Czytałam kiedyś tę książkę, ale jej zupełnie nie pamiętam. Przypomniałam sobie o niej w tym momencie, przy okazji czytania o Poe. Pamiętam, że czytałam ją bardzo długo i chyba mnie nie zachwyciła. Ale pomysł ciekawy - próba rozwiązania zagadki śmierci wielkiego mistrza gotyku amerykańskiego.

WARNING: SPOILERS (and not just from this book)

The Poe Shadow is indeed an interesting read, but not in a good way in my opinion.

Believe me. I am not a troll. I tried to like this book and I usually give out good reviews. Even books that I don’t like get above three stars and a good review, but I cannot say the same for this story. Allow me to explain.

I took a "Poe, Poe, Poe" class, a college course dedicated to works by and about Edgar Allan Poe. To finish off the semester, we had to read this book, but there are so many problems with this story.

For one, the characters suck. Yes, all characters in any book are, in some way, unreliable and unrelatable, but this is pathetic. Everyone in their own way is ridiculous. The only really good character here is Bonjour and even she has her own flaws. The Baron was a greedy fraud and Duponte wasn't even originally interested in Poe's death in the first place. Hattie is an okay character but only existed as a love interest and as part of an obstacle that hindered Clark's full attention to his goals. Hattie's family and Peter were terrible. They basically peer-pressure Clark to propose. Granted he loves Hattie, but he is not ready for marriage. Also, why did they know when his parents proposed and more importantly, why did they expect Clark to know the exact date, let alone use it as his moment to propose? I'm sorry, but it's not like he was there. I don't even know when or how my parents' proposed, not that it matters.

And then there was Clark, the obsessive lawyer. In today's standards, Clark was a fanboy who was passionate about Poe's works and about Poe. However, he is an insult to anyone who has a passion. Clark is a fan of Poe. He loves his writings and sees Poe as a version of himself. Both were orphaned at a very young age, so Clark relates to him like a best friend. To him, Poe is his lifelong hero, so when Poe died, it, of course, brakes his heart. He then feels as if it is his duty to find out how he died and defend his hero. This is natural for anyone who wants to show their loyalty to their heroes. However, Clark is not a good fan. Granted, he clearly shows interest in this and spends the entire book looking for clues. Then, after getting arrested, Duponte finally gives him all of the information as to what may have happened to Poe. Clark then has this information and the opportunity to tell the world. He could clear his name, earn respect from the family, and honor Poe. HOWEVER, instead, this man, for whatever reason, decides not to tell anyone.

WHAT. THE. HECK. My time was wasted reading page after page, trying to see what was going to happen and this is how it's presented? Unbelievable! Matthew Pearl gives us the suspense and anticipation of this mystery, but in the end it was worse than the suspense of Moby-Dick; or, The Whale (for those who don't know, the whale in the story is mentioned a while after the beginning of the book, but is not even seen until the 133rd of the 135 chapters) and at least Herman Melville gives us the showdown that we were waiting for. Granted, I might be over-exaggerating, but I have to say this. Clark adores Poe. He believed in him and makes him his hero. When no one wanted to know how Poe died, Clark stands up and chooses to find out. No one else had interest, not even Dupin or Duponte. In fact, the only reason the majority even cared was because of the news and the fact that money is involved.

Anyway, Clark drops everything. His career, his home, his lover . . . everything to figure this out. He goes through so much trouble, putting himself in danger multiple times and even goes and digs up Poe's grave (which was possibly the best part of this entire book). Now, he has information that will be the reward for all of his hard work and he uses it by not telling anyone? I mean are you kidding me? I'm sorry, but this is just UNACCEPTABLE! I wasn't expecting an Act 5 Greek comedy play where everything gets resolved and everyone gets married, but I expected something better than this. After reading this book, my class spent the first hour of our time (we met once a week for 2 hours) trying to figure out why Clark did this. The people deserve to know. Poe deserves justice. Granted, it may not have been the truth, but it was at least an idea or a theory that was as accurate as it was going to get. And instead of clearing his name and Poe's, Clark decides to act like a little kid and be like "Nah nah! I'm not gonna tell you . . . it's a secret!”. Not only that, he immediately returns to his old life as if nothing even happened. He goes back to his old job with the jerk Peter and marries the girl that he was peer-pressured into proposing to. If this is how one truly honors his hero, then that is sad.

Overall, I would not read this book again. It's not super duper terrible, but it is not something I would pick up again or recommend. I’m giving it two stars to be generous, especially because the plot could have been worse.

I'm not really sure why I liked this book. Must be the subject! The writing didn't impress me at all, nothing was special, nothing I haven't seen before. Even so, it kept me going. The plot was a bit weird, twists and turns that I don't think were supposed to be there, but added just for the fun.. Can't say it ruined it, though.
Being a fan of mystery books and constantly trying to find something worth to read on the shelves that are in the library, I actually thought this was on the good side of the mystery books. I've read a few of them, and there are far worse things than "The Poe Shadow".
Of course, there are bad parts. For example, the main character.. sucks. In like, I can hardly think of any other characters right now that are as bad as this one. His description is almost inexistent, even though it's a book that was writen in first person, and he's neither gross or amazing, neither good or bad. He probably was meant to strike through his normality, but I didn't find it particularly enjoyable.
Plus, the solving of the mystery was as bad as they get. Horrible. Not a damn clue how to write an ending with emotion.

This is a superb historical thriller based on the real events and characters surrounding Edgar Poe's death in Baltimore in 1849. Pearl recreates 19th century Baltimore and Paris in the literary style of the time and draws the reader into a very Poe-esque tale of mystery and intrigue. Although the characters do come across reserved and controlled without much emotion it must be remembered that in the mid 19th century that is how people were, everything was very formal with etiquette still very much a big part of social behaviour. The only slight flaw is that Quentin, the over zealous young lawyer, is hell bent on solving the mystery and clearing Poe's now tarnished name. At times he is incredibly naive and you want to give him a good shake and tell him to get a grip and to start using his brains a bit more (I mean how many times does one need to enter dark foreboding alleyways where they're hit yet again across the head, before they realise it's a bad idea), despite this you still feel some connection with Quentin's passion for Poe and his quest to clear his name.

Pearl has an obvious love for Poe and his writings and this comes across throughout the book in both its style and atmosphere and in the careful research clearly undertaken into the events and mysteries surrounding his untimely death. The additional historical note provided by Pearl sheds a new light on the likely cause of Poe's death although, as Pearl himself admits, it is unlikely that all the questions surrounding Poe's death will be answered fully, if at all. This is not just an enjoyable historical fiction tale, it is a hommage to Poe and his work and is a must read for all Poe fans. However it is also an enjoyable page-turner of a detective story.

I had to struggle to finish this. It's a poor attempt at a Dan Brown-esque book, with twists and turns that have zero place in the story. I love Poe, and I love a good mystery. This, however, is the second book I've read by Pearl, and it will be the last.

Meh. It’s ok but I preferred The Dante Club.

Maybe I enjoyed it just because it was about Poe. Or maybe, because it made an effort to redeem Poe's image as a drunk and a drug abuser. Either way, I quite enjoyed it.

The story didn't draw me in this book, as Matthew Pearl's writing did.
I just couldn't connect with the main character and his motives.
Quentin Clark became too overly obsessed with what the people of Baltimore thought of Poe after his death, which seemed somewhat trivial of an event to me, for one to become distant with his loved ones, lose his wife, his job, et cetera.

On the other hand, I really liked the writing style of Pearl. This was mainly what kept me going reading this book. I would definitely read another work of his, given the subject is more on par with my tastes.
Also, as a previous commenter noted, I loved the historical note at the end, where you find out that the main protagonist's conclusion about Poe's murder may actually be true, and many events and characters were real. I appreciate the research that has been put in this book.

Conclusion: I would give 1 star for the plot, but given the excellent writing of Pearl, and the historical notes at the end, I give this 3 stars.

Like all good horror aficionados, I consider myself a Edgar Allen Poe fan as much as the next man/woman. The iconic author set so much foundation for the dark genres we love and enjoy today. So I was instantly intrigued when this book blipped on my radar. A mystery surrounding the death of the great Poe? Count me in.

Alas, The Poe Shadow was a disappointment through and through. This novel just didn't cut it, no matter which way I tried to slice it. It failed to have any of the creepiness or darkness or moodiness that I've come to associate with Poe. The story was weak, the storytelling dragged, and I found myself caring little for anything within the pages (characters, plot, prose, etc.). I wouldn't call it awful, but it was astonishingly bland.

It felt like the author tried to make a hybrid out of 'cozy mystery' and 'Edgar Allen Poe'. The results of this experiment were... well... a bit of a failure unfortunately.

Pearl has the unenviable ability of making interesting material so unutterably dull that you would rather watch paint dry than finish the book.

En verdad esperaba mucho más de este libro. Lo compre cuando estaba en el colegio con una pequeña obsesión por Edgar Allan. Recuerdo haberlo leído y me gustó. Por esa razón lo guarde para releerlo más adelante. Así que podrán imaginar mi gran decepción cuando más o menos hace un mes lo comencé y quede con un sin sabor en la boca. La forma en la que está escrita se me hace pesada y aburrida. Matthew tiene una forma de escribir muy detallada con palabras diferentes, me encanta esto, así conocemos más de vocabulario, pero a la vez es tedioso y como ya he dicho aburridor.

La historia es buena; nos cuenta cómo un amigo de cartas del poeta Edgar Allan Poe se obsesiona con la muerte de este , comienza a investigar más de la cuenta y se topa con muchos misterios que comienzan a ser parte de la trama hasta lograr desvelar de esta muerte.

El personaje principal me parece parco, plano , no conecto con el. No logro entenderlo y como ya he dicho en otras reseñas esto es importante para mí. No hay ningún personaje que llame la atención por lo tanto el libro a tomar otro carácter aburrido.

Creo que los libros cambian con el tiempo, porque tus gustos o ideales ya no son los mismos . Así que a mí adolescente de 14 años le encantó este libro pero a mí yo de 24 no.

While this was an interesting subject & the mystery surrounding Poe's death was written well, I HATED the lead character. He was whiney, obsessive and at times down right stupid. He's one of those guys with book smarts, but is dumb as a box of rocks when it comes to real life.

He is obsessive to the point of loosing everything he is/has, his career, fortune, home, finance, friends...the only thing that keeps him from absolutely loosing everything is due to friends coming to his aid at the end.

If I had been reading this book rather than listening to it as a part of my dull commute, I would not have been able to finish it. The only reason why this has 2 stars rather than 1 is the ending. Quintin Clark finally pulls it together & I actually feel some empathy for him and the book becomes much more enjoyable. But there are quite a few points where I couldn't care less. At times I just wanted to scream at the speakers, "hire a detective & go home to your girlfriend!"