The Storyteller Speaks

I've been reading a lot of Young Adult fiction lately, so it was refreshing to read and adult fiction book that still had my favorite elements, paranormal or fantasy. Masello mixes these elements well with the real world.

Einstein and the Others

I don't know much about Einstein and his history to be honest. I'm an English major, so we steered clear of the whole relativity thing.

But Masello has created an Einstein that is easy for me to believe. All of his characters are very well developed and have unforgettable characteristics, but I was most impress at how he was able to bring Einstein to life without turning him into a caricature. 

Yes, the familiar wild hair and heavy German accent are there. Did he always repeat the last words of his previous sentence in real life? Not sure on that one, but it's something I could believe. Masello made him very human to me. Having read this, I feel like I know a different side of Einstein that not many people are exposed to, and thats a true testament to the writer. 

The Plot

The one thing I will say that may be seen as a con of this book, it takes a while to kick off.  I came close to putting this on my lost interest shelf, but I just kept willing myself to continue reading it. But I'm glad I did. Once you get past the first few chapters, meaning once the first person is "attacked" by the ossuary, things pick up. And once it does, it doesn't slow down. But this is not a page turner, edge of your seat thriller. It takes its time, doesn't leave you on any cliffhangers, and allows you to soak in the events of the story, which was a very interesting one. I enjoyed how Masello weaves historical events into his fiction. Like how Lucas and Simone witness the iconic Sailor and Nurse kiss that became one of the most famous photos in history. And to think that Einstein could have helped to create the atomic bomb, well, that's not too far of a stretch is it?

What sometimes got on my nerves while reading though were the extremely long, comma ridden, sentences that had the author, who otherwise was a great writer, constantly interrupting himself to add anecdotes or descriptions, and making the sentence very convoluted.

A lot like the sentence I just wrote. That got out of hand sometimes, and I found myself reading a sentence over and over, trying to figure out what was said. But honestly, after a while I got used to it, I guess.

Overall it was a good read. Pretty straight forward and I enjoyed it. It's a story I wouldn't mind reading again.