The Geographer's Library

This is one book that looks interesting from the blurb but suffers greatly from the writing and lack of an interesting plot line. Paul Tomm, a neophyte newspaper reporter, must write an obituary for an old, strange Estonian scholar that no one admits knowing well. However, he's clueless. Someone is reassembling a 16th century alchemist's library and works to stop any investigation. The book bumbles along with tedious descriptions that resemble creative writing exercises. Jumping from past to present creates a disjointed tale with uninteresting characters. Characters with a spark haven't much of a part. To make this book even more boring, readers will ask in each chapter, what's going on? It isn't until the absolute end that explanation occurs -- a dry story spun by a character who, as a member of a secret organization centuries old, is actually quite inept.

What an enchanting story. The format is somewhat unusual but has its own rhythm that became increasingly pleasant to me as the story progressed. I enjoyed Fasman's use of the language.