3 1/2This is another book which is, in a way, hard for me to review. The book was not without its flaws. In many ways I can think of more negative things to say about the book than positive ones - but, despite that, I still liked it. I didn't love it, and I wouldn't rave about it or say that it's a must read... but it is interesting, and I wouldn't suggest you not read it, either.The book started with promise, and I was enthralled. It was texture and sumptuous, as we journied with Edward through his first murder and his reaction to it. We get into his head - his madness and paranoia - as we see things unravel, even as he seems to think himself calm and rational. The first couple hundred pages were excellent.But then we get to the backstory, and here things slow down a pace. Some parts were interesting, some less so, but it seemed to drag. I think the biggest problem was that we learned some of the same things multiple times from different sources. It's supposed to be pieces here and pieces there, putting them together to get the whole picture, but the whole picture was frustratingly obvious and it took far too long for the narrator to put them together! I always hate it when the "detectives" (and here I use the term loosely) are so much stupider than their audience.It's a failing, to be sure - but whether it's a failing in that the author made the protagonist too slow on the uptake or whether he gave the audience too much information at the outset is left up to the reader. I think fixing either would've made it a better read, but since it is supposed to be a mystery I would've liked it if the reveals - and there were a few of them - weren't so bleeding obvious. And I have to say that I'm usually a bit slow on the uptake myself, and can often get taken for a ride by something which should've been obvious but wasn't, so if I saw the 'twists' coming a mile away, I'm sure others saw them from several hundred miles... The ending did get better, though. Instead of drudging through various backstories and histories, we get back into the narrator's head - the best place to be in the story. Yes, the backstory is important - how can we sympathize with our aspiring murderer if we don't know the reasons for it, and hate his enemy even more than we might hate him. But far more interesting are his emotions and mental state. The language wasn't off-putting for me, though I'm not sure I really got a feel for the era. It was well researched to be sure, but the footnotes became a distraction. It wasn't that important that I know where a certain restaurant was, or when some famous or important person mentioned was born and died. I wanted to skip over them, but, being the mildly obsessive person that I am, couldn't. They didn't provide humor, like Pratchett's footnotes, and they didn't provide layers of world building like Clark's footnotes. They just offered trivia - trivial trivia - and were generally unnecessary.The facts of the story, and its overall plot, were fair to middling. As I said, the mystery is easily solved and the narrator's amount of lacking on this point was frustrating.But if you are someone who can enjoy a story for the journey, and not the destination... if you care more for how something comes about than the obviousness of what's going to happen... then perhaps you will enjoy it. If you are all destination, tho, then you won't.I'm a bit of both. I enjoyed the how. Even when I could see the impending betrayal coming from a mile away, I was still curious as to how and when it would happen, and, more importantly, what the reaction would be. Even though you know how this book will end, it's the getting there that matters.I know I seem to be contradicting myself - but I'll elaborate by saying it's the mental getting there, not the factual getting there. The latter part was still too drawn out.But for those times when we were in the mind and heart of the narrator... when we don't get get the facts that he knows... but when we are brought into how he thinks and feels. Oh, these times are wonderfully and wickedly delicious. It's like a taste, almost - a decadence of the mind that lingers in the memory. It's just a pity that it didn't all live up to to the same standard.One final note - this is a book that you have to read when you're in the mood for it, for it does require a certain mind-set, in a way. It's not something that's easily taken in drips and drabs - for a few passing moments here and there. This is a book that you need to take your time with, to really immerse yourself into. I kept being interrupted, annoyingly enough, which I think hampered my enjoyment somewhat.It's not a quick meal... it's something you want to have time to savor... so you should partake when you have the time and inclination to do so.
This is one of the most unique books I've ever read. Is it because it's a murder mystery? No. Because it's told in the first person? No. What makes it unlike any other book I've read is that from the very beginning, from the very preface itself, this book is set up as if it were a true manuscript found by someone and put to publication. This goes right down to editor's notes fleshing out names, events, times and places for the reader, not all of which are made up.It is a work of fiction though. A VERY good work of fiction.'A spellbinding story of murder, deceit, love, and revenge in Victorian England.' That's what it says in the book's jacket and a pretty accurate representation of what's to be found inbetween the covers.The Meaning Of Night is a tale of a man seeking revenge. Revenge against a childhood nemesis. Revenge that takes place over nearly a lifetime.This is a very deep and tightly plotted book. There are alot of names and events and alot of twists and turns, but it was never a labor to read. Even the most mundane of exposition is told in such a way that Cox makes it interesting, and what's more , FUN to read.I say this book is tightly plotted because just about everything is significant in some way or another. Every character, look, line of dialogue. Not one word is wasted.Page by page, we get more and more information on the narrator's past and his motivations, all as he discovers it himself so it's almost like you're there with him every step of the way and there are several huge twists that are fantastic.This is a great and long story that just satisfies on about every point I can think of. It's never dumbed down but it's never laborious to read. 'Page Turner' is a cliche, but it's totally appropriate here.
Do You like book The Meaning Of Night (2006)?
Allow me to stop and doff my stove pipe hat to you Mr Cox, for truly you are a man who has done his research. Having recently perused the weighty tome that is The Meaning of Night, I am reacquainted with what it means to be a man obsessed. Both the protaganist and the author have their fixations but over 700 pages it is apparent that Michael Cox's obsession for mid-Victorian history and literature is as all consuming as Edward Glyvers determination for revenge. Whether you regard the footnotes as a helpful point of reference (presuming you too are the kind of person who checks the validity of historic references in fictional novels), or as Cox cheerfully showing off just how much he really knows about the period in question, you surely cannot fail but to admire him for a magnificent work of fiction with some faction thrown in. I realise that through goodreads/goodreading I've become a fan of this kind of book and this has taken me by surprise but some of this stuff is a pretty good substitute for Victorian Era literature if you ever get to the point that you've read all that period has to offer. I've got the Crimson Petal and the White to read and also Cox's other work of fiction The Glass of Time lined up for next month. Take note though reader, if you are looking for a fairy tale ending then you may wish to refer back to the much cited Les Milles et Une Nuits because you're not going to find one here.
—Shovelmonkey1
I could only get up to page 166 in this book before I gave up, thats out of about 600 pages.This book was like the love child of Dickens and Austen, which is then orphanned and left to be raised by a commune of varrious victorian era British melodramatists. It took at least 100 pages before the author finally got to the point of telling us precisely WHY his main character needs revenge on someone. Even then, 60 pages into the story of this guys past, I'm falling asleep.I found the characters two dimensional, the setting not used nearly enough, and the premise cliche to say the least. I just couldn't stomach anymore of this as it was distracting me from other reading. If you are a fan of British melodrama, then you should read this. I personally was hopping for something less flowery and more street level gritty. Stop lamenting about getting revenge, and get your revenge already!!
—Jesse
Entertaining enough, until I realised that there really wasn't going to be a big twist at the end, and I really did know a third of the way through *exactly* how it was going to end, down to to the last detail.
—Sarah
