In the Hand of Dante: A Novel

An intricate tale of Dante and a modern story of discovery, crime, and murder. Erudite and well researched on Dante's life and times.

I read Nick Tosches' In the Hand of Dante a month or two ago, and I've been putting off this review ever since. Actually, I wasn't even sure I wanted to attempt a review because my opinions of the novel are rather ambivalent and, frankly, I didn't get a whole lot out of the experience. This is the kind of book that makes me think I should like it more than I actually do. After all, it's literary and deep (sometimes) and brought to life by a true wordsmith. Honestly, though, I found myself floundering through many a section of the story, and I've already forgotten more than I ever knew about what I was reading.On the one hand, you've got the author inserting himself into the story as the protagonist. Due to his association with some shady, underground, fairly despicable people, he ultimately gets his hands on a long-lost original copy of Dante's The Divine Comedy. This is where the action of the book can be found, replete with lots of adults-only language, a few doses of brutality, and the blood of a string of murder victims. Alongside this story, however, is Tosches' take on Dante's own journey - seeking to tap into something deep and eternal, I guess. As I said, I got very little at all out of this section of the book. It moves along at a glacial pace, sells out to pretentiousness early on, and made the simple turning of each page something of an internal struggle. It doesn't help that Tosches apparently sought to use every word in the dictionary at least once, resulting in literary speed bump after speed bump. I'm an intelligent, well-educated fellow, and I was constantly running up against words I could not define (and had I chosen to seek out the definition of each one, I would surely still be trying to finish this novel all these weeks later). Using "big words" is no sin, of course, especially if the author actually knows what those words mean, but in Tosches' case I got the strong impression that he was just trying to show the reader how darn smart he thinks he is. That doesn't make for a good impression among many readers, and it puts to ruin Tosches' otherwise impressive writing style.Despite what I found to be a remarkably promising story idea, In the Hand of Dante just didn't do anything for me. The only memorable passage in the whole book is the one many other reviewers have mentioned: Tosches' no-holds-barred attack on the publishing industry. That made for pretty gripping reading, but everything else left me quite nonplussed. I can't for the life of me figure out how this became a national bestseller, as I doubt many casual readers will make it past the first 50 pages. Only the most serious and dedicated of readers will want to tackle this novel.

Tosches' most mind-twisting book IMHO. Really needs to be read carefully. But it's immensely rewarding, especially if you like books that challenge the mainstream. And it's actually a good story rather than just a philosophical manifesto masquerading as a novel.The copy I received was perfect except for the magnetic anti-theft device that's permanently glued to the third page. Wish that hadn't happened.

Enjoyable.

At first, I thought I was on to something good. I loved Tosches biography of Dean Martin, I believed 'Trinities', flawed as it was, to be the closest to literature, crime fiction had come.I approached this book with nothing but anticpation...It's hard to tell why this fails on so many levels.Like Dante before him, Tosches has cast himself as the protagonist of his work. Like Dante, he uses his manuscript as a platform to vilify his enemies. But here all similarity ends.Tosches, early in the piece, concludes that over-writing and poor use of language leads to miscommunication and untruth. Then, for the rest of the novel proceeds to over-write and mislead us.He quotes Ezra Pound as his reason for not using or respecting editors. Ezra Pound is the man who edited and help T.S. Eliot bring 'The Wasteland' in to being.I used to keep Tosches books, along with Ellroy, Chandler, and Hammett, in a glass book case in my bedroom.As of today Tosches has been evicted.This book leaves a bad taste in my mouth. It is the first time I have been driven to write a review here.If you want to read fiction about Dante, read 'The Dante Club.' If you want to read fact.. pick up any decent biography.Stay away from this trash.

Great book.

If you're looking for a pretentious, overblown boor, then Tosches is your man. He is so in love with himself that he seems to forget that others might have to read his self-important ramblings. I know he feels there is an artistic purity to all this (he bludgeons us with this premise over and over), but it's just an excuse for self-indulgence. There was a great story here. Too bad he couldn't forget himself long enough to tell it.

Great book!

Thx!