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The Meaning of Night (The Meaning of Night #1)

by Michael Cox

3.61 · rating details · 2,671 ratings · 585 reviews

Edward Glyver has a confession to make: He's responsible for an unsolved, entirely random murder in Victorian London. But there are untold confessions to come, starting with the fact that Glyver is not his real name, and that his true identity, as heir to one of England's wealthiest and most influential peerages, is slowly being usurped by his childhood archrival, Phoebus ...more

Hardcover, 703 pages

Published September 1st 2006 by W. W. Norton & Company (first published January 1st 2006)

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Lists with This Book

The Crimson Petal and the White by Michel Faber

A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray

The French Lieutenant's Woman by John Fowles

Best Victorian Historical Fiction Set In England

6th out of 91 books — 182 voters

Mistress of the Art of Death by Ariana Franklin

The Beekeeper's Apprentice by Laurie R. King

Best Historical Mystery

115th out of 526 books — 910 voters

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Community Reviews

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Oct 28, 2007

Brian rated it

This pseudo-Victorian study in thwarted ambition is a literary tour de force. It's the tale of the rightful heir to one of the most powerful houses in England, brought up in anonymity, who learns of his true identity by chance and embarks on an all-consuming struggle to reclaim his inheritance. The atmosphere of the period is faithfully recreated but the real strength of the book lies in the voice of the central character through which the author manages to convey so much complexity that we find...more

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Feb 20, 2008

Leah rated it

· review of another edition

Recommends it for: NO ONE

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Sep 23, 2011

Dulac3 rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: historical-fiction

This book started out great. The first line, "After killing the red-haired man, I took myself off to Quinn's for an oyster supper." really hooked me. As the book continued it proved interesting, a tale narrated in the first person by a man of obvious derangement convinced of his own rationality and the fact that he is justified in any action taken towards furthering his own ends.

Cox does an excellent job of capturing the feel of a Victorian novel, and I think that may ulti...more

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Jun 26, 2009

± Colleen of the Crawling Chaos ± rated it

· review of another edition

Recommends it for: Fans of fantasy noir and for journiers

Recommended to ± Colleen of the Crawling Chaos ± by: Libby

Shelves: whodunit, historical-fiction

3 1/2

This is another book which is, in a way, hard for me to review. The book was not without its flaws. In many ways I can think of more negative things to say about the book than positive ones - but, despite that, I still liked it. I didn't love it, and I wouldn't rave about it or say that it's a must read... but it is interesting, and I wouldn't suggest you not read it, either.

The book started with promise, and I was enthralled. It was texture and sumptuous, as we ...more

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Apr 12, 2008

Laura rated it

· review of another edition

Recommended to Laura by: Mary Bennion

I was warned to persevere through the slow beginning, and after a few chapters it really does become the gripping page-turner promised in the back cover reviews. In the first sentence, the main character murders an unknown man. He shortly reveals himself to be a grossly immoral opium-eater bent on revenge — hardly an auspicious beginning even for an anti-hero, but at least an intriguing one. Soon the intrigue becomes almost palpable and the hero becomes quite sympathetic as layer after layer of ...more

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Dec 19, 2007

Dale rated it

I'm reasonably certain that this is the first book I've given 2 stars since joining GoodReads. Partly because I'm easily amused; partly because I tend to read stuff I already know I'm going to like (recommended by a friend, work of an author I've enjoyed in the past, good reviews, etc). I borrowed The Meaning of Night from my mother-in-law because I needed something to read on the commute and I wasn't buying myself new books so close to Christmas. I asked her if it was any good; her response ...moreI'm reasonably certain that this is the first book I've given 2 stars since joining GoodReads. Partly because I'm easily amused; partly because I tend to read stuff I already know I'm going to like (recommended by a friend, work of an author I've enjoyed in the past, good reviews, etc). I borrowed The Meaning of Night from my mother-in-law because I needed something to read on the commute and I wasn't buying myself new books so close to Christmas. I asked her if it was any good; her response was "eh". Bad sign.

So this is, as the subtitle indicates, a confessional novel, and the central conceit is that it's "real", recently discovered by a professor who specializes in Victoriana. So it's written in a Victorian style ... kind of. I had a nagging feeling while reading the entire thing that there were anachronisms, not in terms of facts and places but in terms of the narrator's attitudes and other intangibles. I wasn't able to suspend my disbelief at all - the entire book felt like an adult in the 21st century pretending to write as someone in 1855. To my ear it lacked authenticity.

The book suffers from other problems as well. SPOILERS AHEAD (trust me, you don't want to read the book, so let me spare you the trouble). The main character confesses to murdering a stranger on page 1. He also quickly indicates that he only killed the stranger as practice so that he would feel confident enough to murder his enemy. So right off we have an extremely unsympathetic protagonist. Then for 600 pages we get the back story of why the protagonist thinks his enemy deserves to be murdered. It's extremely straightforward stuff - I kept waiting for a twist but nothing happened that I didn't see coming. Then, in the end, the protagonist kills his enemy in the most boring way imaginable. There's zero character development and zero conflict. Protagonist hates his enemy, justifies his hate, and kills his enemy. There's never the slightest doubt that the protagonist will survive because he has to in order to write the ex post facto confession. Nor is there any way for him to have a change of heart, nor is there any chance of him getting caught, ibid.

And speaking of "ibid", a word about footnotes. The book technically has two narrators - the protagonist writing the confession, and the professor who "discovered the manuscript". The second narrator only intrudes in two ways - an introduction at the very beginning, and footnotes throughout the text. Now, I appreciate a good footnote. Other books I've recently read have made great use of footnotes. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, for instance - hilarious, vibrant asides and explanations made in the footnotes which really enhance the overall experience in a meta-fiction kind of way. Or the edition of A Tale of Two Cities I read - those footnotes were useful because they addressed certain things that made the text clearer, explaining things which Dickens (correctly) felt would be understood by his contemporary audience. The footnotes in The Meaning of Night, however, were just awful. Bear in mind that the novel only has one author, pretending simultaneously to be a Victorian murderer and a modern professor. So every obscure reference in the book was chosen deliberately by the author, and then footnoted by the author, but often in spectacularly unhelpful ways. A running theme is that the protagonist loves rare books, so he will occasional make passing reference to "so-and-so's folio". Then the footnote gives the folio's complete author, complete title, and date of publication, and other utterly useless esoterica which add nothing to the bottom line understanding. Again, I kept waiting for the professor to become a true character through the footnotes, to see some kind of relevance down there, but it never happened. Alas.

Like a true English major, I've now written my longest review for the book I've liked the least. It just bugs me when books are bad!!!(less)

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Sep 02, 2007

Duffy rated it

Shelves: fiction

A book lover and a murderer... isn't that something that will make you curious why? So, I'm reading. =) lets see how it ends up tho.

A very long story... I haven't had the time to finish this yet. i'm still on the part where I can't understand what his purpose is. =) hopefully, i'll be able to finish soon.

Sept 15, 2007... I have finally finished reading this book. I can't say that I love it, but I can say that I liked it... a little.

A story full of twist, tu...more

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Jan 21, 2012

Shovelmonkey1 rated it

· review of another edition

Recommends it for: anyone looking for a fresher perspective on mid victorian lit

Recommended to Shovelmonkey1 by: the nice people on bookcrossing,com

Shelves: bookcrossing-books, read-in-2011

Allow me to stop and doff my stove pipe hat to you Mr Cox, for truly you are a man who has done his research. Having recently perused the weighty tome that is The Meaning of Night, I am reacquainted with what it means to be a man obsessed. Both the protaganist and the author have their fixations but over 700 pages it is apparent that Michael Cox's obsession for mid-Victorian history and literature is as all consuming as Edward Glyvers determination for revenge.

Whether you regard the...more

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Jul 01, 2008

Jennifer rated it

Shelves: fiction

I love the conceit of this book--it's a manuscript annotated by a professor of post-authentic Victorian literature. And as Michael Cox has edited various works, most notable M. R. James, it works exceptionally well.[return][return]The meat of the story opens with a murder in 1854 London. The motive is unimportant. No, that's not exactly right--the motive is very important, it's the victim that doesn't matter. But make no mistake--this is not the memoir of a murderer. It's the memoir of one Edwar...more

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Apr 21, 2008

Tripp rated it

Michael Cox's The Meaning of Night is fantastic. It mixes the Victorian novel with the noir crime thriller to make for a completely engrossing reading experience.

While the story never leaves England, it has an epic feel. It follows the cursed life of Edward Glyver from birth in Dorset to troubled academic career to fixer for a London law firm. The tortuous path allows Cox to describe a wide range of English scenes from the hellish London to the idyllic Evenwood, home to Glyver's grea...moreMichael Cox's The Meaning of Night is fantastic. It mixes the Victorian novel with the noir crime thriller to make for a completely engrossing reading experience.

While the story never leaves England, it has an epic feel. It follows the cursed life of Edward Glyver from birth in Dorset to troubled academic career to fixer for a London law firm. The tortuous path allows Cox to describe a wide range of English scenes from the hellish London to the idyllic Evenwood, home to Glyver's greatest enemy.

Glyver is driven, to the point of madness, to take revenge on the one who caused all of his failures and setbacks in life. Glyver is no hero. In the first pages of the book, he murders an innocent so that he can be ready when it counts. While he pines for a high born love, he has a prostitute lover, and also sleeps with the lower rent hookers. He drinks to the point of passing out in ditches and is a frequent user of opium. And there is more.

Astoundingly, Cox has made this unlovable rogue largely sympathetic. Part of it is his eloquence, but it also the sense of righteousness he brings to his quest for vengeance. As we learn more of what his enemy has done, we become more and more invested in his story and how he might find redemption. While those well-read in the genres are likely to spot the plot twists, the story is so fast paced and well described, you won't care. Few will see how nearly everything mentioned eventually ties back into the main story.

I particularly liked how Cox paints a wide English canvas without building up the overlong subplots that weigh down Victorians like Trollope and Dickens. We see Eton, the dark part of London, the law offices, Dorset and country life without having to wade through excessive detail and oceans of characters. Those looking for the Dickensian groteques will delight in the likes of Fordyce Jukes, Glyver's downstairs neighbor and co-worker and source of constant irritation.

Amidst all of this, there is a question (SPOILER) as to how reliable Glyver actually is. He is clearly a paranoid maniac, but is he an Ahab or is he Verbal Kint? There are odd little elements throughout that might sway your opinion, I remain uncertain. (/SPOILER.)

This book has me all fired up for the unread Victorian homages on my shelves. Fingersmith and the Crimson and White, here I come.(less)

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May 27, 2008

Jesse rated it

Recommends it for: only my enemies

I could only get up to page 166 in this book before I gave up, thats out of about 600 pages.

This book was like the love child of Dickens and Austen, which is then orphanned and left to be raised by a commune of varrious victorian era British melodramatists. It took at least 100 pages before the author finally got to the point of telling us precisely WHY his main character needs revenge on someone. Even then, 60 pages into the story of this guys past, I'm falling asleep.

...more

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Oct 16, 2009

Mary Etta rated it

Recommends it for: book group

Book group October mystery read.

As I'm reading this book I'm amazed at the complete aura of mystery--from the stated concept of the book to the story itself. I don't read much mystery so I'm easily fooled. This link gives great author information--http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/19/books/19cox.html

Finally finished it. My read of it suffered from having to set it aside for too long midway, but the last quarter was very engaging once again. Even my book group's review...more

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Jul 20, 2007

Bonnie G rated it

· review of another edition

Recommends it for: Anglophiles and mystery readers

The author included spectacular amounts of detail from Victorian England, even to the details of the invention of photography. The story moves slowly, but if you love English novels of the Victorian period, it mimics them and improves on them. Dean thinks the ending could have been better, including an additional manuscript which includes a description of Glyver inheriting the estate from his exhiled position. Perhaps he would discover a document that would conclusively earn him the estate and...more

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Feb 06, 2012

Angelia rated it

I absolutely love this novel. The pacing is very satisfying, pulsing with Victorian authenticity. It reminds me of actual 19th century novels, most notably Mary Elizabeth Braddon's Lady Audley's Secret and Matthew Lewis's The Monk, both of which I adore.

Edward Glyver/Glapthorn is one of those delicious anti-heroes with whom I love spending time: he is flawed, yes, but he also has many attributes that make him incredibly appealing as a protagonist. That he is also the narrator fascina...more

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Jul 26, 2011

Stuart added it

“After killing the red-haired man, I took myself off to Quinn’s for an oyster supper”. Thus begins “The Meaning of Night”, capturing your attention immediately, as intended. For a while, the author dwells on the psychological effect on the protagonist from having killed someone, and it reads a little like “Crime and Punishment”. So the relatively blasé tone of the first sentence is not representative of the character’s real feelings, as we see when the story goes on, and he sounds like a Victor...more

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Jul 26, 2011

Vd rated it

Cox has a beautiful literary style. Also, a flair for dramatic irony and psychological tension. He pays great attention to details and it is evident that he loves books and the arts.
The story depends much on the telling as the plot is somewhat ponderous and lacks pace. So, it's a good thing that the language of the author is very engaging.
However, I am disappointed with the story. The protagonist is interesting enough but he does not attain the extraordinariness or intellectual great...more

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May 15, 2011

Timothy Hallinan rated it

Michael Cox was an expert on the Victorian short story and especially on ghost stories who turned out a biography and many articles but always wanted to write a novel. In 2004 he began to lose his sight to vascular cancer and immediately began working on the book he'd been thinking about for decades: The Meaning of Night. It's a rip-snorter that begins, "After killing the red-haired man, I took myself off to Quinn's for an oyster supper." What follows is dizzyingly plotted, totally c...more

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Dec 20, 2010

Jamie rated it

For someone as enthusiastic for the Victorian “switch-a-roo” as I seem to be, I have say, once I finished all the Sarah Waters books and ventured on to find others, I’ve been consistently disappointed. It’s the escapism of the Victorian mystery I so esteem, and Cox, like Waters, Farber and Byatt, does a wonderful job of providing bed curtains and smoky grates, bottles of laudanum and ale houses, cloaks, pianofortes and servants quarters. What he didn’t have such a way with, was, unfortunately,...moreFor someone as enthusiastic for the Victorian “switch-a-roo” as I seem to be, I have say, once I finished all the Sarah Waters books and ventured on to find others, I’ve been consistently disappointed. It’s the escapism of the Victorian mystery I so esteem, and Cox, like Waters, Farber and Byatt, does a wonderful job of providing bed curtains and smoky grates, bottles of laudanum and ale houses, cloaks, pianofortes and servants quarters. What he didn’t have such a way with, was, unfortunately, his leading man.
So mysterious is our “dark horse” of a narrator (Glyver, Glapthorn, Tansor…but always, always EDWARD!), it seemed I had a hard time caring about him at all. While I took the bait on P. Rainsford Daunt, hating him like the murderous, despicable swindler he was; and sat up a little straighter to read any passages concerning the intelligent, independent vixen Emily Carteret, with her big dark eyes and fine dark hair, her prime spectacles and statuesque height; I never got a full mental picture of Edward at all.
So focused on his revenge with daunt, his love of Emily, his suspicion of Miss Boussand and his fatherly love of Mr. Tredgold, he completely effaced himself, leaving no room for any reader to give a flip about the constantly betrayed, misunderstood and murderous Glapthorn. Worst of all, for a book with the captivating and curling, inhibited start of lazily listing off the events of his evening after killing an innocent man, you never really come to terms with WHY he has to kill him. To practice?
The only effect it had on me was to think he wasn’t much better than his adversary, the dreaded Daunt. But, at least Daunt was educated and an esteemed poet. What was Glapthorn other than a strange victim-voyeur and useless thug?
The same can be said of the burdensome plot concerning Lady Tansor/Laura Fairmile. Her “vengeance” is like a rebel without a cause. The only person she seems to hurt is Edward, which he might have done himself, had she not done it for him. Always imagining himself the victim, it was a bit painful to be read his mother’s death wish—that her son not be raised an mindless gentleman who works for nothing…as her son puts his body and soul into remaining oblivious of her words and instead only collecting these bits and proof of his lineage.
I intend to read The Glass of Time, but only in the hope it focuses on Emily, a character I loved AND related to (evil, a little, but also young and in love and therefore multifaceted, unlike her obsessive victim). As is so often the issue with the Victorian persuasion, the need for a mystery trumped the believability of one, and granted, they’re almost always a stretch, hence the genre, but still, it’s the craft and creation of the mystery that makes it wondrous, not HAVING one for the sake of a mystery. If you can’t say, “ah!” at the end, it wasn’t that well done. And, the idea of exile in the snow was a little too similar to a Frankenstein, and the *, ** and + became a compulsion and made it difficult to keep my place. For the sake of a literary tactic to provide the impression of a frame story, I could have done without knowing exactly where everything was--thank you very much. If it had worked a walking tour in the back (a la The Shadow of the Wind) would have worked perfectly.

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Oct 24, 2010

Wendybird rated it

Shelves: fiction

Despite its length, the story is a basic tale of thwarted justice in which many events can be anticipated. If the author meant to emulate Dickens, he did a fine job, more succinct and readable for contemporaries, while creating authentic Victorian atmosphere.

This book really is superb in many ways. Its descriptive prose and storytelling flow so naturally I coudn't help becoming absorbed in a predictable tale. The transition from the present to the past revealing the mysterious ...more

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Jul 18, 2010

Allison rated it

Recommends it for: hardcore historical novel fans only

A Victorian-era historical novel, complete with your typical heir and his lost fortune. This effort does have some twists, but overall just falls flat. The format is written as a 'confession', a manuscript bound together with supporting documentation and unearthed and printed in modern times after a scholar discovers it among library manuscripts and materials donated to a university by the family. The biggest problem I see is that the book just lacks any depth to its characters at all. We be...more

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Feb 27, 2010

Rachel rated it

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I absolutely loathed this book up until the last few pages.

It’s a Victorian mystery/suspense, but the suspense is clunky. ie: the protag meets with someone who can answer the giant mystery. The protag hears half the story, but right when it is getting to the good stuff, the visitor announces it is late and that the protag should visit him tomorrow. On the way home the visitor is killed… Stringing… things… along… This happened a number of times and was annoying rather than suspe...moreI absolutely loathed this book up until the last few pages.

It’s a Victorian mystery/suspense, but the suspense is clunky. ie: the protag meets with someone who can answer the giant mystery. The protag hears half the story, but right when it is getting to the good stuff, the visitor announces it is late and that the protag should visit him tomorrow. On the way home the visitor is killed… Stringing… things… along… This happened a number of times and was annoying rather than suspenseful. Everyone seemed to die at really inopportune moments for the protag.

There are tons of coincidences. (ie. The protag needs to break into a building. His housekeeper’s daughter shows up with her new fiancé and guess what? The fiancé works in that exact building!)

The protag and almost every other character are REALLY unlikeable. The story opens with the protag killing a complete stranger just to prove that he has it in himself to murder (he’s about to take on his nemesis). After the killing, the next 100 pages took me almost a month to read because they were so incredibly boring – we watch the protag wander around in a drugged, drunken stupor as he visits a friend, meets his mistress and alludes over and over again to the great mystery that we are all going to learn in the near future. But nothing happens until he starts to tell his life story to his friend Le Grice (page 100). And even then there are chunks that I skimmed.

Ultimately this story is about revenge – the driving power of revenge and the history of the protag that validates it. Revenge does nothing for me. I kept asking myself why I was reading this book. I hated everything about it. The answer was that I wanted to know how it ended. And even the ending of the plot was disappointing. This is definitely no happily-ever-after story.

However, there is a post script at the very last page that made me love this book. (and that wasn’t because the post script was from Lanzarote – a place most Americans have never heard of, but where I lived in Arrecife for 5 really wonderful months. It can’t be accidental that the post script is set there. At first glance, Lanzarote resembles ‘hell’ on earth.) The reason why I gave this three stars instead of one is because it is a story with a moral. A moral that once I got, I really liked.

The moral put the rest of the book in perspective, particularly the unlikeability of the characters. It made sense. I could see what the author was doing, and for me this made all the difference. I still can’t give it more than three stars, because I only kept reading it for lack of anything else in the house. However, I would recommend it to other who like Victorian stories and are willing to slog through its weaknesses.
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Oct 22, 2009

Ashley rated it

· review of another edition

I love the language in this book. The actual murders that take place are not the feature of the story line. As an American, I reveled in the floweriness of alternate spellings of such words as "connexion," which I would assume is an archaic British spelling?

This tone and mood of the book's atmosphere is well conveyed in the cover image, contrary to the old adage "don't judge a book.." The age is in the late 1880s and manners and composure are integral. Proper and...more

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Aug 31, 2009

Barbara Martin rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: historical-fiction, crime, literary, suspense-fiction

“After killing the red-haired man, I took myself off to Quinn’s for an oyster supper.”

The reasoning behind this cold-blooded murder is soon revealed in the opening pages. The killer, Edward Glyver aka Glapthorn, confesses to the killing and others he has planned.

Portions of Edward’s story are told by an assorted collection of people in his life until his complicated past is revealed. Bella, a courtesan from “a highly select club…catered for the amorous needs of the most ...more“After killing the red-haired man, I took myself off to Quinn’s for an oyster supper.”

The reasoning behind this cold-blooded murder is soon revealed in the opening pages. The killer, Edward Glyver aka Glapthorn, confesses to the killing and others he has planned.

Portions of Edward’s story are told by an assorted collection of people in his life until his complicated past is revealed. Bella, a courtesan from “a highly select club…catered for the amorous needs of the most discerning patrons of means”, Le Grice, a best friend from his school days, and others, with whom he is careful not to reveal too much to.

His childhood comprises of being raised by a single mother, through whom Edward develops a love of books, and attends Eton. It is at Eton where he meets Phoebus Daunt, soon to become his nemesis and the reason behind Edward’s departure from the school.

Ten years after his mother’s death, Edward goes through her papers to learn she was a successful novelist and finds her diaries: small, black books that reveal his true identity. He is not Edward Glyver, but Edward Charles Duport, a member of one of the oldest and most powerful families in all of England. Edward believes he is the rightful heir to the large country estate, Evenwood. Edward decides to reclaim his birth right and learns that Lord Tansor has designated his heir as the wicked Phoebus Daunt. One of the motivating factors for Edward’s obsession is the Evenwood library which contains rare books from the 15th century.

Edward is obsessed with the theft of his birthright, and books. In proving his birthright he searches in the more disreputable sections of London where he learns deep dark secrets.

Phoebus Daunt is a poet and a leader of a gang of thieves, thugs and counterfeiters; and locates an inscribed copy of Donne’s Devotions that confirms his suspicion that Glapthorn is Glyver is Duport, the true heir to the Tansor fortune.

The world Edward inhabits is one of opium, brothels, revenge and murder. This is a suspenseful mystery that needs to be followed to the end for a brilliant conclusion.

Michael Cox has placed various epigraphs at each chapter and section breaks, along with copious footnotes. These quaint footnotes provide brief explanations of terms and locations within the book, for example, “Waterloo Bridge was known as the ‘Bridge of Sighs’ because of the number of suicides who had leaped to their deaths from it.” There is wonderful, thorough detail in the description of the locations, the people, and the era in which this book is set.

There are a few loose ends in this book that may be explained in the sequel, “The Glass of Time”.

I recommend this book for anyone who likes detailed description set in a Victorian style of writing. The multiple genres are: literary, mystery and detective, and historical.
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Aug 18, 2009

Jen3n rated it

Shelves: history, literature, mystery

Hey: I liked this. The premise is that this bound set of papers, the confession in question, was found amongst a large collection of books anonymously bequeathed to Cambridge and marked "fiction?" and detailing the life and times of two men, one destined to kill the other or die trying. There are footnotes written by a Cambridge scholar defining certain words and explaining certain references along with pointing out historical accuracies running along with the story itself, maintaini...more

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Jun 23, 2011

sage rated it

Shelves: crime, fiction, glbt-interest, historical-fiction, mystery, reviewed

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. oh, man, where to begin. I loved and hated parts of this book, and I totally get how the reviews swing from one extreme to the other.

The good: Okay, the best thing is the author's clear passion for the subject, and it's really compelling to know that he wrote this during ultimately unsuccessful treatment for a brain tumor. But if you set aside the author and just look at the story, the knowledge of the setting (mid-19th Century England) is gloriously thorough. The locations leap of...moreoh, man, where to begin. I loved and hated parts of this book, and I totally get how the reviews swing from one extreme to the other.

The good: Okay, the best thing is the author's clear passion for the subject, and it's really compelling to know that he wrote this during ultimately unsuccessful treatment for a brain tumor. But if you set aside the author and just look at the story, the knowledge of the setting (mid-19th Century England) is gloriously thorough. The locations leap off the page in their realism, and I dig that a lot. I also like the inverted structure of the secret heir trope. I don't know that I've ever read the secret heir trope constructed in quite this way before.

The bad: parts of this are seriously overwritten. You could snip 200 pages and not lose much. The plot itself is excruciatingly slow to start and then entirely predictable from the 2/3 mark. Actually, I had the ending right from the second chapter, but there were so many red herrings that I believed he was going in another direction until I hit the 2/3 mark. The chapters themselves are too short and badly paced. The editor should have combined many of them into larger chapters with section breaks. All the nice women characters are whores, servants, invisible, or dead. All the other women characters are evil.

A note on entitlement: I can't ding the novel for entitlement and white privilege because the novel is ABOUT entitlement and English noble privilege. The intent of the Dead Mother (TM) was to free her son from the pernicious nature of that society, even though he's somehow still considered a gentleman instead of a commoner (I totally don't get how that works), and in the end, the Dead Mother wins. I love that the Dead Mother wins, because all too often the Dead Mother would have been written off as crazy while the hero stepped up as the new heir in SPITE of her wishes.

The good: setting, as I said. I got very engrossed from the midpoint up to the 85% mark, or so, when I got seriously bored of the too predictable doomed romance with EC. It's interesting to see a bibliophilic mystery in which the murderer is the protagonist and gets away with it. The tangents on crazy-rare ancient books were fascinating to my inner librarian, but I get how they might get on the nerves of readers who could care less.

The GLBT tag: non-judgy mention of boy and boy-girl brothels and street whores. Also, some scenes are slashy as hell, particularly those with Edward and the various father figures (his boss--who wishes he were Edward's father and who bonds with him fervently during their weekly pornography appreciation dates, his gf's father, and his mortal enemy's father). Edward and his friend Glice are really intimate, too.

Anyway, I wish the story itself had been better because the setting was meticulously awesome and the concept was really compelling.(less)

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Jul 14, 2010

ICPL Staff Picks added it

Shelves: john, fiction, staff-picks-blog

A revenge epic (think Count of Monte Cristo), set in 1854 London, Michael Cox’s first novel still possesses a curiously modern sensibility. Dickens, for instance, would never begin a book, "After killing the red-haired man, I took myself off to Quinn’s for an oyster supper."

Narrator Edward Glyver has legitimate grievances against well-known poet Phoebus Daunt, who contrived to have Glyver expelled ignominiously from school, who is about to be named heir to a fortune and est...more

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Sep 22, 2009

Vicky rated it

If you are a fan of Wilkie Collins and the genre of Victorian detective fiction,or if you are a bibliophile, this book is for you! Michael Cox has recreated the Victorian mystery par excellence along with a fascinating bibliographic subplot. How this book came to be is an interesting story in and of itself. A Goodreads friend provided this link to a NY Times article when Mr. Cox died earlier this year.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/19/books/...
I don't want to give anything away, but...more

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Jul 30, 2011

Scott added it

This book is set in the early 1800's in London. Any fan of historical fiction should appreciate the extreme detail of life in this time period that the author painstakingly researched and presented. It is a tale of revenge that, as we come to find out, has taken the main character a lifetime to achieve. While a good historical piece of fiction, it is also an intriguing mystery. The clues are stumbled upon slowly (over the course of a lifetime) and the story is told in first person which drew...more

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Jul 29, 2011

Laurie added it

Victorian gentleman, prostitutes with hearts of gold, arrogant poets, an incunabula or two. A good book for a hot day by the fan with a pitcher of iced tea. None of the characters are very likable, but all are attractive in a rather sinister way. Despite the romance and sex, the book is not particularly sensual, and in a way we associate with the Victorian era, no one has an easy time of it romantically: there is at least one hopeless unrequited passion for each happy one. The sequel to thi...more

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May 08, 2010

Adam rated it

· review of another edition

Summary:

Michael Cox’s The Meaning of Night is a murder-mystery tale, set in the mid-19th century, with an attempt on the author’s part to portray the story in the contemporary (i.e. Cox presents the work as if it had been written in the 1800s). The main character, Edward Glyver, has been slighted by an old school friend, and this betrayal leads to the ultimate downfall of both Glyver and his nemesis, Phoebus Duport. The novel is, in fact, Glyver’s “confessions” which are writ...more
Summary:

Michael Cox’s The Meaning of Night is a murder-mystery tale, set in the mid-19th century, with an attempt on the author’s part to portray the story in the contemporary (i.e. Cox presents the work as if it had been written in the 1800s). The main character, Edward Glyver, has been slighted by an old school friend, and this betrayal leads to the ultimate downfall of both Glyver and his nemesis, Phoebus Duport. The novel is, in fact, Glyver’s “confessions” which are written down and sent to a dear friend, who passes it along to the fictitious editor, J.J. Antrobus. This “editor” makes notes and comments throughout, and points out insertions of found materials which were not included in the original package sent by Glyver to his friend and former employer, Tredgold. These editorial notations and introduction are an attempt on the author’s part to re-assert the antiquity of the text – perhaps a clver nod to his bibliophilic friends – for, as the reader soon will discover, bibliophiles play a prominent part in the plot, and in finding and unraveling the many mysteries to Glyver’s past and future. Through clever use of flashback and an oftentimes seamless introduction of major and minor characters – all of whom, past and present, become related and relevant to the plot, Cox develops and fast-moving, believable literary history of a multitude of fictitious authors and nobles.

The Good:

Cox’s story is a delightful throwback to the Victorian and even Gothic romances and mysteries – with obvious nods to Dickens (Great Expectations, The Mystery of Edwin Drood) and even Radcliffe (The Italian). Interestingly enough, though, the book was most reminiscent to me of non-English writers, such as Peter Carey’s re-telling of Great Expectations vis-à-vis Jack Maggs. I was also clearly reminded of some American works, such as Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado” and Hawthorne’s “Rappaccini’s Daughter” - both of which deal with this idea of self-destructive, calculated, and unrepentant revenge, as well as love lost and unrequited. I found the language and dialogue interesting and fluid. The main character, Glyver, while despicable at times – and certainly starting off on the wrong foot with his readers – can be sympathized with and championed, despite his many failings (such as an obvious love-blindness). For bibliophiles, the many references to major literary works is laudable, as is the fact that Glyver’s clues and mysteries are resolved by research into lost letters, old histories, and personal libraries. I particularly liked that, while revenge is sought & found, there is no satisfactory resolution for the avenger – indeed, his life likely would have amounted to much more (and certainly have been much simpler) had Glyver either 1) never looked into the mystery of his past or 2) chosen not to seek the destiny which he was denied (the conclusion his mother so hoped he would choose). In this way, and only in this way, can we as the reader empathize with Glyver & root for him throughout, and then also be satisfied that Glyver does not get more than he really deserves – considering he is not really such a great guy, after all.

The Bad:

In reference to this edition, specifically, there were a few proofreading oversights, which I found surprising in a Norton publication. I also disliked the idea of this fictional editor who inserts his own clarifications and footnotes throughout the novel – it is largely unnecessary and ultimately distracting (not to mention that Cox comes across rather indulgent by including explanations and clarifications to his more obscure references – almost as if he is patting himself on the back for including such ambiguous or learned information). There were also quite a few holes in the plot, most of which include Glyver either not picking up on facts which are blatantly apparent. Does the author believe his audience – supposedly literature lovers and bibliophiles, who would be quite privy to sub-plots and deconstruction- is too obtuse to figure these things out without it being spelled out, step-by-step, as Glyver seems to need. One hundred pages could easily have been saved by allowing Glyver, a self-identified genius, to have come to conclusions which the average reader has certainly come to on his own. There is also a stunning lack of characterization – aside from Glyver and perhaps Tredgold, the remaining characters are relatively flat and indistinguishable. The servants, even, who are of severely different capacities and mentalities, to Glyver, all seem to be the same person in style. In a seven hundred page novel, perhaps more attention could have been paid to the other characters, particular to the Lord and Lady Dupont, whose relationship is so imperative to the plot, but who are never truly engaged. The combination of including unnecessary clarifications and “spellings-out” of plot points, with the major oversights in character development, I feel, prohibit a generally well-written, entertaining, and intelligent novel from being a quite possibly great work.

The Final Verdict: 4.0 out of 5.0

Despite the oversights, the over-indulgence, and the author’s obvious assumption that his readers are incredibly less learned than he is, The Meaning of Night is still an achievement. Glyver’s story is interesting, and the psychological play in terms of championing an anti-hero is always intriguing. The pace is good and author’s passion for literature and books in general is clear and well received (by me, at least). What could have improved this rating to a 4.5 or 5.0 would be, perhaps, a bit less arrogance by the author – and a bit more trust in his readers. It is impossible to develop and present a piece with hopes of earning “epic” or lasting status, while assuming the readers need to be hand-held throughout. Cox is said to be writing a sequel and, I hope, he has been encouraged to treat his reader as a partner in his journey, rather than as an apprentice or subordinate.
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About Michael Cox

Michael Andrew Cox was an English biographer, novelist and musician.
He also held the position of Senior Commissioning Editor of reference books for Oxford University Press.

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Quotes from The Meaning of Night

“For Death is the meaning of night;
The eternal shadow
Into which all lives must fall,
All hopes expire.” — 6 people liked it

“I had retained little of what is generally called religion, except for a visceral conviction that our lives are controlled by some universal mechanism that is greater than ourselves. Perhaps that was what others called God. Perhaps not.” — 5 people liked it

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