Rating: 
Summary: The English edition is far superior to the American edition.
Review: I had heard that the American edition had been edited, so I read the English edition. I then looked through a copy of the American edition, looking for differences. The differences aresignificant; even a casual inspection turns up major differences in the ending of the novel. The true identities of at least two major characters (and one minor character) are not revealed in the American edition. (Surprisingly, the Kirkus review quoted above seems to refer to the English edition.) Furthermore, the ending of the American edition is extremely compressed, giving it a noticeably different tone from the rest of the novel. I don't understand why the Americanpublishers would make such changes. If they wanted to make the novel shorter or more accessible, they could have cut some of the descriptive passages; instead, they chose to alter the ending, which serves only to weaken the novel. I also wonder why there is no indication that the American edition has been edited. I thought there was a requirement to note that an edition has been abridged or otherwise revised, but apparently there isn't. If you want to read this book as the author intended, read the English edition. It's worth your while.
Rating:
Summary: Utterly captivating
Review: I loved the story but could have done without the (to me) senseless interludes and some of the repetition that was included in the tell-the-same-scene-from-different-perspectives style. Another problem I had was with certain levels of technology that were definitely out of sync with the times - even by today's standards that would be tough (I don't want to spoil it for future readers).If you like tough reads, similar to Pynchon's stuff, I'd say try this for sure. The setting and characters alone made it enjoyable enough to be worth it.
Rating: 
Summary: One word - Dense
Review: I loved the story but could have done without the (to me) senseless interludes and some of the repetition that was included in the tell-the-same-scene-from-different-perspectives style. Another problem I had was with certain levels of technology that were definitely out of sync with the times - even by today's standards that would be tough (I don't want to spoil it for future readers). If you like tough reads, similar to Pynchon's stuff, I'd say try this for sure. The setting and characters alone made it enjoyable enough to be worth it.
Rating:
Summary: The best fiction I've seen in this decade.
Review: I would have rated this book only four stars, but it appears that my only real problems with the text - namely, the mocking loose strings and confused identities at the end - are the fault of callous American editors and not the author himself. The writing is strong, assured, and eloquent, particularly the descriptive passages. Mr. Norfolk is a stylist of remarkable virtuosity. His deft layering of perspectives, time frames and details combine like an impressionist's daubs of colour - I can only wish that one's glimpse of the completed canvas were not so imperfect at the end. I shall be looking for the English edition.
Rating:
Summary: Will become one of your all time faves before you finish it!
Review: Norfolk's first time out - LEMPRIERE'S DICTIONARY - is an amazing novel. Maybe I should say stunning, or fantastic. A wonderful blend of intrigue, history, romance, revenge, partying, and political machination combined with very well formed characters and exciting action. I could go on & on & on, but READ THIS BOOK!!!! It is a joy and a pleasure to read, and I gave some copies away as gifts one Christmas & everyone told me how much they liked it a few weeks later. THE POPE'S RHINOCEROS is uneven, but LEMPRIERE is perfectly defined & spelled, so to speak (Sorry!). Read it!
Rating:
Summary: Metamorphoses at all!
Review: The core theme is John Lempriere's work on his dictionary of proper names of the antique. I have followed his pen filling the papers from "Aaras'sus" to "..." - the surname of Juno, when presiding over marriages, enthusiastically. I have been animated to reread Ovid's "Metamorphoses". It has been wonderfull to have the ancient Greek (Roman) mythology back in Norfolk' s novel- in different times, in different shapes, the novel's characers as their actors. (Metamorphoses at all!) But instead of mythology's density and complexity within the novel, maybe it' s only an episode. You can follow another track - the historical background covering two centuries from the founding of the East-Indian Company to the dawn of the French Revolution. Be a historian ! Make a journey with coaches, on ships or just fly and settle down at the Sea of Azow, and find out why the fish are gone there ! Follow gulps, orange trees, women selling apples, ships, occean currents, weather systems (warming foehns in the Klagenfurt Basin make me think of Robert Musil ?). You can also read a geometry. Be a skillfull mathematician to construct broken circles or to understand Loui's XIV first tutor of mathematics telling him that parallel lines - parallel episodes - meet at a point infinitely distant from the observer - the reader - or more obviously in the reader's mind - in the novel. You become a vigilant, attentative reader, but sometimes you will find yourself bewithed by Norfolk. And I have not even touched the plot! Buy Norfolk's debut novel, read it and enrich your library.
Rating:
Summary: Metamorphoses at all!
Review: The core theme is John Lempriere's work on his dictionary of proper names of the antique. I have followed his pen filling the papers from "Aaras'sus" to "..." - the surname of Juno, when presiding over marriages, enthusiastically. I have been animated to reread Ovid's "Metamorphoses". It has been wonderfull to have the ancient Greek (Roman) mythology back in Norfolk' s novel- in different times, in different shapes, the novel's characers as their actors. (Metamorphoses at all!) But instead of mythology's density and complexity within the novel, maybe it' s only an episode. You can follow another track - the historical background covering two centuries from the founding of the East-Indian Company to the dawn of the French Revolution. Be a historian ! Make a journey with coaches, on ships or just fly and settle down at the Sea of Azow, and find out why the fish are gone there ! Follow gulps, orange trees, women selling apples, ships, occean currents, weather systems (warming foehns in the Klagenfurt Basin make me think of Robert Musil ?). You can also read a geometry. Be a skillfull mathematician to construct broken circles or to understand Loui's XIV first tutor of mathematics telling him that parallel lines - parallel episodes - meet at a point infinitely distant from the observer - the reader - or more obviously in the reader's mind - in the novel. You become a vigilant, attentative reader, but sometimes you will find yourself bewithed by Norfolk. And I have not even touched the plot! Buy Norfolk's debut novel, read it and enrich your library.
Rating:
Summary: Metamorphoses at all!
Review: The core theme is John Lempriere's work on his dictionary of proper names of the antique. I have followed his pen filling the papers from "Aaras'sus" to "..." - the surname of Juno, when presiding over marriages, enthusiastically. I have been animated to reread Ovid's "Metamorphoses". It has been wonderfull to have the ancient Greek (Roman) mythology back in Norfolk' s novel- in different times, in different shapes, the novel's characers as their actors. (Metamorphoses at all!) But instead of mythology's density and complexity within the novel, maybe it' s only an episode. You can follow another track - the historical background covering two centuries from the founding of the East-Indian Company to the dawn of the French Revolution. Be a historian ! Make a journey with coaches, on ships or just fly and settle down at the Sea of Azow, and find out why the fish are gone there ! Follow gulps, orange trees, women selling apples, ships, occean currents, weather systems (warming foehns in the Klagenfurt Basin make me think of Robert Musil ?). You can also read a geometry. Be a skillfull mathematician to construct broken circles or to understand Loui's XIV first tutor of mathematics telling him that parallel lines - parallel episodes - meet at a point infinitely distant from the observer - the reader - or more obviously in the reader's mind - in the novel. You become a vigilant, attentative reader, but sometimes you will find yourself bewithed by Norfolk. And I have not even touched the plot! Buy Norfolk's debut novel, read it and enrich your library.
Rating: 
Summary: Overwritten pretentious drivel
Review: The plot is elaborate, yet unrewarding, the style tiresome and forced, and the cardboard characters altogether uninteresting, except to the author. Foucault's Pendulum and The Name of the Rose do what Norfolk was trying to do--but do it well; buy one of them instead.
Rating:
Summary: An amazing, beautifully plotted extravaganza
Review: When I started this book, I thought "no, this is not the right time to read this." I've been under a lot of stress at work and felt that I would not be able to devote the intellectual concentration that this book would require. Boy, was I wrong. This novel was about the best therapy that I could find. I found myself slowly but surely becoming totally, obsessively involved in this complex and wonderful story. It became a mix of Dickens, A.S. Byatt, Stephen King, and John Le Carre all rolled up into one. It is truly historical fiction at its best. I found myself literally wanting to come back to the book to discover what happened next at very late hours of the day. And although the plot is extremely complex and all is not revealed until the last pages of the book, Norfolk wraps up all the loose ends and even gives us a happy ending. . .I think. Do yourself a favor--find and read this book!
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