The Egyptologist

Name: The Egyptologist
Brand: Recorded Books
Availability: InStock
Author: Arthur Phillips
ISBN: 9781440796005

Author: Arthur Phillips

Narrator: Gerard Doyle, Simon Prebble, Gianfranco Negroponte, Bianca Amato

Unabridged: 16 hr 14 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Recorded Books

Published: 02/07/2008

Categories: Fiction, Literary Fiction

Synopsis

From the bestselling author of Prague comes a witty, inventive, brilliantly constructed novel about an Egyptologist obsessed with finding the tomb of an apocryphal king. 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 of archaeology, Oxford-educated Egyptologist Ralph Trilipush is digging himself into trouble, having staked his professional reputation and his fiancEe's fortune on a scrap of hieroglyphic pornography. Meanwhile, a relentless Australian detective sets off on the case of his career, spanning the globe in search of a murderer. And another murderer. And possibly another murderer. The confluence of these seemingly separate stories results in an explosive ending, at once inevitable and utterly unpredictable. Arthur Phillips leads this expedition to its unforgettable climax with all the wit and narrative bravado that made Prague one of the most critically acclaimed novels of 2002. Exploring issues of class, greed, ambition, and the very human hunger for eternal life, this staggering second novel gives us a glimpse of Phillips's range and maturity-and is sure to earn him further acclaim as one of the most exciting authors of his generation.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Paul on July 01, 2024

Oh, what a tangled web we weave! THE EGYPTOLOGIST is an extraordinary, lush piece of literature that trots across the mummy-crazed globe of the 1920s and witnesses Lord Carnarvon and Howard Carter's seminal discovery of the vast riches of Tutankhamen's un-pillaged virginal tomb. But, as in Caldwell a......more

Goodreads review by David on March 27, 2008

Fantastic book! One that operates on so many levels... Character study; satire; mystery/thriller. An Egyptologist goes off to find some legendary tomb shortly after WWI. Through his correspondence with his fiance (the daughter of his financier), we learn much about the man--maybe more than he would......more

Goodreads review by Sunil on January 15, 2012

I heart unreliable narrators, and this book is full of 'em. Set in 1922, it tells the tale of Ralph Trilipush's quest to find the tomb of an apocryphal king/erotic poet named Atum-hadu (which translates to Atum-Is-Aroused). Amusingly, his expedition is concurrent with Howard Carter's discovery of th......more

Goodreads review by Travis on September 24, 2009

I considered giving this four stars instead of five, but I'm bumping it up because I think the Goodreads average is ranked low primarily for the "I don't like the characters" reason or the "I guessed the ending" reason, and frankly, while the characters are not all that likable, they are complex and......more

Goodreads review by Tony on August 17, 2008

A mild recommendation. An interesting scenario told in a brilliant format, with a disappointing ending. The dust jacket (as shown here on Goodreads), boasts of an unpredictable ending, but I (not the brightest or readers) saw it coming for at least half the book. This is a story of two men. The firs......more