of four men describes a murder in Oxford in the 1660's; each story compliments and contradicts the other; only by putting pieces of all together can the truth be guessed; and you won't understand what "Instance of the Fingerpost" means until the very end of the book. Other reviews compare this to Umberto Ecco; I've read all his books, and think this is superior to any of them. This one has the best mystery hallmark; when you finally get toward the end, you'll cast forward and backward, re-reading what you overlooked the first time around, to find that it all ties together to satisfyingly, bear out the plot twists at the conclusion of the book. Enjoy!
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