About this title: A writing duo has produced this literary thriller about a couple of Princeton students who become obsessed with a maddeningly cryptic Renaissance text, the Hypnerotomchia Poliphili. As Tom Sullivan and his friend Paul Harris begin to understand the book's coded message, even at the expense of their own personal relationships (not to mention their ...
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Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Dial Press
Date Published: 04/2004
ISBN-13:9780385337113ISBN:0385337116
Description: Very good in very good dust jacket. Very Good, In very good dust jacket. Glued binding. Paper over boards. 384 p. Contains: Illustrations. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Dial Press
Date Published: 04/2004
ISBN-13:9780385337113ISBN:0385337116
Description: Very good in very good dust jacket. Very Good, In very good dust jacket. Glued binding. Paper over boards. 384 p. Contains: Illustrations. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Dial Press
Date Published: 04/2004
ISBN-13:9780385337113ISBN:0385337116
Description: Very good in very good dust jacket. Very Good, In very good dust jacket. Glued binding. Paper over boards. 384 p. Contains: Illustrations. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Dial Press
Date Published: 04/2004
ISBN-13:9780385337113ISBN:0385337116
Description: Very good in very good dust jacket. Very Good, In very good dust jacket. Glued binding. Paper over boards. 384 p. Contains: Illustrations. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Dial Press
Date Published: 04/2004
ISBN-13:9780385337113ISBN:0385337116
Description: Very good in very good dust jacket. Very Good, In very good dust jacket. Glued binding. Paper over boards. 384 p. Contains: Illustrations. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Dial Press
Date Published: 04/2004
ISBN-13:9780385337113ISBN:0385337116
Description: Very good in very good dust jacket. Very Good, In very good dust jacket. Glued binding. Paper over boards. 384 p. Contains: Illustrations. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Dial Press
Date Published: 04/2004
ISBN-13:9780385337113ISBN:0385337116
Description: Very good in very good dust jacket. Very Good, In very good dust jacket. Glued binding. Paper over boards. 384 p. Contains: Illustrations. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Dial Press
Date Published: 04/2004
ISBN-13:9780385337113ISBN:0385337116
Description: Very good in very good dust jacket. Very Good, In very good dust jacket. Glued binding. Paper over boards. 384 p. Contains: Illustrations. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Dial Press
Date Published: 04/2004
ISBN-13:9780385337113ISBN:0385337116
Description: Very good in very good dust jacket. Very Good, In very good dust jacket. Sewn binding. Cloth over boards. 384 p. Contains: Illustrations. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Dial Press
Date Published: 04/2004
ISBN-13:9780385337113ISBN:0385337116
Description: Very good in very good dust jacket. Very Good, In very good dust jacket. Sewn binding. Cloth over boards. 384 p. Contains: Illustrations. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Dial Press
Date Published: 04/2004
ISBN-13:9780385337113ISBN:0385337116
Description: Good in good dust jacket. Good, In good dust jacket. Sewn binding. Cloth over boards. 384 p. Contains: Illustrations. Ex-Library expected imperfections. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Dial Press
Date Published: 04/2004
ISBN-13:9780385337113ISBN:0385337116
Description: Good in good dust jacket. Good, In good dust jacket. Glued binding. Paper over boards. 384 p. Contains: Illustrations. Ex-Library expected imperfections. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Dial Press
Date Published: 04/2004
ISBN-13:9780385337113ISBN:0385337116
Description: Very good in very good dust jacket. Very Good, In very good dust jacket. Glued binding. Paper over boards. 384 p. Contains: Illustrations. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Dial Press
Date Published: 04/2004
ISBN-13:9780385337113ISBN:0385337116
Description: Very good in very good dust jacket. Very Good, In very good dust jacket. Glued binding. Paper over boards. 384 p. Contains: Illustrations. read more
"Touted as a "coming-of-age" DaVinci code, this story of 4 Princeton roommates and their obsession with and struggles to decode a medieval text with major historic ramifications got a bit tedious for me. The complex codes and various ways medieval writers used them was interesting (if indeed they did, haven't researched that part) but I found myself saying more than once, "Who cares?! Just stop stringing me along!""
"Oh, "The Rule of Four." It's been a while since I read this, but I thought about it again when I saw not one, but two copies at my local thrift store yesterday. It came out in 2004.
Yes, it's that awesome. This treasure was published on the heels of The DaVinci Code- it was rushed out, and the editing and extremely poor writing style reflect this. Take one member of academia (Tom, a college student!), add a mysterious tome (the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili- it's got codes!), and all of the other people who want to get their hands on this ancient text and have them travel to discover a secret historical mystery. It sounds a bit familiar, doesn't it?
The books would have been interesting if it hadn't been for the name-dropping (it's set in Princeton, and they don't let you forget it), the fact that they explain each and every historical and literary reference to the reader, and having to wade through the story with four characters who you never really like. Seriously, I'm guessing these characters are the two writers and their friends, which is a shame because all four are ridiculously pretentious.
Reading this book was a chore. There was potential, but not enough to excuse the terrible writing and blatant condescension towards the reader."
""The Da Vinci Code for people with brains." The Independent.
Sigh. Yeah. More like a book for anyone who passed English 101 freshman year of college. At least the Da Vinci Code was a page-turner ... an idiotic and predictable page-turner, but still entertaining. In The Rule of Four, it takes 268 pages for two hours to pass. The male protagonists are four college guys who drink wine (yeah right) and watch Audrey Hepburn movies (suuuuuure), and one is such a genius that he can easily translate a 15th century Genovese dialect into English ... which can only be insulting to the reader "with brains" who knows that the Genovese dialect is a language of it's own, incomprehensible to native Italian speakers who live anywhere outside Genova. In the end, this boring story (which actually had great potential by exploring the origins of a mysterious book from 1499) is really just a pseudo-intellectual rag and a snobby history of Princeton University. Blaaaah.
It gets two stars for a few interesting insights about love and life, and the one developed character who was a fascinating librarian who only surfaced for ten pages or so.
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