Review of a book! Yeay! Long overdue for a book nerd...
This book was one of my sis's book actually and had been sitting on the shelf waiting to be noticed. Where one day, I looked through the shelf and goes "Hey... I haven't read this one yet". As it had been left on the shelf gathering dust for a few years, the smell was... off putting to say the least.
Took me a few months to get this story over with, to be honest. As sometimes when bored or when I feel it gets too heavy I would then read 'lighter' books in between. Also during the first few weeks I just couldn't stand the smell and kept on sneezing. The smell of the book got better after a while as it had now been considerably aired and even went to Cambodia with me.
Now the story. The summary of the book conveniently lifted from Amazon.com
It was like reading 4 different books retelling the same account of events.
At first the book overwhelmed me by its constant references to the quotes or thought or works of philosophers, great inventors, scientists. The first part deal with a scholar on the brink of discovery and his interaction with other scholars, so it must be a habit with intellectual people long ago to throw random quotes or works at each other. They must be insufferable.
Then the second part deals with the mad Jack Prestcott who tried to clear his father name and regain his family honour.
The 3rd part deals with Dr Wallis who is obsessed with decryption and revenge. The 2nd and 3rd part are slow to digest as it is set during England Restoration period where conspiracies and the fight in retaining religion, monarch and the 'ultimate' courtiers (the men in power to influence the king) served as back drop to their stories.
The 2nd and 3rd part also the hardest for me to read because I was too mad at the characters for being an all around jackass, cold hearted narrators.
The 4th book is an account of an antiquarian who was witness to these events and have the evidence for all the supporting stories. This is the part that I read the fastest and easiest as I am not too bogged down with dead men quotes and forgotten conspiracies.
All 4 of the stories told the same story with the same basic ending. But it really is amazing actually. It is like reading layers and layers interpretation of events from different views and be utterly gobsmacked at the end on how things really turned out. On how perception even with the best argument but without clear evidence, can still be very wrong. So at the end, all the stories makes sense even with Jack Prestcott madness ramblings. I guess I like neat tied ends.
What makes it even more interesting 2 of the character, the antiquarian and Dr Wallis were actually real historical characters and some of the events in this story are also real events with few facts and characters changed.
If I could sum up how the book in few simple words it is; Long winded, detailed, interesting,yet not repetitive (even with 4 narrators telling the same stories again) and very satisfying at the end.
A must read? Those who like historical/murder mystery would find this captivating. Arm yourself with GOOGLE though if your history is a bit rusty.
This book was one of my sis's book actually and had been sitting on the shelf waiting to be noticed. Where one day, I looked through the shelf and goes "Hey... I haven't read this one yet". As it had been left on the shelf gathering dust for a few years, the smell was... off putting to say the least.
Took me a few months to get this story over with, to be honest. As sometimes when bored or when I feel it gets too heavy I would then read 'lighter' books in between. Also during the first few weeks I just couldn't stand the smell and kept on sneezing. The smell of the book got better after a while as it had now been considerably aired and even went to Cambodia with me.
Now the story. The summary of the book conveniently lifted from Amazon.com
The year is 1663, and the setting is Oxford, England, during the height of Restoration political intrigue. When Dr. Robert Grove is found dead in his Oxford room, hands clenched and face frozen in arictus of pain, all the signs point to poison. Rashomon-like, the narrative circles around Grove's murder as four different characters give their version of events: Marco da Cola, a visiting Italian physician--or so he would like the reader to believe; Jack Prestcott , the son of a traitor who fled the country to avoid execution; Dr. John Wallis, a mathematician and cryptographer with a predilection for conspiracy theories; and Anthony Wood, a mild-mannered Oxford antiquarian whose tale proves to be the book's "instance of thefingerpost ." (The quote comes from the philosopher Bacon, who, while asserting that all evidence is ultimately fallible, allows for "one instance of a fingerpost that points in one direction only, and allows of no other possibility.")
It was like reading 4 different books retelling the same account of events.
At first the book overwhelmed me by its constant references to the quotes or thought or works of philosophers, great inventors, scientists. The first part deal with a scholar on the brink of discovery and his interaction with other scholars, so it must be a habit with intellectual people long ago to throw random quotes or works at each other. They must be insufferable.
Then the second part deals with the mad Jack Prestcott who tried to clear his father name and regain his family honour.
The 3rd part deals with Dr Wallis who is obsessed with decryption and revenge. The 2nd and 3rd part are slow to digest as it is set during England Restoration period where conspiracies and the fight in retaining religion, monarch and the 'ultimate' courtiers (the men in power to influence the king) served as back drop to their stories.
The 2nd and 3rd part also the hardest for me to read because I was too mad at the characters for being an all around jackass, cold hearted narrators.
The 4th book is an account of an antiquarian who was witness to these events and have the evidence for all the supporting stories. This is the part that I read the fastest and easiest as I am not too bogged down with dead men quotes and forgotten conspiracies.
All 4 of the stories told the same story with the same basic ending. But it really is amazing actually. It is like reading layers and layers interpretation of events from different views and be utterly gobsmacked at the end on how things really turned out. On how perception even with the best argument but without clear evidence, can still be very wrong. So at the end, all the stories makes sense even with Jack Prestcott madness ramblings. I guess I like neat tied ends.
What makes it even more interesting 2 of the character, the antiquarian and Dr Wallis were actually real historical characters and some of the events in this story are also real events with few facts and characters changed.
If I could sum up how the book in few simple words it is; Long winded, detailed, interesting,yet not repetitive (even with 4 narrators telling the same stories again) and very satisfying at the end.
A must read? Those who like historical/murder mystery would find this captivating. Arm yourself with GOOGLE though if your history is a bit rusty.
Comments
history/murder mystery....baca kat news jerlah