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The Egyptologist
The Egyptologist
Author: Arthur Phillips
This darkly comic labyrinth of a story opens on the desert plains of Egypt in 1922, then winds its way from the slums of Australia to the ballrooms of Boston by way of Oxford, the battlefields of the First World War, and a royal court in turmoil. — Just as Howard Carter unveils the tomb of Tutankhamun, making the most dazzling find in the history...  more »
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ISBN-13: 9780812972597
ISBN-10: 0812972597
Publication Date: 2005
Pages: 416
Rating:
  • Currently 3/5 Stars.
 83

3 stars, based on 83 ratings
Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks
Book Type: Paperback
Other Versions: Hardcover, Audio Cassette
Reviews: Member | Amazon | Write a Review

Top Member Book Reviews

compkatthewriter avatar reviewed The Egyptologist on
Helpful Score: 5
I had anxiously awaited to receive this book to read, only to find out it is basically written in journal style/letters style, with little other than 1st person dialogue. Really felt discouraged on it, probably why there was a quick turn around in putting it back on my bookshelf to trade after receiving it the first week of September 2008. No thanks I'll pass on this author if this is how he writes, I was piqued with curiosity with his 'Prague' but lesser now.
Mrs. B.
reviewed The Egyptologist on + 7 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 3
Two rather unreliable narrators -- one, probably not too bright even before he became senile and decided to write his memoirs, and the other obviously trying to impress his audience with his academic credentials and his tale -- but together you can piece together what actually happened in Egypt when two men disappeared (were murdered?) excavating a purported tomb just around the corner from King Tut's.
bombschell avatar reviewed The Egyptologist on + 214 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 3
I laughed almost all the way to the end, when then intensity kicked in. Satire, greed, lies, money, evil around every corner. Delusional archeologist, druggie girlfriend, robber baron "master of Largesse", inept detective all combine in a well written tale spanning 20+ years. One little twist kept me from having correctly guessing the end (?). But it is really the end? We are, after all, immortal as long as someone remembers our name.
reviewed The Egyptologist on + 31 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 3
A bit slow-moving at first, but a very intriguing plot.
BluesCrewPaintball avatar reviewed The Egyptologist on + 5 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
The book is easily lost in the author's attempt at flash-backs and flip-flopping characters. The "surprise" ending is easily discernible by the half-way point of the book and the characters are left a little flat so as to not build a report with them.

Sorry for this bad review, but I feel I wasted my money on this book and wouldn't want anyone else to plow through it just to get their money's worth!
Read All 27 Book Reviews of "The Egyptologist"

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Kirby avatar reviewed The Egyptologist on
While parts of the book were very entertaining, I had to force myself to read through chapters at a time hoping it would pick up again. I'm not going to say it was a bad book or that I wouldn't recommend it - it just didn't appeal to me.
wantonvolunteer avatar reviewed The Egyptologist on + 84 more book reviews
While I love dark comedy and intrigue and horror and exotic locales, this was something Vaudevillian or Philip Marlowe about this style that just rubbed me the wrong way, something yukkety yuk yuk-ish. There are several story lines, and they're told by way of letters and cables and journals and manuscripts. I am glad I stuck with it because it grew on me as the story got more and more sick and twisted. Basically it's all about immortality, people wanting to live on in some way or another -- whether by publishing their life's work, ruling the world in the afterlife, or by sheer delusion.
reviewed The Egyptologist on + 3 more book reviews
I don't like giving bad reviews, but this book is terrible in my humble opinion. I couldn't get past the first 50 or so pages.
reviewed The Egyptologist on + 10 more book reviews
wonderfully constructed excellent tragicomedy
reviewed The Egyptologist on
A book of unbelievable imagination. The writing is beautiful but as you read further you keep wondering how he came up with the idea for this story in the first place and how he was able to pull it off without a false note. Phillips is an uncommonly gifted writer (see his first book "Prague" and the followup to "The Egyptologist," "Angelica"). Highly recommended.


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