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An Instance of the Fingerpost by Iain Pears


dogmatix

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Finised up yesterday.

 

What an ending. Had I lost the book just 30 pages from the end I would have said "This was a god book" Since I read the last 30 pages I can say "This is a great book"

 

May repeat myself here but anyhoo...

 

Set in 1663(ish) England with the struggle between the Catholic and Protestant religions as a backdrop, An Instance of the Fingerpost seems to be about the murder of Dr. William Grove a fellow at the New Colege at Oxford and the susequent hanging of his servant girl Sarah Blundy. The book is written as a series of accounts describing the events surounding this terrible murder and questionable punishment. Each "author" imbuing his own take and interpretation on the events and hanging "meaning" on what he thinks are the key events and players.

 

The skill of this novel is in how each section is in its own right a believable tale of the events, yet of course they can't all be right. The genious of this novel is that you as the reader will come up with your own interpretation based on these tales and you will be completely wrong!

 

The characters (many actual historical figures) are the jewels here. Each is so fragmented within the sections, yet they're completely fleshed out by the sum of the separate parts. If you love a charcter driven plot, well it don't get no betta!

 

I enjoyed this book so much so that it landed firmly back in my TBR pile. I'm so mystified by how Pears pulled of his ending that I want to go back and fill in all the gaps and see the links so craftily hidden in the story.

 

As an historical mystery I would put this right up there with Ecco (one of my favorites), but much more aproachable. It's a masterful book and I strongly recommend it.

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In reading my review Id like to add one other important aspect of this novel. I mentioned the backdrop of the struggle betwen the Catholic and Protestant churches but there's more to it than that. The book also touches on what peole will do in the name of their church, what is faith, and then there is that ending......

 

Too good for a spoiler sorry!:D

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I have Imperium in my TBR stack. :D

Another I can recommend on Cicero is Pillar of Iron by Taylor Caldwell. I have read it, and reread it several times. One of my favorites of all time.

 

Love your quote! :D

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Finished Fingerpost yesterday.

 

Did enjoy it can you see the but. Don't think I did it justice as I was very tired. Therefore kept forgetting who everyone was!

Enjoyed the interweaving of the stories and the way that the story changed a lot to say about the nature of history!

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Ohhh! Can't wait to get to it! Just received The Dream of Scipio yesterday, and now my TBR stack is...../groan/...I don't know if that's me groaning, or the stacks about to topple! :D;)

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