The Geographer’s Library
Pay no attention to the snore-worthy title; Jon Fasman’s THE GEOGRAPHER’S LIBRARY is the best novel I’ve read so far this year.
A newly graduated journalist investigates the mysterious death of an even more mysterious professor for the small-town newspaper he works for; meanwhile, Fasman uses every other chapter to fashion a brief narrative concerning an antiquity scattered to one corner of the world or another. How and why these two threads intersect slowly becomes apparent on a need-to-know basis, and you’ll love it because it’s like getting a dozen stories in one.
Usually novels that split themselves over two narratives of different time periods frustrate and/or confuse me (that’s you, THE EIGHT and THE INTELLIGENCER), but this one is done masterfully. This unconventional mystery’s mix of the historical and the academic reminded me a lot of THE RULE OF FOUR – a bestseller from last year – as it successfully captures that feeling of college-era loneliness and nostalgia, complete with heartbreak, all wrapped around a rather cerebral mystery. But LIBRARY is even better.
[...] Although the ending comes too quickly, Darnton has fashioned a brainy, absorbing why-he-dunit, more entertaining than educational. As alluring as the passages of the Darwin family are, it’s Hugh’s story that proves most seductive. I don’t know what it is about these mystery-thrillers set in the world of academia – THE GEOGRAPHER’S LIBRARY and THE RULE OF FOUR being recent examples – but I find them fascinating. True, my college experience was far from privileged as these Ivy Leaguer protagonists, but the themes of uncertainty are universal. THE DARWIN CONSPIRACY is another one, evoking nostalgia for those anxiety-racked years while crafting one hell of a historical mystery. [...]
[...] Hope you liked THE DA VINCI CODE, because 2006 will be bringing you more of the same. USA Today reports that next year will see a flood of thrillers with strong historical/religious themes, continuing a wave created by the splash of Dan Brown’s megaseller that has given us similarly themed novels like THE RULE OF FOUR, CODEX, THE GEOGRAPHER’S LIBRARY and more. [...]
[...] 3 BEST BOOKS OF 2005 1. THE GEOGRAPHER’S LIBRARY by Jon Fasman – Overlooked and unfairly pegged as a DA VINCI CODE rip-off, Fasman’s debut is an expert mix of post-collegiate angst and decades-spanning adventure – a combo that, in theory, should mix as well as oil and water. [...]
[...] OXFORD has a lot going for it beyond its clever premise. Through Sonia Soto’s simple translation, Martínez paints a rich portrait of academic life in the UK. Its touch of newly adult angst amidst such a dangerous backdrop reminded me of Jon Fasman’s excellent THE GEOGRAPHER’S LIBRARY, minus the twin narratives and ever-wide scope. But the intricate trail of clues is there, along with the narrator falling for wounded women, and a climax that at first seems anticlimactic, but soon reveals more layers. [...]