Review

http://www.reviewsofbooks.com/dante_club/review/, this review is on the novel The Dante Club by Matthew Pearl. This novel is about a group of men in the 19th century, who intend to be the first to translate Dante into English, and instead find themselves wrapped up in the crimes of a serial killer. Within the review, the author states that “almost too much time” is taken at the beginning of the novel to introduce the reader to the time period and main characters. I disagree. While some of the beginning chapters do, admittedly, spend significant amounts of time on the backstories and lives of the protagonists, every page is necessary. As is frequently found in mystery novels, the smallest of details are found to be crucial to the plot in later pages. Furthermore, the style of the novel could at times feel dry, if not for the personal emotional connection to the characters developed as one learns about their lives within those first chapters.