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sujuv's review against another edition
3.0
Wanted to read this after a recent trip to New Orleans (it's set in 1918 New Orleans) and would've given it 3 1/2 stars if allowed. Fell short because it took me about 200 pages to really be invested but then I was in. A mystery of sorts set in a time of change for the city and at the birth of jazz. Ultimately an entertaining read.
bwray1's review against another edition
3.0
Engrossing, with an excellent portrait of 1919 New Orleans. I didn't love the plot, though.
manorclassics's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
This book came in a surprise box and probably isn't one I would have gravitated to on my own. It partly centres on the unsolved ax murders that took place in New Orleans in 1918/19, but really its about three very different people whose lives are gradually brought together. The characters are all really well drawn and I enjoyed that probably more than the actual story, although the author invented an ingenious solution to the murders and the tension really ratcheted up by the end. Overall I liked this, I don't know that I would read it again but it was a good solid read and I'm glad it was sent to me.
ben_miller's review against another edition
4.0
Ah, the dangers of Goodreads - the reviews on this website nearly convinced me to let King Zeno languish eternally on the to-read shelf with the likes of Middlemarch and India After Gandhi, doorstops that I fully intend to get to...someday. (I have a literal to-read shelf in my study, some of whose inmates have been there for years, watching me come and go with a heartbreaking mix of despondence and hope.)
The most "liked" review of this book simply reads "Inconceivably dreadful." First, to refute the adjective, I can easily conceive of a worse book than this. Second, this is in fact not a dreadful book, but a good one.
It tells three intertwined stories set in New Orleans, 1918-19: a detective rapidly losing his mind as he's haunted by an act of cowardice in the trenches of wartime Europe; a jazz musician resorting to petty crime and ditch-digging to get by; and a Sicilian crime boss realizing that her huge, violent, idiot son may not be as much of an idiot as she thought.
The threads converge amid the flu epidemic and the rampage of an "Axman" (not the Eddie Van Halen kind) who targets grocery owners. If this all sounds ambitious and tough to pull off, it is, but Rich just about does it. You don't set a book in New Orleans unless you intend to give it capital-A Atmosphere, and Rich does that in spades. His descriptions of the prehistoric mud of the industrial canal, the back-of-town nightclub scene, and the Oysters Vizzini that the Sicilians suck down are fresh and memorable, if often horrifying. The book succeeds mainly from sentence to sentence and chapter to chapter - each little scene drawing you into its world.
The overall plot is a little less successfully executed. It develops a tad too slowly and leaves some threads feeling unresolved, as if we lingered too long on scenes that didn't drive the plot forward, and missed out on other scenes that would have. So the book is flawed, but it merits being read. Now it can leave to-read purgatory and retire to the farm upstate where read books go.
The most "liked" review of this book simply reads "Inconceivably dreadful." First, to refute the adjective, I can easily conceive of a worse book than this. Second, this is in fact not a dreadful book, but a good one.
It tells three intertwined stories set in New Orleans, 1918-19: a detective rapidly losing his mind as he's haunted by an act of cowardice in the trenches of wartime Europe; a jazz musician resorting to petty crime and ditch-digging to get by; and a Sicilian crime boss realizing that her huge, violent, idiot son may not be as much of an idiot as she thought.
The threads converge amid the flu epidemic and the rampage of an "Axman" (not the Eddie Van Halen kind) who targets grocery owners. If this all sounds ambitious and tough to pull off, it is, but Rich just about does it. You don't set a book in New Orleans unless you intend to give it capital-A Atmosphere, and Rich does that in spades. His descriptions of the prehistoric mud of the industrial canal, the back-of-town nightclub scene, and the Oysters Vizzini that the Sicilians suck down are fresh and memorable, if often horrifying. The book succeeds mainly from sentence to sentence and chapter to chapter - each little scene drawing you into its world.
The overall plot is a little less successfully executed. It develops a tad too slowly and leaves some threads feeling unresolved, as if we lingered too long on scenes that didn't drive the plot forward, and missed out on other scenes that would have. So the book is flawed, but it merits being read. Now it can leave to-read purgatory and retire to the farm upstate where read books go.
elizaahhh's review
dark
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
This feels like a noir, in a very True Detective kind of way. It took about a third of the book before it got interesting. I liked it in the end even if it was pretty tidy, with at least one really
important plot point sort of unexplained.
important plot point sort of unexplained.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Xenophobia, Body horror, Racial slurs, Racism, and Blood
Moderate: Child death
Minor: Animal cruelty
regdor's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
abookishtype's review against another edition
3.0
Nathaniel Rich’s King Zeno is the second novel I’ve read recently that takes on the Axeman Murders of New Orleans—which is fitting since it’s been a century since the still-unsolved murders were committed. (Read my review of The Axeman, by Ray Celestin.) This fictional take on the murders rotates between a police officer with PTSD, a widow who heads a major construction project in the city, and a jazz cornet player. King Zeno is stuffed with the sights and sounds of New Orleans in the winter of 1917-1918. At times, the Axeman Murders get a lost as the characters witness the evolution of hot jazz, weather the Spanish Flu epidemic, and the construction of the city’s industrial canal...
Read the rest of my review at A Bookish Type. I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley for review consideration.
Read the rest of my review at A Bookish Type. I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley for review consideration.
janetlweller's review against another edition
3.0
This book was a bit confusing and hard to get into at first, but I stuck with it and eventually found it very absorbing. It takes place in 1918 New Orleans, where "jass" (not called jazz yet) is finding its roots, a serial axe killer has not been found, and the canals are being dug. The book focuses on Detective William Bastrop, a WWI vet who suffers from guilt about his actions in the war, as well as PTSD (certainly not diagnosed at the time), Isadore Zeno, a struggling jass musician who plays the coronet, but turns to crime to pay the bills, and Beatrice Vizzini, head of an organized crime family, who want to make the business legitimate. The three are not entirely sympathetic, (but I guess that is realistic), yet I ended up enjoying the book, and found it satisfying to see the three story lines come together.
janey's review
4.0
The influenza pandemic, New Orleans jazz, and an ax murderer. What is not to love?