Helpful Score: 15
This is a review of the first 56 pages only -- that's where I gave up. Way too wordy and too many side trips into anecdotes that don't seem to matter (and the narrator constantly reminds us are extraneous.)
Phooey. Worth the price I paid here at PaperbackSwap.
Phooey. Worth the price I paid here at PaperbackSwap.
Helpful Score: 14
What an absolutely deplorable waste of my time. Only because I am stubborn about finishing books did I continue to read it.
There are 3 main voices that narrate the book.
1. Jake: He is the main narrator and writes in a first-person, random, stream-of-consciousness style that reads like an internet blog. He rambles. He veers off point and then tells you about how he veered off point. He is also a completely unlikable character.
2. Bracegirdle: His contribution are letters from the 1600s written entirely in Jacobean shorthand, ie: really hard to read Olde English. For example: If you enjoye reedinge thys sentynce theen you myte bee able too get throu the multyple paiges of letters that are spreade throuowte thys booke.
3. Another group of characters is followed in semi-omniscient third person. Their stories are slightly more interesting just as they are only slightly more likable.
There is also a surprising amount of sex in this book, expressed both in thought and in deed to the point of being gratuitous. I found that I cared absolutely nothing for any of the characters, the suspense of the plot was weak at best, and the entire story was, for the most part, unbelievable and unconvincing.
If you have not read this book yet, please save your time, money, and/or credit. It is not worth the hype nor the time you will have to spend reading it.
There are 3 main voices that narrate the book.
1. Jake: He is the main narrator and writes in a first-person, random, stream-of-consciousness style that reads like an internet blog. He rambles. He veers off point and then tells you about how he veered off point. He is also a completely unlikable character.
2. Bracegirdle: His contribution are letters from the 1600s written entirely in Jacobean shorthand, ie: really hard to read Olde English. For example: If you enjoye reedinge thys sentynce theen you myte bee able too get throu the multyple paiges of letters that are spreade throuowte thys booke.
3. Another group of characters is followed in semi-omniscient third person. Their stories are slightly more interesting just as they are only slightly more likable.
There is also a surprising amount of sex in this book, expressed both in thought and in deed to the point of being gratuitous. I found that I cared absolutely nothing for any of the characters, the suspense of the plot was weak at best, and the entire story was, for the most part, unbelievable and unconvincing.
If you have not read this book yet, please save your time, money, and/or credit. It is not worth the hype nor the time you will have to spend reading it.
Helpful Score: 12
This was not nearly as good as I had hoped or as the critic's reviews had led me to believe. I had many of the plot points figured out halfway through the book and had to plow through another 200 pages to have all my suspicions confirmed. Gruber's use of language is often self-consciously over-intellectualized. Not a joy to read. Better than "DaVinci Code"? Just my opinion, but no.
Helpful Score: 6
While this book is somewhat difficult reading due to every other chapter being written in the old English style, I found it was worth the effort. It was a great mystery with adventure and romance thrown in. The ending had a satisfying twist as well. If you're into books that you can breeze through without much thought or effort, this one isn't for you. I usually devour a book in a day or two and this one took a good week.
Helpful Score: 6
My husband could not finish this book. And he always finishes books. He says page 70 is a good page because it was the last one he read.
Helpful Score: 4
This is a mystery thriller with interesting and complex characters. The background of the book world and collection of books makes for a very interesting read. This is not like a James Patterson with 1 page chapeters but actually wants you to pay attention to what is going on. I just hope they don't put Tom Hanks in the movie....
Helpful Score: 2
This could have been a really good thriller to read, but because it was written in 1st person by 2 of the characters. It made it a bit hard to follow as I had to remember which one was speaking. Since both of the men (even though they were different ages)acted somewhat the same, I found it harder to tell the difference when they were "speaking". So it always took me a bit of time to figure out who was talking at the beginning of the chapter. Good ending, but not the greatest way of telling the story.
Helpful Score: 2
I agree with the rest of the reviews. I hate to stop reading a book and tried to give it the benefit of the doubt but I just couldn't finish it. I did however LOVE his other novel the Witches Boy which is why I gave this book a chance. I recommend the Witches Boy for sure.
Helpful Score: 1
ABSOLUTELY AWFUL !!!!!!!!!! Don't need to even say anything more.
slow reading, though interesting content
This author is in love with words and tried to use as many as he could going off on meaningless tangents into everything but the plot of the book. I tried to get interested, but decided there had to be good books I could be reading instead of this waste of paper.
Really excellent book with interweaving stories. A mysterious historical document is the catalyst for all the action, with many a deeply flawed character participating. Very entertaining, unusual and imaginative plot with twists and turns so I did not see the next plot move coming at any point. Highly recommended.
Absolutely dreadful, indigestible stew about a possibly lost Shakespeare play (or perhaps a great literary hoax), overladen with multiple characters, timelines, double- triple- and quadruple-crosses, various greedy, self-centered people, and several tons of red herring, all mixed up together and dumped over 466 pages (it seemed longer) of uninspired slogging.
