Rolla Public Library's Online Book Club discussion

Discussing June 2019. My review, as of the day I finished reading it, the day before our group will meet:

Read for irl book group. I may change my rating dependent on what I learn from others' insights there. Most reviewers on GR seem to be so enchanted that they cannot think or write clearly of the true value of the book.

I am only reading it now because I saw the cover, heft, and blurb and was intimidated. I thought it would be even more gruesome than it is, and that it would be Literary. But it's not so literary, after all. It's more of an homage to, and gentle spoof of, Victorian and Gothic literature.

In some ways this is brilliant. I can definitely see the appeal.
There are some original insights, an intriguing mystery, a setting that is a character in its
own right. In fact, despite my tepid rating, I was so engaged I never thought of putting it down.
However.
It's overrated.

Parts are unintentionally funny, including the attempts at colloquial language by the translator, ie 'how come' instead of 'why.' (I almost wish that this had been designed the way translated poetry often is, with the original on a facing page.)

Parts are gratuitously gruesome.
As a whole, it's unpleasant. Especially, it's misogynistic.
I'm not saying the author is, but I am saying that almost every character is, including most of the women. Fortunately, the writer doesn't make the characters or events come fully alive. Honestly, I didn't care very much when people were being beaten, burned, etc.

Coubert's identity is obvious from the beginning. The layers of mystery, red herrings, etc. might make a reader feel that more is going on here of weight, moment, significance, than really is, but honestly this is just another melodramatic thriller with pretensions to Literature.

My bookdarts aren't examples or samples, per se. But the author saw fit to write them and not
excise them, so, since they stood out to me, here they are:

"Like the good ape he is, man is a social animal, characterized by cronyism, nepotism, corruption,
and gossip. That's the intrinsic blueprint for our 'ethical behavior.'"

"[He] had the soul of a poet, and therefore the soul of a murderer."

But why couldn't our boy just mind his own business in the first place?
How would things have turned our differently if he had?
I must admit, even with all the info-dumps and recaps, the timeline shifts confused me and I couldn't even begin to untangle the mystery at the pace that Daniel was doing so.

I am looking forward to discussion, but I'm also looking forward to returning the book to the library and to not thinking about it more. I'm not going to contemplate it more now in order to write a better review, that's for sure.