A review by jazpb
The Poe Shadow by Matthew Pearl
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.