the dante club

i forget who writes it...

the book wanted to be for the literay world what the da vinci code was for the art world. the story takes place in 1865 boston, directly after the civil war. many of the literay heavyweights of that era are main characters, longfellow, james feilds, oliver wendal holmes, houghton, wadsworth, etc. their lives as boston bramhins who are translating dante's comedy slowly becomes entwined with a murderer who is emulating the punishments lucifer delivers to his sinners in the differnt circles of hell.

not the best mystery book i ever read, as the "detectives" stumble upon clues and the find the murderer by accident. the story's setting is nicely done, but nothing too spectaular. there is a police officer whose father was a plantation owner and mother a slave, but i felt that this character was only added to give the book more diversity. almost a charicature of himself, smart, noble, perfect, persecuted for his race, i wanted to call him 'token' after the only black charater on south park. similarly, the italian characters as exagerated to the extreme.

the literary aspect is nicely done, but dull at points. perhaps we are not as familair as dante as a society should be. i certainly appriciate his work, but do not need another english lesson. i took ENG 52, thanks.

i would recomend this to someone who needs some "smart' beach reading. you'll be entertained, but don't expect too much.