Rating: 
Summary: Extravagant, entertaining and imaginative
Review: This is the first I've read by this author. His writing style is dense, with many allusive references, detailed and extravagant descriptions of background, rather heavy usage of foreign (non-English) terms and passages, and an often-intimidating vocabulary. Still, it is not difficult to follow the story. One finds them self not understanding what is happening, or to whom, until the author clears it up, sometimes. For example, at a chapter's beginning, there is an entire page devoted to describing a coach ride to Paris, including the trees, the texture and nature of the road, French peasants friendly waves, the horses, and on and on, before the identity of the passengers is revealed. The story is set, for the most part, in 18th-century London, where John Lempriere, a classical scholar, is writing a dictionary of mythological characters and their activities in an attempt to exorcise the demons raised by his father's violent death, which he witnessed on the island of Jersey. Lempriere is in London because of his father's will, where he discovers a 150-year-old conspiracy by a cabbala that has kept his family from a vast fortune--their one-ninth share of the fabulously wealthy East India Company. Criticism aside, Lawrence Norfolk has a lyrical style that is intriguing. This is not an ordinary meat-and-potatoes novel. It is entertaining, imaginative and extravagant. Joseph Pierre
Rating:
Summary: Extravagant, entertaining and imaginative
Review:
This is the first I've read by this author. His writing style is dense, with many allusive references, detailed and extravagant descriptions of background, rather heavy usage of foreign (non-English) terms and passages, and an often-intimidating vocabulary. Still, it is not difficult to follow the story. One finds them self not understanding what is happening, or to whom, until the author clears it up, sometimes. For example, at a chapter's beginning, there is an entire page devoted to describing a coach ride to Paris, including the trees, the texture and nature of the road, French peasants friendly waves, the horses, and on and on, before the identity of the passengers is revealed. The story is set, for the most part, in 18th-century London, where John Lempriere, a classical scholar, is writing a dictionary of mythological characters and their activities in an attempt to exorcise the demons raised by his father's violent death, which he witnessed on the island of Jersey. Lempriere is in London because of his father's will, where he discovers a 150-year-old conspiracy by a cabbala that has kept his family from a vast fortune--their one-ninth share of the fabulously wealthy East India Company. Criticism aside, Lawrence Norfolk has a lyrical style that is intriguing. This is not an ordinary meat-and-potatoes novel. It is entertaining, imaginative and extravagant. Joseph Pierre
Rating:
Summary: Utterly captivating
Review: Akin to Pynchon, I think, Norfolk is definitely a master. I loved the conspiracy, grotesquery, and wicked wierdness that is this novel. Once read, it can never be forgotten. Ancient mythology forms a tapestry of clues for young Lemprière, who struggles to make sense of his mission from within a cabalistic underground society whose hermetic and dangerous agenda contrive to weave an ever more convoluted yet fascinating web around him. Exciting and wonderful, there are very few novels such as this.
Rating:
Summary: A unique masterpiece.
Review: Because I lost my copy this summer on a plane in Brussels, I'm going back to Europe to buy it this summer. Find it, buy it, treasure it.
Rating:
Summary: Barbarus hic ego sum
Review: Exiled among a tribe of barbarians, Ovid noted that, "Here it is that I am a barbarian, understood by nobody" (Tr. V, X, 37). Lawrence Norfolk borrows Ovid's observation for the epigraph of his first novel, both as a reference to his hero's unwitting plight and one of his own making, e.g., LEMPRIERE'S DICTIONARY.
Rating:
Summary: Barbarus hic ego sum
Review: Exiled among a tribe of barbarians, Ovid noted that, "Here it is that I am a barbarian, understood by nobody" (Tr. V, X, 37). Lawrence Norfolk borrows Ovid's observation for the epigraph of his first novel, both as a reference to his hero's unwitting plight and one of his own making, e.g., LEMPRIERE'S DICTIONARY.
Rating: 
Summary: Falls Short of Eco-ian Glory
Review: Great reviews and an interesting, rarely touched premise (the East India Company) led me to pick this up, and I wish I hadn't. While at times the style is enjoyable, more often than not it is merely annoying. If you're interested in history-rich conspiracy fiction, pick up a copy of The Name of the Rose and re-read it!
Rating:
Summary: Falls Short of Eco-ian Glory
Review: Great reviews and an interesting, rarely touched premise (the East India Company) led me to pick this up, and I wish I hadn't. While at times the style is enjoyable, more often than not it is merely annoying. If you're interested in history-rich conspiracy fiction, pick up a copy of The Name of the Rose and re-read it!
Rating: 
Summary: Light industry masquerading as art
Review: Having read some praising reviews comparing this book to those of Umberto Eco's I was tempted into buying it. Wasn't able to read it all the way through, ran out of patience around page 200. I can't remember having ever met an author with such an irritating "style". Norfolk's pretentiousness is only equalled by his inaptitude. He jampacks his novel with unexpected historical and cultural references, but unlike Eco, he only seems pedantic and smarty. The action itself is pulled by the hair, far from even pretending credibility. At regular intervals nebulous effusions occur, meant to give an "artistic" spin to the sub-pulp quality of it all. Definitely not a rewarding read. Frankly, a waste of time.
Rating:
Summary: An amazing epic novel of mystery and adventure.
Review: I absolutlely loved the awesome inventiveness of this novel. And although it is tremendously complicated and difficult to read I found it very rewarding. The amazing thing that I found out only after I finished the book is that there really is a "Lempriere's dictionary"! I know absolutely nothing about the mythology that is so often referenced in the book and simply ignored it. I suspect that readers with a better classics background than mine would like it even more. Not recommended for those that need the pace of John Grisham or Tom Clancy to stay interested in a book.
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