The Book of Air and Shadows

Review   The Book of Air and Shadows by Michael Gruber

What a thriller!     Lots of drama, lots of intrigue, interesting characters, and good smart humor.    

An attorney specializing in intellectual property is caught up in the search and/or discovery of a possible unpublished Shakespeare play.      Despite some contrived coincidences and oh-so-convenient happenstances, I thoroughly enjoyed playing along for this thrill ride of a read.     Told partly through very old letters, secret coded letters, and a ‘last’ letter from the attorney – as he prepares for his own possible end and final confrontation, the story also unfolds through a few other characters who all end up crossing paths at the end.   The reader will figure out a few things but will also be wondering how and when the main characters catch the clues, as well.     Actually, I still am not sure I got everything but it doesn’t really matter.

So, it’s a mystery, it’s historical fiction, it’s Shakespeare!! and it’s fun.    I especially liked the banter near the end as the characters themselves talk as if they are in the plot of a movie even to the point of wondering who would be the actors.   But I disagree – John Cusack would be too old for Al;   I could see Jack Black in that role.    This would be a tough novel to turn into a film script but hey- what do I know?!     I’m still underwhelmed that they attempted The DaVinci Code (yea, I read it.  so what?!) and I am super-dooper excited that they were able to make the Bourne Identity movies so great!   

The story of how the author dreams up the story is fascinating.  You can read that on his official website here.

I seem to have a theme started this year (and if I’m ever clever enough to start a challenge this might be one!   Let me know if one already exists.   It’s not like I’ve been going around cataloguing book challenges…)    Whoops!  that sentence got away from me.   I was saying…    the theme I have is one of LETTERS.   Not alphabet letters but ‘correspondence.’    A note before dying, etc.    Ija’am was sort of a ’last’ letter;   The House of Meetings was such a letter – explaining his life right before he is to die.   Of course, I Sent a Letter to My Love was about letter writing;   The Color Purple was a correspondence based book.    Atonement had love letters…      

Has anyone else read anything good recently that used the mode of correspondence?   included letter-writing?

  FOUR STARS

The only other review I found in wordpress was this one by Sadie-Jean.

I won this book from (click for his review:)  Shakespeare Geek, a fun blog.    In the spirit of sharing, I will offer this book to the first commentor who says they want it.    I’ll email you to get your snailmail address.