Kirk Moodey reviewed The Dante Club by Matthew Pearl
Review of 'The Dante Club' on 'Goodreads'
2 stars
It was okay. I got it for free (a family member bought it on a book sale for cheap for themselves and then never got around to reading it), and picked it up because I was in the mood for something Victorian. I found it a bit slow, however, and ended up putting it down despite getting an occasional nibble of enjoyment out of it.
The biggest thing for me is admittedly a personal peculiarity of mine, in that I always feel uncomfortable when I'm reading extended scenes with fictional versions of real people; if it's brief and unavoidable (a historical novel where an event would get presidential attention) I'll accept it, or if the person in question is more myth and legend than reality at this point, but more than that and I just find myself thinking 'what would the real person think about this fictional version of them?' …
It was okay. I got it for free (a family member bought it on a book sale for cheap for themselves and then never got around to reading it), and picked it up because I was in the mood for something Victorian. I found it a bit slow, however, and ended up putting it down despite getting an occasional nibble of enjoyment out of it.
The biggest thing for me is admittedly a personal peculiarity of mine, in that I always feel uncomfortable when I'm reading extended scenes with fictional versions of real people; if it's brief and unavoidable (a historical novel where an event would get presidential attention) I'll accept it, or if the person in question is more myth and legend than reality at this point, but more than that and I just find myself thinking 'what would the real person think about this fictional version of them?' with discomfort.
