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hectaizani's review
2.0
Another in the Poe spiral that I'm reading along with several other bookcrossing members. Very slow going, Matthew Pearl is a painstaking researcher, and it shows in the volumes of material he puts into his literary fiction.
skirmishgirl's review
1.0
I had to struggle to finish this. It's a poor attempt at a Dan Brown-esque book, with twists and turns that have zero place in the story. I love Poe, and I love a good mystery. This, however, is the second book I've read by Pearl, and it will be the last.
patchworkbunny's review against another edition
4.0
Yes, this book is different from The Dante Club, but that doesn't make it a bad book. Obviously it is very well researched and I feel it is written more in the style of one of Poe's mysteries. The whole thing also reminded me a bit of Poirot! Not action packed and takes quite a lot of concentration but rewarding for Poe and historical fiction fans.
showell's review
4.0
I think Pearl is learning to strike the balance between sharing cool literary knowledge and telling a good story. His interesting Poe tidbits were less intrusive in this story.
soniapage's review against another edition
2.0
I hadn't realized there were so many theories as to the causes of Poe's death until I picked up this audio book at the library and did some research on the internet. The main character in this book fanatically attempts to find out the exact circumstances that led up to the poet's death. Unfortunately, he is very ineffective at everything he does and is unrealistically obsessed with his task. Maybe it was just the audio book narrator's performance, but Quinton is an annoying whiner. It also seems improbable that such an undertaking would become so perilous.
Narrated by Eric Singer.
Narrated by Eric Singer.
rebcamuse's review against another edition
3.0
Pearl's [b:The Dante Club|18402|The Dante Club (The Dante Club, #1)|Matthew Pearl|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1397659377l/18402._SY75_.jpg|2164481] is a favorite, so I had looked forward to reading this. I found the historical note at the end to be the most interesting part of the book. The narrative is uneven--it floats in and out of a nineteenth-century literary style, and I found both the narrator and Duponte to be tiresome and self-involved characters. "Bonjour" is definitely the best female character, but she fizzles out by the end. Perhaps there are too many "unknowns" in the actual historical accounts of Poe's death to make the book convincing. I felt that Pearl was trying not to take the same sorts of liberties he did in The Dante Club--fair enough. The entire book read like a struggle, however, between character development and interpolation of history. The plot twists seem to come out of nowhere (which, while that can be a boon, gets tiresome when it happens consistently) and characters are introduced but hardly developed so that one has a hard time keeping track of who has done what. Still, the book reflects a lot of Pearl's gifts as a writer--he does manage to combine wit with drama in a way few modern authors can. Having had such vastly different reactions to The Dante Club and The Poe Shadow, I am now eager to read [b:The Last Dickens|5588668|The Last Dickens|Matthew Pearl|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1440872878l/5588668._SX50_.jpg|5760012], because I do enjoy Pearl's writing on the whole. While the book was not a favorite, I'm glad I read it.
ccoelophysis's review
4.0
A fun read. Really gets you thinking about what actually happened to all those famous authors and artists who died tragic or mysterious deaths. We know plenty about the things they left behind but what were their lives like? This book causes you to question what is historical and what is pure fiction and that is all part of the fun.
kenziebev's review
1.0
I have tried to read this book numerous times and I can’t get myself to finish. I WANT to like it, and the idea is there, but the writing style is not.
melohpa's review
2.0
See my review at https://topplingbookpile.blogspot.com/2019/06/the-poe-shadow-by-matthew-pearl-p.html