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sarahp85's review against another edition
3.0
loved the concept of this book but... didn't like the main character and it just confused me a lot.
Like the concept was too good to live up to the story. I don't know. I'm still confused as you can tell hahahaha
Like the concept was too good to live up to the story. I don't know. I'm still confused as you can tell hahahaha
carlyg123's review against another edition
5.0
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this, and I must say I find Robert particularly enthralling. In the edition I held, there were notes for reading groups at the end - how I wish I had read this as a part of a reading group, I'd love to discuss:
'Beauty increases with age, don't you think?'
Do you agree with Robert Sachs?
'There must be so much these walls keep within themselves.'
Do walls hold memories - secrets?
'Is Schrodinger's Cat about cowardice?'
Is it?
'I do what everybody else would love to. Somewhere. Deep down. Beneath the morals is mischief and murder.'
True?
'People do anything for the beautiful.'
Is this your experience?
'Beauty increases with age, don't you think?'
Do you agree with Robert Sachs?
'There must be so much these walls keep within themselves.'
Do walls hold memories - secrets?
'Is Schrodinger's Cat about cowardice?'
Is it?
'I do what everybody else would love to. Somewhere. Deep down. Beneath the morals is mischief and murder.'
True?
'People do anything for the beautiful.'
Is this your experience?
snoakes7001's review against another edition
5.0
The Beauty of Murder has a fantastically twisty plot. It's a murder mystery with the added complication of time travel. What if someone really amoral had the ability to travel in time? And if you were such a person, who would you murder? The main characters are all really well drawn - particularly the hapless Stephen Killigan who gets drawn into the unbelievable and sinister world of Jackamore Grass and Inspector Jane Horne - the officer investigating the case. Atmospheric and unsettling - I really enjoyed this one.
abcdestherh's review against another edition
3.0
But it is important to confess the truth to yourself, if only to lie better to others.
i've gotten through books this size (around 400 pages) in a day. this one however, took me almost a week and it felt strange. what is it about this book that made it slower to get through for me? i'm chalking it up to the unexplained non linear timeline which at the same time is also linear..?? if you read this book you would know what i mean lol. (i mean, i think? i'm not convinced i understand it..) at one time i was taking notes just to keep track. the first few chapters were really unclear to me.
the seemingly jumbled times do not really get explicitly explained, but i got the sense that that was intentional. it seems that things start to make more sense for us at the same time the main character makes sense of things. it made it hard to get into the book. and i'm not saying it makes sense to me now either lol.
i also had to look some things and words up, usually specific British things or old fashioned words or just words i hadn't ever come across before as a non native speaker of English.
some things i didn't like:
- everyone is in love with killigan??? instantly???
- killigan is a douche (re: students and his best friend)
- the whole relationship between robert and his sister what Was that?
- unsatisfying ending
- the philosophical tangents .. too big for my brain
some things i liked:
- lots of nice lines or way things were phrased ("somewhen")
- jane's story!!! wow i liked her best (except the part where she was attracted to killigan)
- i learned a bunch of new words (bulrushes, kugel hammer, calliope, the cambridge uni motto)
- iris
It is when we are at our most alive, honest and vulnerable that we can locate the place between constructed realities and step through the gaps.
gawronma's review against another edition
3.0
Interesting book with a very interesting premise. A little time traveling with philosphy and murder.
marjolein85's review
2.0
Unfortunately I did not like this book. Since main events happened all of a sudden, the book lacked any form of suspense. Furthermore, the characters were not convincing, they never came to life. Therefore, I kept on forgetting who was who. The book is told from several point of views, which I usually like. However, some point of views are told in first person en some in third person, which is confusing. Finally, there is no real ending, the book could have finished a hundred pages earlier but it could have gone on for a hundred pages more.
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