The Poe Shadow: A Novel
by Matthew Pearl
Paperback- $13.53

“I present to you . . . the truth about this man’s death and my life.”

Baltimore, 1849. The body of Edgar Allan Poe has been buried in ...

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  "Very slow read..." by [email protected] (see profile) 11/17/07

I just finished this book and would not recommend it to my book club. It was one of the slowest reads I've had in all of 2007 and unfortunately, I can't say the ending changed my opinion as can sometimes happen.

 
  "Just didn't care." by egibson129 (see profile) 01/17/08

At first, I didn't care one way or another about this book ... didn't hate it, but didn't love it either. But, I found it interesting enough that I wanted to keep reading. However, by the end of the book, not only did I not care, I was bored out of my mind! The author attempted to use "period" language, but slipped up enough to be annoying. There were also many extraneous characters that could have been left out completely. Most importantly, our entire book club felt that the book should have ended shortly after the main character's escape from prison in "The Flood", once he had his revelations. From there on it was just a bore.

 
  "A man tries to figure out the truth behind Edgar Allen Poe's death" by kfoulks (see profile) 06/27/08

This was written a la Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. While I don't mind that style, it was cumbersome in a 500 page novel. It really bogged down the pace of the story. The story was OK, but it had such a neat premise, I expected more.

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