- Paperback: 377 pages
- Publisher: No Exit Press (1 Jan 2003)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 1842430831
- ISBN-13: 978-1842430835
- Product Dimensions: 23 x 15.6 x 3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 805,426 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Review
"Deftly blending the sacred and the profane, Tosches boldly casts himself as the protagonist in his latest novel, an outrageously ambitious book in which he procures a purloined version of the original manuscript of The Divine Comedy while tracing Dante's journey as Dante struggled to complete his penultimate work." - Publishers Weekly "Tosches shows off an impressive breadth of knowledge on the life and times of Dante Alighieri, interweaving the story of Tosches' quest with that of the poet himself, alternating a hard-boiled literary voice with one that attempts to evoke the great work itself. Filled with rants on the whoredom of the publishing world, autobiographical braggadocio, and history lessons as well as discussions on linguistics, numerology, and theology, this book boldly treads the line between high art and vulgarity, begging the question as to whether it is a masterpiece or just plain pretentious!" - Booklist
Product Description
Deep inside the Vatican library, a priest discovers the rarest and most valuable art object ever found: the manuscript of "The Divine Comedy," written in Dante's own hand. Via Sicily, the manuscript makes its way from the priest to a mob boss in New York City, where a writer named Nick Tosches is called to authenticate the prize. For this writer, the temptation is too great: he steals the manuscript in a last-chance bid to have it all. As this dark and twisted journey unfolds, so too does a parallel tale: the odyssey of Dante himself, a man trying to weave a poem that contains the sum of the world's wisdom and the very breath of the divine. This novel combines Tosches' vast scholarship about "The Divine Comedy," Dante Alighieri, and the Middle Ages with an equally vast and intimate knowledge of the lowest murdering scum of New York's ugliest streets. In the Hands of Dante is a work of astounding audacity and beauty, the masterwork that Nick Tosches has been building toward for years. Some will find it offensive; others will declare it transcendent; it is certain to be the most ragingly debated novel of the decade.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
0 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
If the author Nick Tosches had limited this book to his dismemberment of the mass-produced and marketed mediocrities that pass for good books today, it alone would have been worth the price of the book. He thunders about the consolidation of book publishers in to what is an oligopoly, comments on the same status of the retailers of books, and mercilessly flays authors that routinely occupy the top of the bestseller lists. My favorite part of his varied condemnations is when he directs his spotlight on those persons who have placed their name upon book clubs, and by choosing a book guaranty its financial success. Some I am sure will find his characterizations vulgar and overly vicious. I found them to be dead on accurate. The entire phenomenon of a celebrity with absolutely no credibility for commenting on a book doing so, and thus placing the book immediately on the top of countless reader's lists of books they must read, is and always has been pathetic. When one hostess of a talk show recently withdrew after stating she could no longer find books that were worthy of a recommendation, she confirmed two facts. The first was that she had no business ever suggesting anything to anyone, and secondly, when her most recently anointed author stated he did not want her name on his book, her towering ego shattered.
Nick Tosches is qualified to trash the homogenization of commercial publishing and the garbage it prints, for unlike those who make a living criticizing that which they cannot begin to replicate, this man can and does so with ease. He moves from thrashing an industry and its products to writing with style and competence that is all but gone, buried by a dozen or so authors who are guaranteed to sell a pile of books regardless of the quality of writing. He includes a letter that he wrote to his agent/publisher that is as blistering an indictment of fools that I have read.
Once the book moves to the story of Dante struggling with what would be his masterpiece appearance where there is no substance, just ugliness.
Those who pick up this work hoping for a race around the globe with stolen manuscripts and characters of the shadiest demeanor will be sorely disappointed. This is a wonderfully detailed book of the exploration of truth in the pursuit of knowledge, and eventually of writing. The rants, and disgusting human beings that are described outside of this central tale, are wonderful, and at times vile. If as the jacket of the book suggests, as a reader you might be offended, there is little in this book you will not hear leaching from cars in suburbia, thumping mindlessly while spewing the most egregious filth. This, "music", is again what has been deemed popular, but unlike this man's book that you may choose to read, the former is not an option unless you choose the life of a hermit., the author demands a great deal of his readers. He does not make the reading easy, nor does he hold the reader's hand with word for word translations of a variety of languages. This is most appropriate, for were he have taken the opposite tack, he would have been guilty of another fault of mediocre writers, using language they barely understand, and rarely even translate. Language is used as makeup, improving the
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
2 reviews
4 of 6 people found the following review helpful
not a bad bit of reading
1 Mar 2005
Format:Hardcover
In the Hand of Dante is a decent enough book. It's major faults, in my opinion, lie in the first half of the book, where it seems that the author hadn't much direction in which to take his characters. Indeed, even their relationship to each other is extremely slow in being presented. I found myself often wondering more about why the characters were doing what they were, rather than looking forward to their actions.
Stylistically, however, it is obvious that the author is a fantastic wordsmith. He is very skilled at writing in the style of the time, place and point of view.
All in all, this wasn't a bad book, though it wasn't a great one either. I don't know that I would ever really recommend it to anyone. However, I don't regret having read it, so I guess I wouldn't suggest avoiding it either.
Stylistically, however, it is obvious that the author is a fantastic wordsmith. He is very skilled at writing in the style of the time, place and point of view.
All in all, this wasn't a bad book, though it wasn't a great one either. I don't know that I would ever really recommend it to anyone. However, I don't regret having read it, so I guess I wouldn't suggest avoiding it either.
One of the worst books I have ever read
26 Mar 2010
Format:Paperback
This book is crazy. There is way too much usage of the "F" word; which if appropriate in establishing something w/in the book, I am fine with, but there did not seem to be a good reason for the constant profanity. The author is constantly berating the reader and anyone else he can think of. While reading the book, I felt angry. If there was something in the book of merit to make me feel anger, I would not have a problem with that.
There does not seem to be a plot and it is very hard to follow where it may be heading. The previous commentary was very diplomatic about the first half of the book. I on the other hand suggest this book be avoided.
This is my first and last Nick Tosches book.
There does not seem to be a plot and it is very hard to follow where it may be heading. The previous commentary was very diplomatic about the first half of the book. I on the other hand suggest this book be avoided.
This is my first and last Nick Tosches book.
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