Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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92 of 99 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Gothic chiller??, 16 Jul 2008
Although getting off to a reasonable start this book soon becomes more than a little frustrating. Having read a number of other reviews on this site I am left a little mystified and anyone expecting a cross between Lovecraft and Dickens will be mightily disappointed.
The story, as has been written elsewhere, takes us through the protagonists decline from anatomists assistant to drug addicted bodysnatcher but forgets to create a deep enough back story for the reader to actually care. All the characters in the book are made largely uninteresting owing to a lack of depth and it is a little bit of a cheat to say that just because the books subject is a little macabre that this is a spine tingling page turner. Buyer beware because it is not. It's not that the novel is badly written, it's actually the opposite, but no time is given to plot or character development and there is no feeling that the main characters fall from grace is at any point anything other than a trite and rather linear progression. One minute Gabriel Swift is a gentleman entering London society, an anatomists apprentice at the dawn of the age of discovery; the next he's a murdering opium addict. Lucan, Mr Poll, Charles, etc etc. There are charcters here somewhere. "If only" would sum up this novel nicely.
It is hard not to suspect that either it has been over-edited or the author was only allowed to write a novel of a certain length for some reason. Either way both story and characters are thin and sickly creatures and it is a shame that a writer who clearly has some talent ultimately has produced a work that leaves this reader wishing for more.
The second part of the story, mentioned in a few reviews is also a little odd and when reading the book, the jump from one story to another is at first confusing. It seems almost as if part 2 were written because someone somewhere asked for a happier ending.
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21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Weakly plotted and poorly characterised, 19 Aug 2008
Englishmum.com's July book was The Resurrectionist by James Bradley. Admittedly I got this late and had to force myself to read it over one weekend but `force' is definitely the right word. I found that the old fashioned language, although no doubt authentic, quite awkward:
`It is three months since I came here, apprenticed to my master's side so I might learn his trade.'
I really, really enjoyed the descriptions of London in the early 1800s - he went into great detail about how they lived, what they ate, the people, the places - this was by far the most enjoyable part of the book for me. However I didn't really think there was much of a plot: orphaned chap comes to London, works for anatomist, gets in a fight (why did he just not tell his boss what happened for God's sake? He'd already had the fight with the bloke so knew he could handle him), gets with an actress/prostitute, is devastated when her friend dies (why?), loses his job, descends into opium addiction (I hated this - aren't you supposed to like your hero? I didn't like him at all - I have no sympathy for drug addicts, either in the early 19th century or today), gets in with a bad crowd, robs graves, murders people, then whoosh, he's off to Australia (bit confusing, that, as he's not convicted for the murders but for being a `vagabond'), falls in love with this girl, doesn't get together with her and that's it.
Other members of the book club commented:
"the problem was the "hero". He was not a hero. You wanted to like him, but you couldn't. You couldn't even feel sorry for him - I tried, but after the incident where he watched someone brutally torture and murder a kitten and actually enjoyed it, well, that was the end of any support, sympathy, empathy etc. And if you can't connect with a book's leading character in any way, the book just becoimes a chore"
I liked the detail too, but the plot stank. Forgive me if I'm wrong but... he dies in England then... Australia! Is is the same guy? What's the point?
At this stage in the plot I got fed up and bored and went to see David Starkey for a proper book...
"Top marks for place descriptions but nada for characters. The was he wrote them didn't make me feel for any of them. Maybe I just didn't get it but surely the authors' intent is to make you `identify' with his characters? Empathy for the main character, distrust for the antihero, that sort of thing? The `flow' of the story was stilted and the characters very wishy-washy. At Best."
In summary - we were all greatly disappointed and didn't think the book warranted its 'brooding Gothic horror' label.
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12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Why was I so quick to buy?, 30 Aug 2008
Bought too early to read previous reviews and saved for holiday. Such a disappointment and for once agree with most other reviewers. Incomprehensible and implausible plot, characters appearing with no introduction and all lacking in depth. Like to use my imagination but this was ridiculous and very frustrating - were we supposed to be mind readers? Where was the promised atmosphere. Second section even worse - how, what, who etc. Did not give up but was so tempted. Expect to see lines of this book on charity shop shelves.
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