The Book of Air and Shadows

I found most of the characters to be thoroughly dislikeable, so the first two-thirds of the book or so were a hard slog. When things picked up a bit, making the plot more of a thriller, I found a lot of it implausible. By the time we got to the end, the plot turned farce-like. My overall impression is that the whole book was rather an incoherent and unlikeable mess, and that having it revolve around a Shakespeare manuscript was a particularly poor choice.

I listened to the audio book and disliked the narrator as well. His tone struck me as overly snide, which was probably appropriate for our unpleasant protagonist, but it made me even less interested in what became of him. Nevertheless, I doubt I would have even finished the book had I show more read it on hard copy. show less

I had high hopes for The Book of Air and Shadows, but it only partially lives up to them. The premise is promising: a hidden letter, allegedly pointing out the location of a lost play by Shakespeare. Ciphered, of course – wouldn't be much fun otherwise, would it? Obviously riding the tsunami of historical conspiracy mysteries from the splash made by that book a few years back, but without being quite as bombastic and absurd.

Sadly, the author does not quite pull it off: the novel is, to put it simply, way, to overburdened with unbelievable circumstance and convenient ex-machinas, mainly on the part of the characters and their background. I'll quickly walk you through it:

One of the main characters is a Lawyer who, as it happens, used to show more be an Olympic weightlifter. Fair enough. His father is a Jewish gangster, his mother a semi-reformed "Nazi princess". His sister? Former supermodel. Brother? Murderous thug gone special forces, gone ghettolicious Jesuit priest with gang contacts. His (separated) wife? A Swiss financial genius richer than god. His son? An autistic hacker genius.

And so on, and so on. Almost every character is like this: it's as if Gruber had some pathological compulsion to turn everyone in the book into a product of the most unlikely circumstances. Some characters works better than others, but overall it's... problematic: most of the cast are not really bad characters - a little flat and stereotypical maybe – but the sheer volume of their absurd uniqueness makes them absurd and cartoonish, and a colorful background is a poor substitute for characterization.

The historical framing of the plot works better: and even if the puritan spy sent to destroy Shakespeare is just as overwrought as the rest of the cast his letters are at least enjoyable and somewhat believable in tone and language. The fact that we, unlike in most other "historical" mysteries, stay mainly well inside actual recorded history is a blessing and keeps the whole thing from becoming to ridiculous. The contemporary thriller aspects, however, doesn't work quite as well. Mood is established and a nice setting is brought in (I'm a sucker for book dealers) at a nice pace, but as soon as the shooting, punching and running starts it all goes out the window and becomes rather ludicrous. There's also a fair amount of "twists" that doesn't really cut it and causes the plot to rattle and shake considerably as it comes into the final stretch.

This novel would have benefited greatly if it had decided in the beginning whether it wanted to be a semi-serious literary mystery, or a fun-ride larger-than-life romp with gangsters, spies and guns. As it is it tries to be both, and end up being neither. Read only if you really like bibliomysteries or historical thrillers, or if you're into fictional accounts of Shakespeare. show less

A friend of mine kindly gave me this book (and others) so that I might have something to entertain myself as I recovered from surgery. The book fits in the complex literery, historical thriller category. I feel like I should have loved it, but I really disliked it. Why? I hated the main character. I just couldn't make myself like him. He was so focused on sex; he was boring beyond belief. I found myself hoping to come upon chapters narrated by other characters. He was an antihero that just cried out for a severe beating. Just kidding--sort of. I raced for the end of it driven not by a desire to find out what would happen as much a desire to finish the damn thing and move on to something else. It's like someone took all the elements that show more I like--drama, Shakespeare, mystery, plot twists, multiple narrators, book lover, manuscripts, forgers--ate them and vomited them in the form of this book. I so wish that I had like it because one of my dearest friends did and gave it to me, but, regrettably, I did not. show less

After a rocky start, I’m becoming a fan of Michael Gruber. He knows how to layer an intricate plot, but not lose sight of the characters that drive it. If you’re easily confused by alternative timelines, multiple POV changes or obscurely layered supporting info this is not the book for you.

The primary narrative is done well. Jake introduces us to the characters by lamenting who got him into this whole mess to begin with. From there, we are given other narratives, not in the 1st person, and the story is off. I’m a fan of the multi-POV technique anyway, but this kind of novel really needs it in order to present the story fully and plausibly. No way would one person be privy to all that is going on and Gruber doesn’t force it. show more Interspersing the main narrative passages that alternate between Jake and Crosetti’s tale, we get to read the actual letters (ciphered and otherwise) that are at the crux of the story.

At first, it is difficult to read the Bracegirdle screed as it’s called. Olde tyme English sanetence structyre and haphazyrde spellynge are challenyng. But after the first couple of installments, things move smoother under my eyes and my brain processes nearly as fast as it does modern English.

The conspiracy is deep and we’ve got crosses, double crosses, mysterious connections, sinister family histories, surprising appearances and disappearances and, of course, the valuable manuscript at the heart of the mystery. One villain was fairly easy to spot and it was sad to watch Jake realize it. He’s not perfect, but his self-deprecating style makes it hard to not feel some sympathy for the guy. One flaw is that I think Gruber gives him impossible abilities and reactions to violence. Given his profession and lifestyle I didn’t buy the action-hero bit.

The story itself took a lot of pages to relate and was very well paced. Some events are described twice and the difference in POV is helpful, not repetitive or boring. Then, suddenly, we get the ending. It’s built up well. Through Jake’s narrative, we know his back is well up against it and it’s only a matter of time, but it felt a bit jarring. The level of violence wasn’t unexpected, but the fact that we’d spend so much time with these characters only to be left alone was hard to wind down from. Sure, there is an epilogue of sorts, I think Gruber owed us that much, but it still felt like we’d been abandoned. I’ll just have to get over it. show less

[book: The Book of Air and Shadows] was recommended to me, I would even say, urged upon me, by a friend whose literary judgment I respect immensely, even if we don't always agree. (I have yet, for example, to make it through [book: An Instance of the Fingerpost]. In this case, our tastes coincided. The quality of the writing often made me pause to savor a felicitous phrase, and the plotting was excellent -- just when I would think I had it all figured out, Gruber would throw in something new. The characters were many-layered people, who actually grew and changed during the course of the book. I admire the device of having two protagonists who are working together, yet sometimes at cross-purposes, and without always being completely show more straight with each other. Life is short and books are many, so I probably will not pursue Mr. Gruber's ghost-writing adventures, but I am planning to read [book: The Forgery of Venus] before long. show less

Great summer beach literary thriller : The Book of Air and Shadows by Michael Gruber is another entry in the recently popular genre of literary mysteries. Similar to The DaVinci Code, but without the religious controversy, and The Rule of Four, but without the factual existence of the document, Gruber writes a fast-paced thriller that makes fun of its own pretensions. Al Crosetti works as the resident computer guy for a NY rare bookdealer. After a fire damages some 17th century books, he and a co-worker discovered manuscripts bound into the covers alluding to every literature professor's secret dream: a lost work of Shakespeare. It sends Al and his family, plus an intellectual property attorney named Jake Mishkin and his family on a show more frightening journey meeting Russian mafia, Jewish mafia, Polish spies and ineffective police officers. Narration alternates between the 17th century letters, 3rd person Crosetti, and 1st person through the unreliable Jake Mishkin. Crosetti, a wannabe film student, relates to life through the lens of cinema and often makes observations about what would happen next if this were a movie. Even Jake rants about the possibility of being a fictitious character in a clever conceit of Gruber's. While a clever reader can put several of the puzzle pieces together before the characters, that's ok. It's so rare that an author actually allows a reader to have most of the pieces and give them the chance to figure things out without having a major disclosure thrown in at the end. Also, most of the characters are so busy protecting their own backs and lying to the other characters, they don't have the knowledge that the reader does. Gruber creates growing suspense even in the fragments of the old letters, and he fills the book with fascinating characters: even the minor ones deserve a book of their own. He also manages to switch the reader's sympathy (without realizing it) from Jake to Crosetti by the end of the book. I had a hard time putting this book down.
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Absolutely loved 3/4ths of this novel set in contemporary times with a generous sprinkling of the 1600's. Alternate chapters are narrated by Jake Mishkin, an intellectual property attorney who is basically a likeable jerk with a lovely wife and thug turned priest brother and loveable whore of a sister. A strange man brings Jake a supposed manuscript written by Shakespeare; that man dies by torture. Another character, Al works in a rare book store along with a mysterious woman named Carolyn. Interspersed between chapters are writings in middle English which take a while to get used to reading. So many plot twists, so many characters including Russian and Jewish mobsters.

At times the book is almost a farce; other times a good mystery. The show more last part of the book involves gun play, foreign travel, more thugs, more mystery which for me became overwhelming, show less