Just finished The Geographer’s Library by Jon Fasman; fascinating, very well-written book featuring parallel structure. Half the chapters tell the story of a young reporter’s digging into the life of an old professor of his who has died, the other half tell the tales behind or surrounding each of fifteen items that once comprised the titular library. Each item has to do with Alchemy, and as the modern story unfolds we realize this book is a remarkable rendition of The Maltese Falcon, complete with femme fatale — spotlighted as such from before the book begins and the moment she’s introduced — and doomed detective.
Do not think pastiche, however. Far from it, this is a literary fantasia and a book-lover’s book, full of mysterious hints and exotic details mingling with well-observed and often wry portraits of ordinary people in ordinary settings. Really excellent as a novel, quirky in its pacing and denoument, and gratifying in its oblique handing of things Alchemical and perhaps mystical, The Geographer’s Library, a remarkable debut, is recommended for anyone who wants to see what a good mind can make of interesting research material. This stands in contrast to Dan Brown’s dumbing things down to cinematic levels, and elevates the historical mystery toward art.
It’s from 2005 and I read the 374pp trade paperback first edition, which I got for a bargain price of 40% off or somesuch. It is often available now in the cut-out stacks and would be well worth picking up, or borrowing from the library.
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