- Hardcover: 512 pages
- Publisher: Theia (2001)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0786866039
- ISBN-13: 978-0786866038
- Product Dimensions: 23.6 x 15.5 x 3.3 cm
- Shipping Weight: 703 g
- Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (48 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #491,767 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Inside This Book
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First Sentence
THE SEARCH BEGAN with a library call slip and the gracious query of an elegant man. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
THE SEARCH BEGAN with a library call slip and the gracious query of an elegant man. Read the first page
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Concordance
Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
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Most helpful customer reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Truly Fun "Time",
By
This review is from: The Grand Complication (Paperback)
A beautiful pocket watch. A mad librarian. An antiquated old man. All of this adds up to a most delightful, enchanting read in Allen Kurzwell's "A Grand Complication".Literally, I learned of this book yesterday in an e-mail I received from another source. Piquing my interest, I purchased a copy on a whim, and sat down to devour this deliciously juicy story. Part mystery, part literary banter, part biography, this book brings us reference librarian Alexander Short, who is short on his marriage, his job, and his obsessive note taking. Approached in the first chapter by Henry James Jesson III, who asks for his help in solving a personal mystery, Short becomes a Burt Ward to the older man's Bruce Wayne as they puzzle out the reason for an empty cupboard in a cabinet of wonders. This story is brisk, engaging, and entertaining. Literally filled with literary puns and some literary references that I didn't understand, the story moves along in a very bright way. I was fascinated by Alexander Short. He's both brilliant and somewhat manic, and somehow really, truly understood him. Mid in the book, he gets a phrase stuck in his head that is stuck in mine as well, "Santo Domingo, Caracas, Miami, Divorce". Rich. Rarely do I find a book that captures me so and refuses to be put down, but "A Grand Complication" does just that. By the time you hit the final page, you'll be sad that this rich tale is over.
2.0 out of 5 stars
Henry James Reborn... Unfortunately,
By
This review is from: The Grand Complication (Paperback)
OK, the story line is original (I can't imagine anyone could have come up with it), but totally boring. Searching for a missing watch to complete a "case of curiosities" is hardly engaging material. Though, the interaction between the characters prevents this book from being a total snoozer. Worst of all (for me), the writer's prose reads as if the book were written in the late 1800's, which would be great, if you find that sort of thing entertaining. I don't. The story is a mystery, just not kind of mystery that I would have picked (the book was a gift) or preferred to read. Bottom line, to the writer's credit, there is great potential as the character development is excellent, but they're caught in a weak story line.
5.0 out of 5 stars
As good as Umberto Ecco or Arturo Pérez-Reverte,
By
This review is from: The Grand Complication (Paperback)
Alexander Short is a librarian. His job is in jeopardy and his marriage is coming apart. He meets a curious figure improbably named Henry James Jesson III, a book-lover who hires Alexander for some research in order to complete a cabinet of curiosities chronicling the life of the mysterious Henri Breguet, an eighteenth-century inventor. As his investigation progresses, Alexander understands that there a further secrets lurking in Jesson's cloistered world than those inside his elegant Manhattan town house.An intellectual delight, this literary thriller will enchant you if you like books, antiques and watches. And Horace's sentence "Habent sua fata libelli" - All books have their fates - will stay on your mind forever!
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