Rating: 
Summary: Phenomenal
Review: "La via sola al Paradiso incommincia nel Inferno."
(The only way to paradise begins in hell)This note from Dante's Divine Comedy sums up the main thread of Tosche's compelling and irresistable page-turner. Juxtaposing the profane (murderous lowlifes in present-day NYC) with the profound (gorgeous, poetic explorations of Dante's own inspirations and experiences, as well as some real gems in the author's own voice -- he's a character in the novel himself) Tosches' work reflects this idea in his choice of material and in the experiences of his characters. The mix is strange (and perhaps offputting for more sensitive readers) but it works. Powerful, erudite, beautiful, well-researched... and supremely entertaining. This is my first encounter with Tosches, but it won't be my last.
Rating: 
Summary: Tosches' divine "Dante."
Review: A New York Times' reviewer accurately describes Nick Tosches' novel as "kind of a mess, but a splendid, passionate mess." The narrative alternates between the 14th and 21st centuries to tell the story of the stolen original manuscript of Dante Alighieri's "Divine Comedy, written between 1313 and 1315 (p. 160). After a priest steals the poem from the Vatican, Louie, a tough guy with a fetish for wearing women's lingerie, steals the parchment manuscript from the priest. A 64-year-old diabetic character, Nick Tosches, is then asked to authenticate the several-hundred page document, apparently scrawled by the hand of Dante with the wild "tempest and serenity of creation" (p. 64). While this is the basic plot of Tosches' novel, it is by no means an easy book. There is more to Tosche's novel than mobsters popping priests for a stolen poem of "incalculable" value (p. 302), and this is precisely where things get interesting. In his first-person narrative, Tosches burns like an inferno, criticizing everything from monotheism, publishers, Oprah's Book Club, mediocrity and even his own editor. In fact, throughout his book, very little escapes the heat of Tosches' impassioned rage. The spectacle of his narrative conflagration, seasoned with profanities, will surely offend some readers, but will attract many others. Does Tosches burn as brightly as Dante? Well, no. But I enjoyed every minute of reading this novel. G. Merritt
Rating: 
Summary: Tosches' Silly Mess
Review: After being both bored and confused by this novel, I feel Nick should stick to biography. A no velist he is not,no idea of structure,inability to decide who he really wants to be,the use of scatalogy for shock value alone,and the psuedo Faulknerian ramblings make this a mockery of solid literature.Buy Dino.
Rating: 
Summary: Very disappointed...
Review: Being a fan of historical fiction/mysteries, plus a student of Dante, I was intrigued by the premise of this book. After picking it up from my local library, I was very disappointed. From the exceptional reviews, I expected a engrossing narrative such as Katherine Neville's "Eight", but instead, I didn't make it past the first 4 pages. The repetitious use of the f-word (in all forms) turned me off instantly. I can grant a certain license for character development, but there are may more words in the English language that could have conveyed the demeanor of the Louie character. I paged through more of the book to see if things improved, and the non-Louie passages seemed to be well written; however, it appeared the f-word repetition became more frequent each time this character was referred too. Ouch. Cutting edge narrative this is not. Historical fiction this is not.
Rating:
Summary: Ugh.
Review: Bought this book because I love Dante and had heard wonderful things about Nick Tosches. After reading it (and I finished it only because I wanted to see if it would get any better) I still love Dante but think that Tosches is overrated, pretentious and suffering from testosterone poisoning. Believe me, I'm not a prude; so-called offensive material can certainly be thought-provoking and enjoyable. But in the contemporary portions of this book the author seems to be crude just to show what an iconoclastic stud he is, while at the same time having nothing of interest to say. In the historical portions of the book, by contrast, he does have something interesting to say but it's buried under an overly vague, artsy-fartsy, stream of consciousness story structure. I'll be selling my copy of this book and rereading the Divine Comedy instead.
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Summary: Crazy Wisdom, Holy Madness
Review: Cheeses Rice! It always astounds me how critical, stupid and cruel sub-people can be when faced with a work of art that the artist wrung blood out of his heart for. Nick Tosches passion is Dante, he's Italian and he's from the street. That alone makes this novel something to look into. An Italian die-hard music lover, who writes about Dante, the mob, cabalah, Faulkner, Eros and Thanatos... what more could you want?! Mr. Nick Tosches tells it like he see's it. Full of himself? What a joke! This book is absolutely great. I read books day in and day out and THIS book is phenomenal. It is a funny, profound, poetic, full of feeling, trashy, bigoted, crude, violent, scathingly honest, proudly politically incorrect, no-nonsense, with warts and roses, laughing, praying, and cursing from the gutter all the way up through illimitablness,crazy freakin' book! It is street-wise spiritual wisdom for those who have ears to hear and the stomach for it and you might learn something, like how to Pray(those who dissed this work of art, should start learning soon). Read it, re-read and go out and buy all his other books -you'll have youreself a new favorite author. Deus thumbs up on one hand clapping with loaded dice!
Rating:
Summary: Don't bother...
Review: God I hated this book. I don't say this lightly. I thought the idea was great and I couldn't wait to read it but...The author is so overrated and pretentious that I couldn't help but laugh at some sections. Did he even bother to give it to an editor? The characters are one-dimensional and the plot is lame. I totally lost interest half way through the book. I continued reading with the hopes that it would get better but it never did.
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Summary: interesting very daring crashing of the artist¿s wall
Review: Having lived a pious life, the septuagenarian priest wants to go home to Palermo, Sicily as he is sick of the Vatican except perhaps the library that gives him some mundane comfort. The priest's spirits pick up when he finds a rarity in the library, an original manuscript of Dante's The Divine Comedy seemingly hand written by the author. He takes the treasure with him on his trek home. Ultimately, the find ends up with the NYC mob. Writer Nick Tosches is hired by Louie (see CUT NUMBERS) to determine the authenticity of this incredible jewel. However, like the priest, Nick, even knowing the danger, purloins the manuscript as he tries to resolve whether he possesses an original or a clever copy and if legitimate how much would it bring in the marketplace. As Nick muses over his own life and what he now holds, others try to take the manuscript away from him. IN THE HAND OF DANTE is an interesting very daring crashing of the artist's wall as Nick Tosches uses this novel to provide an intriguing autobiography and a factual biography inside an appealing crime thriller. The modern day scenes (the autobiography and the crime sequence) are divine as they bring the reader into the deepest circles of the soul of the author. The look into Dante's life is loaded with historical information, but seems infernally trivial so that the audience feels as if the subject is a two dimensional figure trapped in a personal purgatory. Still more than just fans of Nick Tosches will feel they attained paradise with his latest novel. Harriet Klausner
Rating:
Summary: Pompous and Self-indulgent
Review: I really don't have anything much positive to say about this book. There WAS a harrowing scene of an ocean passage where the ship is over-run by rats -- Not pleasant, but it did give me goose bumps. The violence in the current-day parts seemed gratuitous and somehow unconvincingly macho, particularly the opening scene. I almost stopped reading right there, but I was convinced it would get better. The endless diatrabe directed at the publishing industry was clearly the author ranting to a captive audience. And speaking of the author, as if the book isn't unpleasant enough, get a look at his picture on the back. When I checked it out (half-way through the book) I couldn't help but think, "You freakin' weirdo!" There was a brief scene set against the September terrorist attacks on the U.S. and the tone of this scene was calculatedly cold and indifferent -- I didn't understand the point, unless the author was trying to convey that he is so exceptional and set apart from the rest of the world that he can in no way share normal human emotions such as grief or shock. By the time I finished (and I almost didn't bother) I couldn't tell you if I disliked the book or the author more.
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Summary: Truth On The End Of A Rapier
Review: If the author Nick Tosches had limited this book to his dismemberment of the mass-produced and marketed mediocrities that pass for good books today, it alone would have been worth the price of the book. He thunders about the consolidation of book publishers in to what is an oligopoly, comments on the same status of the retailers of books, and mercilessly flays authors that routinely occupy the top of the bestseller lists. My favorite part of his varied condemnations is when he directs his spotlight on those persons who have placed their name upon book clubs, and by choosing a book guaranty its financial success. Some I am sure will find his characterizations vulgar and overly vicious. I found them to be dead on accurate. The entire phenomenon of a celebrity with absolutely no credibility for commenting on a book doing so, and thus placing the book immediately on the top of countless reader's lists of books they must read, is and always has been pathetic. When one hostess of a talk show recently withdrew after stating she could no longer find books that were worthy of a recommendation, she confirmed two facts. The first was that she had no business ever suggesting anything to anyone, and secondly, when her most recently anointed author stated he did not want her name on his book, her towering ego shattered. Nick Tosches is qualified to trash the homogenization of commercial publishing and the garbage it prints, for unlike those who make a living criticizing that which they cannot begin to replicate, this man can and does so with ease. He moves from thrashing an industry and its products to writing with style and competence that is all but gone, buried by a dozen or so authors who are guaranteed to sell a pile of books regardless of the quality of writing. He includes a letter that he wrote to his agent/publisher that is as blistering an indictment of fools that I have read. Once the book moves to the story of Dante struggling with what would be his masterpiece, the author demands a great deal of his readers. He does not make the reading easy, nor does he hold the reader's hand with word for word translations of a variety of languages. This is most appropriate, for were he have taken the opposite tack, he would have been guilty of another fault of mediocre writers, using language they barely understand, and rarely even translate. Language is used as makeup, improving the appearance where there is no substance, just ugliness. Those who pick up this work hoping for a race around the globe with stolen manuscripts and characters of the shadiest demeanor will be sorely disappointed. This is a wonderfully detailed book of the exploration of truth in the pursuit of knowledge, and eventually of writing. The rants, and disgusting human beings that are described outside of this central tale, are wonderful, and at times vile. If as the jacket of the book suggests, as a reader you might be offended, there is little in this book you will not hear leaching from cars in suburbia, thumping mindlessly while spewing the most egregious filth. This, "music", is again what has been deemed popular, but unlike this man's book that you may choose to read, the former is not an option unless you choose the life of a hermit. I think many readers often will pick up a book for some light reading that requires very little in terms of thought, to either write or read. I know that I do. But there is a great difference between reading lightweight fluff and knowing that is what it is, and formulating your reading list based upon what some talking head tells you to read. If you pick what you read, or find helpful the thoughts of those who gain nothing from their comments on books, then you will likely enjoy this work. If you are a Lemming, wait for your favorite talk show host to tell you what to read, or watch for some book defaced by a stickered endorsement to direct you, and then wait for someone to tell you what you should think.
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