Reviews with content warning for Death - Inferno

I can appreciate a good classic but, I had the displeasure of reading this on my own (I love to suffer apparently), i feel like I'd like it much much more if i listened to the audiobook, my head hurts now

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wanderingdeviant's review against another edition

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challenging reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

this poem is essentially dante attacking the catholic church (which is so iconic, good for him!!) for the hypocrisy of its leaders. it gets tedious and exhaustive in parts, i think, but the imagery is really interesting and impressive. i liked how dante emphasised his sympathy for certain sinners, like francesca and paolo, and made an effort to understand the tragedies of their lives- especially the people who ended up in limbo for the awful, evil, treacherous crime of being born before christianity was invented :/.

”suppose the sovereign of the universe were still our friend, we'd pray he grant you peace.”

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megb64's review against another edition

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adventurous dark informative reflective tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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issyd23's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

The OG bible fanfic full of Dante’s fanboying and self-inserts 4⭐️
Also the translator Mark Musa did a great job keeping the tone and plot in this version 5⭐️ for the translator!

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3arth2kaye's review against another edition

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dark reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? N/A
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

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camraan's review against another edition

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dark reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

It was worth reading but I hope to never read it again. I guess now I’ll get the references.

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counciloffrogs's review

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adventurous dark fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Dante’s writing is truly fascinating to me, but readers be warned that Inferno is densely packed with allusion. Not only biblical, or even just greek mythos-based, but 14th century Italians politics, popes and other real-world religious figures, and at points personal acquaintances of Dante. I would not recommend delving into this work without prior background studies.
However, I do find it incredibly interesting the unique approach of analyzing real people in the context of their damnment to explain possible machinations of Hell. I enjoyed Inferno, even as a practicing pagan, which isn’t something I expected to be able to say about this book.

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lin3han's review against another edition

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adventurous dark reflective medium-paced

4.5

I see a lot of comments talking about Dante roasting most of Florence. Just wanted to add that he’s doing so because he was exiled and this was a method of revenge and slander. It’s supposed to be tongue in cheek which Pinsky translated beautifully!

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