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allieonreading 's review for:
The Meaning Of Night
by Michael Cox
This book intrigued me from the first sentence: “After killing the red-haired man, I took myself off to Quinn’s for an oyster supper.” The unemotional impact of that statement blew me away. Getting into the story, at first it felt like it took forever to actually get to the action. From the opening scene to its actual place in the progression of the narrative, there was a large chunk of story. Explaining Glyver’s (who also goes by Edward Glapthorn. I got confused because this took time to be explained) vendetta against Daunt took some time as well.
Ultimately it felt like a lot of time was being spent giving the background information, and all I wanted was the action.
However, the action itself, as well as the development of the dialogue and characters themselves was very satisfying as a reader. The character of Emily Carteret was very brilliant; it’s almost amazing that Glyver did not see her as I did throughout a huge majority of the novel. Cox’s juxtaposition between the grittiness of Victorian London and the idyllic nature of the ancestral home of Evenwood is brilliant. It shows the dualistic nature not only of Victorian London, which seems beautiful on the surface but was also dirty and dangerous, but also the dualistic nature of people themselves. Glyver is the perfect example of this. At the beginning of his story, he is like many college graduates: adrift. He isn’t sure of what he wants to do and he has little motivation to do anything about it. Instead he focuses on the past, on what could have been. Pheobus Daunt (by the way, a completely excellent name) wronged Glyver when they were at school, and he allows it to consume him. When he discover another, and even greater, wrong that Daunt has done against him, one that changed the course of his entire life, Glyver finally takes that step and becomes someone who does rather than someone who thinks.
I am interested enough to read the sequel, but I have not read it yet. I know it is set twenty years after the events in The Meaning of Night and has to do with the results of Edward Glyver’s actions.
Ultimately it felt like a lot of time was being spent giving the background information, and all I wanted was the action.
However, the action itself, as well as the development of the dialogue and characters themselves was very satisfying as a reader. The character of Emily Carteret was very brilliant; it’s almost amazing that Glyver did not see her as I did throughout a huge majority of the novel. Cox’s juxtaposition between the grittiness of Victorian London and the idyllic nature of the ancestral home of Evenwood is brilliant. It shows the dualistic nature not only of Victorian London, which seems beautiful on the surface but was also dirty and dangerous, but also the dualistic nature of people themselves. Glyver is the perfect example of this. At the beginning of his story, he is like many college graduates: adrift. He isn’t sure of what he wants to do and he has little motivation to do anything about it. Instead he focuses on the past, on what could have been. Pheobus Daunt (by the way, a completely excellent name) wronged Glyver when they were at school, and he allows it to consume him. When he discover another, and even greater, wrong that Daunt has done against him, one that changed the course of his entire life, Glyver finally takes that step and becomes someone who does rather than someone who thinks.
I am interested enough to read the sequel, but I have not read it yet. I know it is set twenty years after the events in The Meaning of Night and has to do with the results of Edward Glyver’s actions.