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Book Review of Losing Nelson

Losing Nelson
Losing Nelson
Author: Barry Unsworth
Genre: Literature & Fiction
Book Type: Paperback
reviewed on + 52 more book reviews


I found this book to be pretty snoozeworthy most of the way though. The story is told from Charles Cleasby's point of view, a crazy man with elements of OCD and paranoia and other stuff thrown in. He's severely obsessed with Lord Horatio Nelson and is in the process of writing Lord Nelson's biography. But in his hero worship, Charles cannot accept that Lord Nelson may have done anything dishonorable and is particularly devoted to clearing Lord Nelson of any wrongdoing in the events surrounding the Parthenopaean Republic of Naples in June 1799. Most of this book is taken up by Charles alternately dictating Lord Nelson's biography and being OCD. Three hundred pages later something different happens. And then the last two paragraphs left me slack-jawed. Mostly boring, I wouldn't recommend this, but if you happen to be particularly interested in Horatio Nelson or find that you've started reading this book for some other reason, don't skip the end. While it didn't, in my eyes, make the rest of the book worthwhile, the ending definitely puts a more interesting spin on it.