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A review by duparker
The Meaning of Night by Michael Cox
3.0
Three and a half stars. I liked this book, and felt the aura it was intending to present. The Victorian era is well played and it has a certain vibe to it, that moves from thriller to fiction to mystery to thought provoking. What it doesn't do well is be concise. You really get into the nitty gritty in this book and have to sit back and enjoy it.
I can see how someone might get bogged down in the details, but that is some of what made the story work for me. You have to want to close your eyes and be in Victorian England and have the nuances and the obstacles of that era. You also have to like the story within a story within a retelling way of reading a book.
There is no major plot here, there is a story of desire and attempts to fill that desire. Over 700 pages you like and dislike the narrator and characters and you struggle to understand what it was like to be them in an era where luxury was out of reach to many and those that had it rolled in it.
I might have gone 4 stars but the length was a bit much for the follow through and after reading the book I am not inclined to read anything else by Cox.
I can see how someone might get bogged down in the details, but that is some of what made the story work for me. You have to want to close your eyes and be in Victorian England and have the nuances and the obstacles of that era. You also have to like the story within a story within a retelling way of reading a book.
There is no major plot here, there is a story of desire and attempts to fill that desire. Over 700 pages you like and dislike the narrator and characters and you struggle to understand what it was like to be them in an era where luxury was out of reach to many and those that had it rolled in it.
I might have gone 4 stars but the length was a bit much for the follow through and after reading the book I am not inclined to read anything else by Cox.