Product Description: An extraordinary modern novel in the Victorian tradition, Charles Palliser has created something extraordinary--a plot within a plot within a plot of family secrets, mysterious clues, low-born birth, high-reaching immorality, and, always, always the fog-enshrouded, enigmatic character of 19th century -- London itself. "You read the first page and down you wonderfully fall, into a long, large, wide world of fiction." THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW
Ultimately Disappointing As many have observed, this is a complicated and engrossing story. The author manages a large cast of characters, many of whom are reminiscent of Dickensian characters. The narrative has enough twists and turns to captivate even the most jaded reader; it has a Jarndyce v. Jarndyce chancery case that has lingered in court for decades. Plenty of ill-will, injustice, and retribution on all sides.
However. Quotes reproduced from the beginning of the book. New York Times Book Review: "A genuine reproduction of a full-bodied 19th-century page-turner of a novel,..." The Independent (London): "A brilliant and deeply eccentric attempt to reproduce one of those glorious, rambling epics from the Golden Age of English fiction..." People: "A bulging, beguiling recreation of a Victorian novel, written in elegant period prose." Los Angeles Times Book Review: "... this is Charles Dickens reincarnated..."
The plotting is characteristic of the 19th-century British novel; the characters frequently are as well. The main character's internal monologue is true to its period at times; but his suspicions of a vast conspiracy against him belong more to a modernist sensibility.
The failure of the book, as I see it, is the language. This is most definitely not the language of Dickens, nor of other British novelists of that time and genre. The author reproduces the dialect and some of the particular idiomatic expressions from the period, but the sentence structure, the use of language, is completely modern. Compared to someone like Patrick O'Brian, whose language has the depth and richness of the period (earlier 19th-century), this has little more than a sprinkling, a mere whiff of the time.
And so, a good book, but not what I was hoping for: the structure of a novel of the period, but without the language.
A Superb Read I hold a degree in Victorian literature and am drawn to any book of or about the period. "The Crimson Petal and the White," "The Dress Lodger," and "The Quincunx" are but three of my favorites. Lengthy, complex, well-written and conceived, I highly recommend "The Quincunx."
The Details May Fade Over Time but the Impression Left Will Remain With You I read this book more than 13 years ago while living in London. I have to say that reading this kind of broad,lengthy,sweeping yet historically detailed novel, on site as they say, about so very much more than just a mystery in a bygone time in Britain really did transport me into the heart of this engrossing novel. There are passages that will cause the reader to wince from what he or she will instinctively recognize as a painfully accurate description of the harsh realities of those who lived in abject poverty in this period of time. The searing descriptions of their agonizing daily struggle with poverty and disease will leave the reader with an unshakable understanding of why many people in these circumstances had no choice but to do the unthinkable to survive while others knew nothing but comfort and luxury. It may cause some to take a break in their reading to come to emotional terms with what they'll feel they've experienced alongside the characters in this book. You won't be able to easily distance yourself until the conclusion of the last chapter. You'll cry, you'll grieve, you'll suffer betrayal as if it were your own and you'll cheer the indomitable spirit of a young boy as he makes his way in a murky world and through the perilous maze of the ranks of British society to solve a fascinating mystery. You'll be reminded of Dickens and Wilkie Collins,and should you be lucky enough to someday walk the same streets as the narrator and seek out some of the locations mentioned in the roughly 800 pages, you'll never forget this rich tapestry of a book of mysteries and the complexities of human nature. Settle in for a great read!
Terrible book I really why this book is rated so high. To me, this book is not that great. The plot is ok; however, the writing style is sloppy. The author, an English professor, who keeps mixing between present tense and past tense in the same paragraph. The book contains so many unnecessarily lengthy sentences.
Couldn't finish it I've read and enjoyed lots of long books, but quit several hundred pages into this one. The plot is very repetitive and confusing. In addition the overall tone is depressing. I cannot recommend it.
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