Customer Reviews

The Dante Club: A Novel

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4 star:		(32)
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2 star:		(16)
1 star:		(13)

 

 

" Have you ever told someone or been told to "Go to Hell?"Well!
700 years ago in Florence, Italy a middle aged(that's important)
man named Dante Alighieri wrote a poem about and drew a map of
Hell. It is called the Divine Comedy and is in three parts: Inferno, Purgatorio and Paradiso. Matthew Pearl has taken certain
sins and punishments from the Inferno and has set a murder mystery in post civil war Boston. The Dante Club consists of the poets Longfellow and Lowell,the physician and author Holmes and sveral others. These folks meet often usually at Longfellow's house and decipher a series of hideous killings that only a person familiar with the Inferno could perpetrate.This reviewer studied Dante in college and i have lived my life with his description of the heavenly and, not so heavenly, spheres in the back of my mind. However one need not be a scholar to enjoy The Dante Club. Wait 'til you find out who the real perp turns out to be!Honestly, I havent enjoyed a book so much since I played
CLUE as a teenager!I recommend this novel,ThE DANTE CLUB to everyone who likes surprises!

The city of Boston is shocked and its police force stumped by the murder of two prominent citizens in 1865. Through forensic analysis and knowledge he shares with Henry Wadwsorth Longfellow and James Russell Lowell, two of the few Americans who have read Dante, Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes realizes the victims died in the macabre manner of sinners in "Inferno".

Incredibly, Matthew Pearl has crafted a novel that brings Dante to life along with three men who today are portraits hung on Harvard's walls and names on its buildings. In 1865 Holmes, Longfellow and Lowell were prominent members of the Harvard community at odds with Augustus Manning, the omnipotent head of the Harvard Corporation. As Pearl launches the three scholars on a mission to solve the bizarre chain of murders, their conversations portray a formality appropriate to the times and their stature, yet their manner and actions are more believable than what you'll read in a lot of modern crime fiction.

Pearl also uses his fiction to provide a quick primer on Dante's life and works. You might want to read his introduction to Longfellow's translation of "Inferno" (it's in the excerpt that appears on Amazon.com) to discover how Longfellow became preoccupied with Dante in the early 1860s. There really was a Dante Club, a group of friends who gathered at Longfellow's house most Wednesdays to read and critique a canto or two.

On top of this historical and literary backdrop, Pearl builds an intriguing plot that takes the scholars and his readers through all strata of post Civil War Boston and Cambridge. The end result is an exceptionally well-crafted mystery accompanied by an interesting peek into the lives of Dante, Longfellow and the academic elite of the late 19th century - an ambitious first novel that lives up to its promise.

If you crave a novel that is reminiscent of all the wonderful old American classics, then look no more!This book is written in a style the likes of which we have not seen in American literature for decades! As the words flow effortlessly, the reader is treated to endless pages that are poetic and quotable. If you love and appreciate beautifully written old world American style, you will want to read and re-read this book!

The Apocrypha by John A. De Vito is also something you should try. A cult classic in the making, I'd say.

This is a remarkable book. Other reviews have repeated the story so it is not worth going into the details. The mystery portion of this historical thriller, is well paced and continues to unravel.
The wonderful part of the book is the character development. I especially enjoyed HOlmes, Longfellow and Lowell. We began to understand them as the extraordinary people they were as they dealt with the crisis of the murders in Boston. Also I particularly enjoyed the relationship between Oliver Wendell Holmes and his son. At times coincidence was stretched somewhat, but that is normal for a good mystery. Even the minor characters were fascinating.
Lastly the historical color added to overall impression. There were touching scenes of post Civil War Boston.

All in all a wonderful effort. I can not wait for Mr. Pearl's next effort.

Every few years a book is written that breaks the mold of the standard mystery/thriller fare. Umberto Eco's "Name of the Rose", Martin Cruz Smith's "Rose", more recently Boston Teran's "God is a Bullet", to name a few. "The Dante Club", the remarkable debut of writer Matthew Pearl, is another example that represents a bold, ambitious, and refreshing approach to the familiar serial killer "who-dunnit".

I'll admit that at first I was somewhat leery of the concept: the Fireside Poets - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Oliver Wendell Holmes, and James Russell Lowell cast as investigators of a string of horrific murders? An ambitious premise for a novel, for sure, but more aptly, bizarre and ripe with risk. Pearl, however, pulls this off with a curious combination of the poet's love of the language and the storyteller's knack for pace and action.

The "Dante Club" refers to the group assembled by Longfellow - including Holmes and Lowell - to assist him in the first American translation of Dante's "Devine Comedy". As people in high places - a judge, a minister, a wealthy merchant - turn up tortured and murdered in scenes recreating those described in Dante's classic, the poets hit the streets of Boston and Cambridge in search of the killer. The result is an exceptionally well-researched book that is rich in historical detail while capturing the post-Civil War American psyche and culture. Pearl's description of the Civil War horrors and post-war trama is especially gripping. Not since "Silence of the Lambs" or "Se7en" have murders been so brutally and vividly portrayed, as the victims are variously eaten-alive by maggots, buried upside-down and set on fire, and (literally) cut in half. Yet despite the graphic butchery, this is a book that must not be rushed, but savored for the intricacy of the plot and the intensity of the prose. It is the rare book that draws the reader to revisit the poetry of Longfellow, US history in the wake of the Civil War, and the mystery of Dante in 19th century America. In summary, a stunning first novel from a writer destined to become a household name. Don't miss it!

If you're like me and have tried to tackle Dante's Inferno in the past and couldn't get past the first few Canto's then this book is for you. Mr. Pearl is a recognized scholar on Dante and a very good fiction writer. It gives a very nice overview of Inferno for the non-poetry reader. His story is a combination of fact and fiction that moves along very well (it took me about a day and half to read the entire novel). I am now enjoying the Longfeller translation of Dante's Inferno that was edited by Mr. Pearl. Give Dante a chance - it is definately worth it!

Matt Pearl is the Vergil who guides the modern reader with suspense, wit and erudition through the literary lights of post-Civil War Boston. A great, page-turning read.

If you crave a novel that is reminiscent of all the wonderful old American classics, then look no more!This book is written in a style the likes of which we have not seen in Amer.literature for decades! As the words flow effortlessly, the reader is treated to endless pages that are poetic and quotable. If you love and appreciate beautifully written old world American style, you will want to read and re-read this book!But even if your primary interest is not "style", you will not be able to put this book down as you eagerly anticipate the next turn of events. This suspensful, ingeniously presented mystery [based on
mid l9 century historical events]is destined to become a 2lst century CLASSIC! You will want to place it next to your treasured Hemingways! Lastly, I want to say that this book will appeal to EVERYONE, from twenty-somethings to eighty-somethings.(P.S. After I read the book I bought the audio which is great also!) Mr. Pearl also has a wonderful website you might also want to check out.
Susan Tannenbaum

If, 'The Dante Club", is an indication of what readers may expect from future works by Mr. Matthew Pearl, a great new novelist has arrived. Mr. Pearl has not just taken a great setting and a great tale, but he has added notable historical figures as well as one of the most noted pieces of literature ever written, and molded them in to a wonderful mystery on the streets of Boston in 1865. He also has not hesitated to take venerable institutions to task, regardless of their presumed august positions when they stoop to hypocrisy or other unsavory acts.

The work of Dante was virtually unknown in this period of Boston's history except by the very few and equally few well educated. It was considered modern, controversial, and an affront to the classics that were taught at institutions like Harvard University. And then there is The Dante club whose members include Oliver Wendell Holmes, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and James Russell Lowell who are in the process of bringing out the first English translation of Dante's work for American readers. Powerful forces such as Harvard, amongst others, are against it, nevertheless the group proceeds week by week and level by level through the world of Dante as they prepare their publication. The process is closely guarded with their publisher knowing the full contents of their progress and other confidants having only the knowledge that their work proceeds.

But prior to publication meticulous Dantean murders occur, but knowledge of the translation is not well known, it is not even complete, and yet the murders are carried out with an exactitude that only a scholar of Dante's work would have access to. And just as Dante fits his punishments to a crime of specificity, this murderer too follows the famous work in the most exacting detail.

These are the circumstances that author Matthew Pearl arranges in his debut work, "The Dante Club", and the tour he takes readers upon is literate, well-constructed and erudite. The author was honored in 1998 when he was awarded The Dante Prize for his scholarly work by The Dante Club of America. This is a novelist that has the credentials to effectively combine his formal education in Dante with great skill as a writer of fiction.

There are many new authors that debut every year. There are far fewer who will return a second time, or even if they do will have their subsequent work noticed. I believe Matthew Pearl will be the exception. He is no one trick wonder, and no sophomore jinx awaits him either. He is very bright, as his accomplishments at Harvard and Yale have demonstrated, and he is most capable with a pen as, "The Dante Club" has shown.

Read this young man's first work, you will have the experience of excellent writing, a wonderful use of your reading time, and the pleasure of having discovered this young author on his first venture in to the eye of the public.

In 1867 Dante Alighieri's THE DIVINE COMEDY was almost banned in Boston.

History tells us that Harvard College's academic community worked feverishly to prevent the publication of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's first American translation of THE DIVINE COMEDY. The powerful Brahmins considered the book to be a blasphemous and insidiously dangerous work --- a scandalous tome that would corrupt readers and lead them into perdition. Matthew Pearl uses this historical event as his canvas to flesh out his tale of murder, madness, fear and friendship in his first novel, THE DANTE CLUB.

Juxtaposed against this heady, contentious background, Pearl delivers an amazing tale about the real life Dante Club, whose respected members were Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, the poets Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes (father of the great jurist) and James Russell Lowell, historian George W. Greene and their publisher, J. T. Fields. The mission of the club was to help Longfellow, their friend and colleague, bring THE DIVINE COMEDY into America's growing literary canon. Their weekly meetings also served as a forum for them to discuss their own work, each other's work and worldly issues. But the lofty pursuits of these men are interrupted when a spate of grisly murders plague Boston --- and so the fiction begins!

"What kind of madman would be recreating the gruesome deaths depicted in Alighieri's INFERNO?" That is the question that haunts the members of the Dante Club, for it is they who recognize the demonic twist in the murderer's modus operandi. They are quite shocked when they realize the murderer is acting out the foul "punishments" Dante wrote about. "How could this be?" they ask each other, because as far as anyone knows, nobody in America has even seen the Italian tome. After long deliberation, they decide that it's in their best interest not to go to the police with their observations ... lest they be charged with the atrocious crimes. Thus, with good intentions, they set about to solve the murders themselves. Their efforts are laudable and Dr. Holmes takes charge while J. T. Fields remains grounded in common sense whenever things get out of hand.

But, my fellow bibliophiles and devoted readers, let's backtrack for a moment to examine the physicality of the book. First, the jacket is splattered with blood spots. Second, when you open to the title page you will find a horrific depiction of Hell that will both repel and draw you in. And, when you finally turn the page to begin your journey, you are greeted by "CAUTION TO THE READER ... A PREFACE ..." and at the end of his comments he closes with this sentence, "If you continue [to read this book] remember first that words can bleed." Chilling perhaps, but clever devices nonetheless; they serve to set the mood of this imaginative and wholly enjoyable novel. Mr. Pearl is an award winning Dante scholar who, at the age of twenty-six, has delivered a witty, ironic, sardonic, interesting, entertaining, gruesome, ingenious, well plotted and unconventional novel in the spirit of E. L. Doctorow's best "fiction." His characters, both real and fictional, make for a community of folks who are unforgettable in their respective roles.

Now and then, a new writer appears on the horizon with a smash hit, only to disappear when the sun goes down. Matthew Pearl is not a "one novel wonder." He has the ability and intellectual dexterity to bring forth the kinds of large fictions nineteenth century readers were accustomed to --- books in which an individual could immerse her/himself and come away stimulated with new ideas. And so it is with THE DANTE CLUB, a very important book. It works on many levels and has the sparkle needed to inspire readers to recommend it to their friends. Maybe it will even prompt you to explore INFERNO. And, if not, that's okay too. Fortunately, you don't have to be a Dante scholar to realize that this work will be discussed and analyzed and read with relish. Enjoy THE DANTE CLUB!

--- Reviewed by Barbara Lipkien Gershenbaum