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A review by coralrose
The Meaning of Night by Michael Cox
3.0
A little overdone, perhaps...but have you read Dickens?
I mean, if you're going to say that this Victorian gothic story is in need (as one reviewer put it) of some aggressive editing, you at least have to admit that so could Oliver Twist.
**Later
So....I obviously really enjoyed reading this book (I know, it took me a week, but you try working 35 hours in three days (which is not mentioning the more normal work hours worked the rest of the week) and see if you have any energy to read more than 6 or 7 pages while on the treadmill.) I read it quickly, and once I hit page 302, I really didn't want to put it down.
I agree with other reviewer's who say that they didn't find the narrator at all sympathetic, but I would argue that this is part of Cox's strength as an author. You read the first couple hundred pages and think, What a pompous a**! Who cares if you lost something rightfully yours? But you keep reading. About another couple hundred pages in you think You're still an a**, but that other guy is kind of creepy too. Too bad he's getting what's due you. And you keep reading. And then at the end, you think Well, how could that have worked out any better? All of you people have huge character flaws, and in reality, none of you deserve this. Wow.
And you feel kind of satisfied.
I recommend it, to fans of Shadows of the Wind and The Thirteenth Tale. I don't think it's to the scale of either of those two, but I am definitely looking forward to the paperback of the sequel, which looks kind of deliciously dissimilar.
I mean, if you're going to say that this Victorian gothic story is in need (as one reviewer put it) of some aggressive editing, you at least have to admit that so could Oliver Twist.
**Later
So....I obviously really enjoyed reading this book (I know, it took me a week, but you try working 35 hours in three days (which is not mentioning the more normal work hours worked the rest of the week) and see if you have any energy to read more than 6 or 7 pages while on the treadmill.) I read it quickly, and once I hit page 302, I really didn't want to put it down.
I agree with other reviewer's who say that they didn't find the narrator at all sympathetic, but I would argue that this is part of Cox's strength as an author. You read the first couple hundred pages and think, What a pompous a**! Who cares if you lost something rightfully yours? But you keep reading. About another couple hundred pages in you think You're still an a**, but that other guy is kind of creepy too. Too bad he's getting what's due you. And you keep reading. And then at the end, you think Well, how could that have worked out any better? All of you people have huge character flaws, and in reality, none of you deserve this. Wow.
And you feel kind of satisfied.
I recommend it, to fans of Shadows of the Wind and The Thirteenth Tale. I don't think it's to the scale of either of those two, but I am definitely looking forward to the paperback of the sequel, which looks kind of deliciously dissimilar.