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Title: Codex by Lev Grossman ISBN: 0-15-101066-8 Publisher: Harcourt Pub. Date: 08 March, 2004 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $24.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.65 (62 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: A literary thriller with style and atmosphere
Comment: At a loss how to occupy himself during a two-week vacation before his transfer to London, whiz-kid banker Edward Wozny obeys a summons from some eccentric, titled clients - the Duke and Duchess of Bowmry. Although outraged to discover they want him - an acknowledged financial wunderkind - to organize their moldy old books, he finds himself oddly intrigued.
Before he quite knows what he's done, he's agreed to catalog the books - something he knows nothing about, and to look for a 14th century tome by Gervase of Langford, someone he's never heard of.
Before the day is out, Edward takes on another unaccustomed activity - computer gaming. A college friend foists the disk on him and while it's not an activity that has ever appealed, Edward becomes hooked by the unusually vivid graphics, losing swaths of time in the game's strange landscape.
The Langford codex soon becomes the focal point of his daytime world. His search takes him to a rare-book repository where he meets the serious and possibly attractive young medievalist Margaret Napier, whose Langford thesis has bogged down in the tedious obscurity of the man. She reacts frostily to Edward's ignorant query - the book he seeks does not exist. It's an 18th century fabrication, she tells him, " a sensational and occasionally salacious allegorical journey culminating in a mystical vision of the end of the world."
Nevertheless, she succumbs to the lure of the search, which becomes increasingly convoluted, romantic, mysterious and threatening as they delve deeper into the arcane world of books and intrigue. In his spare moments, Edward plunges into the computer game. The apocalyptic world it - or he - is creating begins to bear some startling resemblance to his real world activities and strangely echoes the codex he seeks.
Grossman's witty, atmospheric prose draws the reader into a vivid surreal world, in which it's possible to believe that ambitious young bankers lose themselves in ancient texts and seductive computer games, and old books can reach through centuries to affect the fortunes of modern dynasties. The finely tuned characters have elusive depths and the booklore, fascinating in itself, fits seamlessly into the plot. Grossman, book critic for "Time" magazine, delivers a literary thriller to stand with the best.
Rating: 5
Summary: On the trail of an ancient manuscript.
Comment: Edward Wozny is a high-powered New York investment banker in "Codex," a literary mystery by Lev Grossman. Edward is looking forward to a two-week vacation, and he is also eagerly anticipating his impending transfer to London. However, before he leaves, Edward has been asked to look in on the Wents, who are a Duke and Duchess and also one of his firm's wealthiest clients.
Much to Edward's surprise, a woman who works for the Duke and Duchess greets him and gives him instructions. Rather than being called upon for his financial expertise, Edward's job is to examine and catalog crates of old books that have been in the family for years. He is to be on the lookout for a particular manuscript by a medieval author named Gervase of Langford. Edward has no idea why he is being asked to do this, but he is intrigued nevertheless. He finds a brilliant researcher named Margaret Napier who has the expertise and the tenacity to help him in his quest.
Lev Grossman has written a seductive and original novel about a young man who is caught up in matters that he cannot comprehend. Adding to Edward's confusion is an addictive video game called MOMUS, which seems to bear an uncanny resemblance to events and places in Edward's life. As Edward and Margaret are drawn deeper into the mystery of Gervase's manuscript, they begin to realize that whatever the outcome of their mission, their lives will never again be the same. I enjoyed "Codex" for its intelligence, quirkiness, and clever literary allusions. It is also a satisfying psychological study of how personal ambition, vindictiveness, selfishness, and greed can warp people's minds and emotions.
Rating: 5
Summary: Best of the bunch
Comment: Rule of Four, Da Vinci Code, Birth of Venus -- this is the best one of that gang. I can't think of a better literary thriler.
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Title: The Rule of Four by Ian Caldwell, Dustin Thomason ISBN: 0385337116 Publisher: Dial Books Pub. Date: 01 May, 2004 List Price(USD): $24.00 |
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Title: The Intelligencer by Leslie Silbert ISBN: 0743432924 Publisher: Atria Books Pub. Date: 01 February, 2004 List Price(USD): $24.00 |
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Title: The Bookman's Promise: A Cliff Janeway Novel by John Dunning ISBN: 0743249925 Publisher: Scribner Book Company Pub. Date: 01 February, 2004 List Price(USD): $25.00 |
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Title: The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon, Lucia Graves ISBN: 1594200106 Publisher: The Penguin Press Pub. Date: 12 April, 2004 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: The Birth of Venus by Sarah Dunant ISBN: 1400060737 Publisher: Random House Pub. Date: 01 February, 2004 List Price(USD): $21.95 |
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