Book Review: The Dante Club

Set in 1865, The Dante Club by Matthew Pearl is the exploration of a hypothetical serial killer drawing inspiration from Dante's Divine Comedy, as translated by the famous poets of the time, to punish his victims. The Dante Club is the poets' name for their group working on the translation and then on finding the murderer. The club itself is based on a real group that translated The Divine Comedy in 1865, comprised of poets like Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and Oliver Wendell Holmes.

Unfortunately, that sounds more exciting than most of the book turned out to be. This is the debut novel from Mr. Pearl and I think he will do good things, if he can tighten up his pacing. There is a bizarre "Foreword" which relates to nothing and appears to be an unsuccessful attempt to set the mood. The book is graphic in describing the death scenes but includes nothing unreasonable. There were sub-plots, side stories, and philosophizing that could have been left out to focus the book more on Dante's poetry and the mystery at hand. It seemed that these were included for understanding the mood of the times more than from any need for them in the plot.

Once the set-up was out of the way the pace did pick up, but it was a long time coming. After about 250 pages, I wasn't enjoying the novel but it had intrigued me enough that I had difficulty putting it down. I'm still wasn't quite sure who'd been doing the deeds but I found myself thinking more and more about it when I wasn't reading, which is certainly a mark of a good book. Unfortunately, I never liked or felt involved with the protagonists.

Much of the action centers on the activities and behaviors emanating from Harvard College. Harvard is referred to as "The Corporation" throughout the novel, which is obviously meant as a derogatory term when taken in conjunction with the backbiting and extortion to which its directors -one particular - stoop. One hopes that the potrait of "business as usual" at this institution was exaggerated for effect as most of the attitudes and actions associated with Harvard are petty at best and illegal at worst.

There is racism and isolationism aplenty in the story, but nothing that doesn't ring true for a time a few months after the end of the civil war and nothing gratuitous. The end of the war plays a major part in the events that unfold. One of the main characters is Nicholas Rey, the fictional first non-white police officer in Boston. The issues that arise from that are a whole sub-plot on their own, including the actions of his "fellow" police offices. Rey, however, is a cardboard cut-out through most of the novel - a brilliant, stable, turn-the-other-cheek policeman who uses unorthodox methods to solve the crime. You rarely get a glimpse of his feelings.

The denouement is exciting enough and the solution is not given away so early that you are frustrated that that the novel's main actors can't see it. However, Mr. Pearl falls into the trap of tying off loose threads and explaining every motivation and outcome at the end rather than finishing with a bang. The book trails off into a "Historical Note" from Mr. Pearl that, while interesting, would have worked better as a real foreword and introduction to the characters than the one supplied.

All in all, this would have been a better book had some of the poetic meditation been tightened up to insights instead, and had it focused more on the mystery and less on personalities. Let's hope Mr. Pearl has worked out his literary obsession with Dante and his Club, and comes up with another creative mystery. I'd definitely read another of his books if one comes.