Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Codex by Lev Grossman .
This 376 page novel was written in 2004 and it starts off okay, the writing is bright and on page 3 we find...
The woman looked up at Edward. She was older than he was, maybe thirty-five or forty, with pale skin and dark wavy hair - beautiful in a way that was long out of fashion, like a girl in a silent movie. He could see the pale tops of her breasts in their lacy white cups. Edward hated this kind of public display - it was like rounding a corner and stumbling directly into somebody's bedroom - and he tried to slide past her, but she made eye contact before he could make his escape.
"And what about you? Are you just going to stand there looking down my dress, or are you going to help me look for my earring?"
...This book is easy and very clear reading, employing a vast vocabulary. Trouble is that from this bright begining this book just plods along slowly only to disappoint the reader further as you progress through the story. This novel then drones on about a computer game and fails to connect with a flimsy plot about a lost codex from medieval times that may hold some secrets. You then wonder why our hero Edward Wozny, a hot shot banker, could be bothered with the menial task of cataloging a library? The search for this codex by Edward and Margaret could have developed into a romance but it does not. Sadly on page 325 I read that...
"After I stared at them for a while, I decided to make a list of all the letters that the scribe had chosen to illustrate. I was thinking of the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili,..."
...NO!!! This damn novel is running parallels with that other failure of a book, The Rule of Four .
Codex fails as a mystery, a conspiracy, a thriller or a romance. The reader takes nothing away from this book. This book is poor and I vote it a MISS. There is no humour in this novel and the only detail is about library methods and medieval English literature. For an author who can write so clearly there is no compelling story plot. Lev has not got the skill of story telling and I do not believe that he can become a successful novelist.
This 376 page novel was written in 2004 and it starts off okay, the writing is bright and on page 3 we find...
The woman looked up at Edward. She was older than he was, maybe thirty-five or forty, with pale skin and dark wavy hair - beautiful in a way that was long out of fashion, like a girl in a silent movie. He could see the pale tops of her breasts in their lacy white cups. Edward hated this kind of public display - it was like rounding a corner and stumbling directly into somebody's bedroom - and he tried to slide past her, but she made eye contact before he could make his escape.
"And what about you? Are you just going to stand there looking down my dress, or are you going to help me look for my earring?"
...This book is easy and very clear reading, employing a vast vocabulary. Trouble is that from this bright begining this book just plods along slowly only to disappoint the reader further as you progress through the story. This novel then drones on about a computer game and fails to connect with a flimsy plot about a lost codex from medieval times that may hold some secrets. You then wonder why our hero Edward Wozny, a hot shot banker, could be bothered with the menial task of cataloging a library? The search for this codex by Edward and Margaret could have developed into a romance but it does not. Sadly on page 325 I read that...
"After I stared at them for a while, I decided to make a list of all the letters that the scribe had chosen to illustrate. I was thinking of the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili,..."
...NO!!! This damn novel is running parallels with that other failure of a book, The Rule of Four .
Codex fails as a mystery, a conspiracy, a thriller or a romance. The reader takes nothing away from this book. This book is poor and I vote it a MISS. There is no humour in this novel and the only detail is about library methods and medieval English literature. For an author who can write so clearly there is no compelling story plot. Lev has not got the skill of story telling and I do not believe that he can become a successful novelist.
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