jazpb's review
3.0
I can appreciate the amount of work that must have been put into the creation of this novel, but it is the execution that renders it less desirable. Halfway through the novel, I wanted nothing more than to be done with the endless hints and seemingly trivial events, but I pushed on hoping that the conclusion would make it all worthwhile. It was not. Come to find out, the endless facts (as according to the author) are the true point of the novel, and don’t lead to anything more than that.
I won’t say I didn’t enjoy moments found in this novel. At times I got caught up in its pages and couldn’t pull myself away. But those moments were brief and far apart. Overall, I feel that the time I spent in reading The Poe Shadow would have been better spent in reading a current biography of Poe instead. In that I might have been more entertained as well as educated.
I won’t say I didn’t enjoy moments found in this novel. At times I got caught up in its pages and couldn’t pull myself away. But those moments were brief and far apart. Overall, I feel that the time I spent in reading The Poe Shadow would have been better spent in reading a current biography of Poe instead. In that I might have been more entertained as well as educated.
organchordsandlightning's review
3.0
I really, really wished I like this book more. I read his book about Dante and loved it a lot, and I also love Poe. I thought this book would be a great fit.
And I don't like using the term 'but it's boring' to describe a book because it's so hard to tell what's boring or not for some people. But ... this book is kind of boring. Ostensibly, it's to solve the case once and for all of Poe's final days. But it's just so long. There's a lot of scenes that give red herrings or no information at all about the case. The protagonist is bland at best and selfish at worst. And, ultimately, the book has very little to do with Poe's works and much more to do with Poe the man.
And I don't like using the term 'but it's boring' to describe a book because it's so hard to tell what's boring or not for some people. But ... this book is kind of boring. Ostensibly, it's to solve the case once and for all of Poe's final days. But it's just so long. There's a lot of scenes that give red herrings or no information at all about the case. The protagonist is bland at best and selfish at worst. And, ultimately, the book has very little to do with Poe's works and much more to do with Poe the man.
malinda_nevitt's review
4.0
Matthew Pearl's The Poe Shadow was good! I really enjoyed it and could hardly put it down this weekend. It wasn't as intense as the Dante Club but more...intriging. There is a mystery that surrounds Poe and Pearl captures it perfectly!
heatheranne23's review
3.0
Matthew Pearl isn't my favorite, but his historical mysteries are interesting enough and I do enjoy reading them.
He takes the true, historical, mysterious circumstances around Edgar Allan Poe's death and writes about the attempt by a fictional character to solve the mystery.
He takes the true, historical, mysterious circumstances around Edgar Allan Poe's death and writes about the attempt by a fictional character to solve the mystery.
eabrevaya's review
informative
mysterious
medium-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
2.75
tammyjorossi's review
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
wyemu's review against another edition
3.0
I liked the idea behind this novel more than I enjoyed the execution of that idea. Pearl picked a very good literary figure on which to base his second book, precisely because of the mystery which really does surround Poe's death. Finding the man who inspired Poe's legendary detective, Dupin, and using him to help uncover the suspicious nature of Poe's death was another brilliant idea. What let me down though was the narrator's naivete and apparent cluelessness. Then end result and the conclusions drawn by the detective's were ingenius but I still felt that the narrator could have been a stronger character. Other than that I enjoyed the book immensely, it was atmospheric and often chillingly suspenseful, much like Poe's own writing.