louismunozjr's review
3.0
3 stars. A decent read about a person and story I didn't know before, except for a vague memory of hearing that motion pictures were invented before Thomas Edison getting the credit for it from many people. The author makes a compelling argument for why and how the main character disappeared, but no spoilers here. Recommend, though most people probably won't want to take the deep dive into this history, fascinating as I found it.
Thank you to #NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
Thank you to #NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
tessmarie's review
3.0
A large portion of this reads more like a research essay than a novel. It's a really interesting story that I think would've benefited from a more biography-esque/ narrative writing style, rather than the insertion of quotes from other pieces of research . The part of the story I was most interested in, however - the disappearance of Louis Le Prince and the theories surrounding it - the whole reason I picked up this is the first place was such a small portion of the book. If you are looking for a good history of the invention of the motion picture camera and of Le Prince's life then this is a great, well researched and well written book, however it didn't really give me what I wanted or expected.
outsmartyourshelf's review against another edition
informative
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
4.0
The intriguing story of Louis Le Prince who spent the final years of the 1880s working on a way to capture & show moving images. Le Prince wanted to be able to capture momentous events on film for future generations but not just in still images (photographs). After several years of being parted from his family (who were living in New York) whilst he toiled in England, Le Prince was finally ready to unveil his invention but first took a trip to see his brother & family back in France. Following the visit, Le Prince boarded the train from Dijon to Paris & was never seen again. As he was reported as missing & no body was ever found, his family could not take over his patents for 7 years & had to sit & watch others claim the prize for themselves. Edison himself debuted his invention only a few months after Le Prince's disappearance, & Le Prince's family began to wonder if something nefarious had befallen their relative.
I must admit I'd not heard of Louis Le Prince at all before seeing this book but, like most people, I love a good real life mystery. The author obviously did lots of research on the subject, & sometimes it can get a little bogged down in the details, but it was mostly a fascinating read. The only issue I have is that the narrative spends 90% of its time positioning itself to ask whether Edison was involved - only to pivot at the last minute & offer up another suspect (one that I suspected myself to be honest). It's a shame that we will never know the truth of what happened.
I must admit I'd not heard of Louis Le Prince at all before seeing this book but, like most people, I love a good real life mystery. The author obviously did lots of research on the subject, & sometimes it can get a little bogged down in the details, but it was mostly a fascinating read. The only issue I have is that the narrative spends 90% of its time positioning itself to ask whether Edison was involved - only to pivot at the last minute & offer up another suspect (one that I suspected myself to be honest). It's a shame that we will never know the truth of what happened.
bookwyrm10's review
4.0
Honestly, I loved this book. The structure was kind of wonky, and it didn't spend much time actually talking about the crime itself. But I'm incredibly interested in the history of film in general, and so I absolutely loved all of this information.
morrisxmegs's review
Writing is long winded author dances around the topic of what the book should be out.
annecunningham's review
I kept wanting to get interested and I just... didn't. The book contains a lot of conjecture, which tends to take me out of the narrative because it seems like he was just padding the book to make up for a lack of real information.