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#5 Platform - The School of Night
Jan. 25th, 2012 08:23 pmVery different from a night school, I suppose.
Book #3: The School of Night
Author: Louis Bayard
Provenance: Borrowed from my mom
There's a whole lot of history out there that one doesn't really get a chance to run into in the course of just living life, and one of the nicer things about historical fiction is that it can draw your attention to interesting characters and events you were unaware of. This is the case with The School of Night, which drew my attention to Thomas Harriot, an English scientist and natural philosopher of the late 16th to early 17th century, who really did a remarkable amount of cool scientific things for someone that I'd never heard of; look him up if you want to see. He's really a sign of why it's important to publish; if he had published anything of his discoveries, he'd probably be a household name.
The titular School of Night is interesting as well, a group including some famous names - Marlowe, Raleigh - led by Harriot, who purportedly discussed all sorts of matters scientific and religious, including atheism, a dangerous matter for the times. So there would seem to be quite a book here to be told about this... and yet, in a real sense, this isn't the story that Bayard wants to tell. The School of Night does come up, but it's far from the focus of the story, and more of its impetus.
So what is the focus? It's a treasure hunt, led by a current (i.e. 2009) disgraced English professor, Henry Cavendish, who is executor of the estate of his old friend, the book collector Alonzo Wax's, after Wax's suicide. Cavendish is further hired by another collector, Bernard Styles, to find a letter by Raleigh that Wax had allegedly taken. And in the course of executing Wax's estate and finding this document, Cavendish and a female associate, Clarissa Dale, get involved in looking for a treasure hidden long ago by Harriot, a quest that takes them to some surprising places and to some interesting discoveries.
Clarissa is also possessed of visions of Harriot and some people of his era, and so we also get pieces of what's going on at Syon House, the seat of the Earl of Northumberland. This is written in a different style, and you do get a hint of what Harriot was likely up to research-wise at the time, which was interesting; one feels that this book by itself , with Harriot and his female assistant Margaret and the people of their time, would have been more interesting, if taken up and developed more thoroughly. As it is, between everything, the book is a bit of a muchness, and not in a positive way.
I don't want to take that too far, though; for this sort of book, which wants to be a historical fiction thriller with some romance, I'd really like to see some more that's not just a conventional story. There are a number of twists to the tale, but by and large, they weren't surprising if you've read this sort of thing before; some of them were really quite obvious, and didn't feel like they were meant to be so. Even in the side with dealing with Harriot, by and large, the story was altogether predictable, if well written. It's a fast and fluid read, and there's something to be said for that, but you definitely won't be breaking any new land.
All told, this is a competently written book, enjoyable enough for what it is, and I like knowing about Harriot now, but I'd only really recommend it if you're a fan of these sorts of stories and want another one to try. Otherwise, I'd look elsewhere.
Next up: A review of Animals Behaving Badly.
Book #3: The School of Night
Author: Louis Bayard
Provenance: Borrowed from my mom
There's a whole lot of history out there that one doesn't really get a chance to run into in the course of just living life, and one of the nicer things about historical fiction is that it can draw your attention to interesting characters and events you were unaware of. This is the case with The School of Night, which drew my attention to Thomas Harriot, an English scientist and natural philosopher of the late 16th to early 17th century, who really did a remarkable amount of cool scientific things for someone that I'd never heard of; look him up if you want to see. He's really a sign of why it's important to publish; if he had published anything of his discoveries, he'd probably be a household name.
The titular School of Night is interesting as well, a group including some famous names - Marlowe, Raleigh - led by Harriot, who purportedly discussed all sorts of matters scientific and religious, including atheism, a dangerous matter for the times. So there would seem to be quite a book here to be told about this... and yet, in a real sense, this isn't the story that Bayard wants to tell. The School of Night does come up, but it's far from the focus of the story, and more of its impetus.
So what is the focus? It's a treasure hunt, led by a current (i.e. 2009) disgraced English professor, Henry Cavendish, who is executor of the estate of his old friend, the book collector Alonzo Wax's, after Wax's suicide. Cavendish is further hired by another collector, Bernard Styles, to find a letter by Raleigh that Wax had allegedly taken. And in the course of executing Wax's estate and finding this document, Cavendish and a female associate, Clarissa Dale, get involved in looking for a treasure hidden long ago by Harriot, a quest that takes them to some surprising places and to some interesting discoveries.
Clarissa is also possessed of visions of Harriot and some people of his era, and so we also get pieces of what's going on at Syon House, the seat of the Earl of Northumberland. This is written in a different style, and you do get a hint of what Harriot was likely up to research-wise at the time, which was interesting; one feels that this book by itself , with Harriot and his female assistant Margaret and the people of their time, would have been more interesting, if taken up and developed more thoroughly. As it is, between everything, the book is a bit of a muchness, and not in a positive way.
I don't want to take that too far, though; for this sort of book, which wants to be a historical fiction thriller with some romance, I'd really like to see some more that's not just a conventional story. There are a number of twists to the tale, but by and large, they weren't surprising if you've read this sort of thing before; some of them were really quite obvious, and didn't feel like they were meant to be so. Even in the side with dealing with Harriot, by and large, the story was altogether predictable, if well written. It's a fast and fluid read, and there's something to be said for that, but you definitely won't be breaking any new land.
All told, this is a competently written book, enjoyable enough for what it is, and I like knowing about Harriot now, but I'd only really recommend it if you're a fan of these sorts of stories and want another one to try. Otherwise, I'd look elsewhere.
Next up: A review of Animals Behaving Badly.
