Scan barcode
angelafrear's review against another edition
3.0
The book got better as I read, but was predictable. I had it figured out 1/4 of the way through! Book club meets this Wednesday night and I'll see how other's felt about it.
mlklein1's review against another edition
5.0
Loved this book by the former Jeopardy champion.
Dry and funny, heartbreaking and vivid - this book was a major inspiration for my novel, Elizabeth (working title)
Dry and funny, heartbreaking and vivid - this book was a major inspiration for my novel, Elizabeth (working title)
tiffythespiffy's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
menfrommarrs's review against another edition
4.0
A slooow read. Had me wondering why I was continuing, but then I had to know everything about Trilipush's past, present and future!
Didn't much like him, but was convinced that there were some perverse, some comical misunderstandings.
Still not sure of everything, but loved Atum-Hadu's solution to immortality.
Didn't much like him, but was convinced that there were some perverse, some comical misunderstandings.
Spoiler
At one point I even thought that Howard Carter was the villian! And though really not likeable either, in the end, I felt sorry only for Ahmed!Still not sure of everything
Spoiler
like the actual murder/disappearance of Marlowe and Daviesjsh626's review against another edition
3.0
First of all, this book is crude, so I have difficulty recommending it for that reason. The sexual content in this book made my skin crawl, and had moments of extreme graphic violence. The main character is not at all likeable. All that being said, it is a very interesting premise and overall well written. It seems to me the book would have been far better without the gross "filler."
rlse's review against another edition
5.0
Fascinating, tragic, horrifying, and utterly engrossing. I had seen shades of the truth beginning to appear, but then about 80% through I realized--BAM!--I had been Rashomon'ed. I listened to this on CD, and it's another instance where that experience strongly colored my interface with the story. It is basically epistolary, and the audio version has different actors for each narrator, which is unusual. However, the personalization of each character had me constantly switching allegiances. I'm also glad that the audio version made me take the story in slowly, so that I could fully appreciate all the intricate layers. I had been listening in my car, but I got so involved for the last two discs that I brought them inside and devoted a couple hours to sitting and listening like some wartime family hearkening to a fireside chat.
slinnell1's review against another edition
1.0
The problem I had with his novel, was that I couldn't connect with any of the characters. They were all pretty unlikable (and pretty full of themselves), while the main two narrators were also fairly boring. Of the two narrators, the Egyptologist and the Aussie detective, by far the most dry and dull was the Egyptologist, despite his maybe-pharaoh's favorite subject matter. He was, on the whole, as entertaining as reading an outdated text book, or perhaps even the dictionary.
The story is told through letters and journals, making no one's account of events reliable. It was really hard to get into straightaway, and dragged on and on in many places. I did guess the general ending, but not nearly as early as many reviewers on here, and the end was definitely the most interesting and entertaining part. It answered my questions, fleshed out what was left out by biased narrators trying to leave the most flattering accounts of themselves, and actually grabbed my attention.
It was unfortunate, really, that the book just seemed to go on forever, while the end itself went by far too fast. If you are looking or a book that won't make you invest too much time or emotion in it's characters or events, this is for you. Darker than I expected, but it certainly had it's amusing moments, and like I said, I did appreciate the ending. Overall, this book was not my favorite, but it certainly was "okay."
The story is told through letters and journals, making no one's account of events reliable. It was really hard to get into straightaway, and dragged on and on in many places. I did guess the general ending, but not nearly as early as many reviewers on here, and the end was definitely the most interesting and entertaining part. It answered my questions, fleshed out what was left out by biased narrators trying to leave the most flattering accounts of themselves, and actually grabbed my attention.
It was unfortunate, really, that the book just seemed to go on forever, while the end itself went by far too fast. If you are looking or a book that won't make you invest too much time or emotion in it's characters or events, this is for you. Darker than I expected, but it certainly had it's amusing moments, and like I said, I did appreciate the ending. Overall, this book was not my favorite, but it certainly was "okay."
marilynsaul's review against another edition
3.0
What a crazy book! It took me a little while to get into it - found it slow, tedious, 19th century verbosely descriptive language. But, once I got past that it was a mostly fun read. Though Trilipush seems to be a con artist, he's actually something much more complicated than that. It was fun seeing him as a early 20th century country squire cum archaeologist, blundering around, playing his role as best he could; when the truth dawns on you, it all becomes rather tragic/sad. Quite honestly, I would have rather the book be, oh, 100 pages shorter. I'd pretty much had enough of it there towards the end and was glad to be done with it.