Helpful Score: 4
I read 100 pages and just didn't feel the pull to continue reading. There were parts of the book that were really promising and made me want to continue, but those parts were alongside some that just didn't feel like they belonged in the book and bogged it down. With so many other books to read, I decided to move on to another book and hope this one finds a better home.
Helpful Score: 3
This is the another novel along the lines of The Da Vinci Code, but this time the story line is about an ancient mystery, contemporary scholars, rare documents, greedy collectors, and a quasi-academic American Egyptologist living in London who's got less than a week to unlock the secrets of the Stela of Paser, a funerary stone from ancient Egypt whose references to a "third way" of deciphering the hieroglyphics inscribed on the stone have teased, tempted and eluded would-be translators for centuries.
Helpful Score: 3
I just couldn't get into this story. Another Davinci code wannabe novel. Just too much information and not enough action or character study.
Helpful Score: 3
The reasons I thoroughly enjoyed this book may make it undesirable to some. The author describes in detail aspects of Egyptian culture by way of the main character going on an internal rant. There are also lofty descriptions of surroundings and emotions that the main character is seeing and feeling. Unless you are a fan of Egyptian culture and emotional rants, you might not enjoy this book as much as I have. I couldn't put the book down, what with it's mystery, history, and Egyptian tidbits.
Helpful Score: 1
Piecey and fragmented tale of a lost, lonely soul. This was my first Bondurant read, I was not overly impressed. The book has a few exciting moments, but the content between them is long and boring. Most of the Egyptology data is highly scientific and not easily understood by the lay person, even those whom are well read on the subject.
Helpful Score: 1
One cannot say that this author lacks in writing skills. He has all the basics there for plot development, character development and timing. Unfortunately, he never moves beyond the basics. His hodgepodge of characters are interesting as abstracts, but are never fleshed out. In fact, some of them (like Oldcastle) are downright unbelievable. His main character's personal history of childhood, marriage, and divorce are superfluous to the plot and can easily be skipped over because they don't add depth to the story's main line. Then, to top it all off, the story's conclusion is wholly unsatisfying. Mick's word "bollocks" while he hovers near death in the hospital pretty much sums up the whole point of this look at the Stela Paser. Again, there's no question the writer has the potential to put together a basic story, but he shows no real talent at or proclivity to flesh it out in a way that would satisfy a reader.
Murder, mayhem and the British Museum, who could ask for more? Serious Egyptologist is seduced by sexy thief - theft, career ruination and more. Enjoyable read.
Walter Rothschild, a middle-aged Egyptologist at the British Museum, has abandoned his wife and child to spend his time obsessively poring over the dusty inscriptions of a dead civilization. He is forced to reconnect with life when he is seduced by a mysterious woman who then steals an ancient papyrus containing the key to the enigmatic hieroglyphics of the Stela of Paser. The conspiracy trail leads Walter to a modern-day cult of the Egyptian sun god, Aten, protected by a menacing team of pro wrestlers. In Bondurant's ambitious debut, a sprawling picaresque is infused with mythic resonance by linking it to ancient Egyptian literature and mythology and to concepts in avant-garde physics, including black holes, general relativity and string theory.
If you liked the Da VInci Code, you will like this fast paced book.
Had read it before. Didn't care for it then.
Publisher's Comments: "Walter Rothschild, a middle-aged Egyptologist at the British Museum, has abandoned his wife and child to spend his time obsessively poring over the dusty inscriptions of a dead civilization. He is forced to reconnect with life when he is seduced by a mysterious woman who then steals an ancient papyrus containing the key to the enigmatic hieroglyphics of the Stela of Paser. The conspiracy trail leads Walter to a modern-day cult of the Egyptian sun god, Aten, protected by a menacing team of pro wrestlers. In Bondurant's ambitious debut, a sprawling picaresque is infused with mythic resonance by linking it to ancient Egyptian literature and mythology and to concepts in avant-garde physics, including black holes, general relativity and string theory. The author has an inventive imagination and an ardent feel for place; much of the book is a prose poem to London's squalid demimonde. Though some may feel that Bondurant's erudition and philosophical engagement ('the only way...to make sense of the magnitude of the time and the space and the span of humanity on earth is to grasp onto the one thing that gives you a clear look') slow the pace of his mystery, the success of previous literary novels of suspense bodes very well for this one.
this book sounds good
