Eventually. The course of events, in Stashower’s retelling of Poe's and Mary Rogers' interweaving stories, meanders and digresses too much at times to be truly compelling. But when the revelation hits about how Mary really died, and with the depiction of Poe’s last-minute re-investigation and frantic and sly revising of the conclusion of "The Mystery of Marie Rogêt," the book’s narrative picks up to page-turner pace.
On a wider biographical and psychological scale, however, and having related a fuller understanding of Poe’s personal life and complexities, it becomes clearer that “At a time when his own life was collapsing, [Mary’s] story offers a form of solace, a chance to emulate his famous detective and find order in chaos."
And, if Stashower doesn't quite succeed in conveying the sense of "poetry in the heart of a murder" he claims Poe finds, he does make clear Poe's alchemical abilities to transmute a mystery into a literary nugget.
Article comments
1 - Natalie Bennett
This article has been selected for syndication to Advance.net , which is affiliated with newspapers around the United States, and to Boston.com. Nice work!
2 - Gordon Hauptfleisch
Thanks, Natalie.
3 - Kevin Eagan
Poe's life is one of total self-destruction, regret, and diappointment. Although he now stands amongst giants (in literary terms), he spent most of his life just trying to make a buck so he could go buy booze. Excellent review, I'll have to check out this book some time.
4 - Gordon Hauptfleisch
Thanks Kevin, for your comment. Stashower never lost sight of Poe's conflicting emotions, his "cycle of alcohol and argumentation" and his almost unerring ability to sabotage his own editing and publishing career, "establishing a pattern he would repeat again and again throughout his career. As his literary talent flowered, so too did his genius for self-destruction."
5 - Brooke S
Thanks for your review. I'm in the process of reading this book, but wonder if it is completely a "biography, social history, and thriller" based on fact. If it is not, where does the fiction begin?
6 - Gordon Hauptfleisch
I would say "biography, social history, and thriller" based on fact" more fits the bill, but -- because of relatively slow pace -- not so much thriller as Crime (True Crime) or Mystery (non-fiction).