Customer Reviews: Read 103 more reviews...
 Fun Children's Book About Edgar Allen Poe November 10, 2008
This is a very nice book about a boy who loses his mother, aunt and sister and depends on Poe to help him find them. It is a very nice story that blends horror and mystery together in small bites for the middle school age group. I liked it very much.
Very good book. October 29, 2008
The Man Who Was Poe by Avi is a very good book indeed. It starts out when Edmund, an 11 year old boy from Providence, who needs to find his family, runs into Edgar Allen Poe. He tells Edmund that his name is Mr. Dupin, from one of his works. Mr. Poe comes to his house, and helps Edmund to find his family. With many mysterious characters, and lots of questions, this is a great book. I am in the 6th grade, and I adore very long and complicated books. Even though this isn't long, it definitely met my expectations and more. I defenitely believe that if you are a middle schooler or very enthusiasic Elementary schooler reader, then you should read this book. If you like it, then I suggest you read some more of Avi's books, and some of Poe's work as well. Two thumbs up!!!
 Well, it is about Poe October 7, 2008
The book is a lot of fun and very fast-paced. It'd be perfect for kids who like dark mysteries, but it would be too scary for younger children. It's also a great way to introduce Edgar Allen Poe, and I like how bits of his life were etched into the story. However, Poe's character is the only really interesting one--Edmund doesn't really develop, and all other characters are simply minor and flat. Still, it has a great, twisted plot.
 The Character Who Was Poe, not the man January 11, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I remember reading this book in middle-school and really enjoying it. Just the other day, and more than a decade later, I found my copy in a box of old books and on a nostalgic whim I grabbed it on my way out the door, for something to pass the time. I must say, to my surprise, I still really enjoyed it.
Avi weaves an interesting suspense mystery of interlocking storylines, complete with gothic settings of graveyards and foggy streets in 1848 Providence, Rhode Island. And of course, we have the master of letters himself, Edgar Allan Poe, as a central character. He grudgingly helps eleven-year-old Edmund search for his missing sister and mother, more for reasons of his own than sympathy, as in the young boy he sees a mirror of himself and the potential for a great story.
Poe, calling himself Auguste Dupin, his character from The Murders in the Rue Morgue (history's first detective story), is depicted by Avi as a genius whose soul has been broken. Grief and alcohol have warped his mind and sensibility, and he attempts the courting of a wealthy widow in order to find not only love but some degree of normalcy in his existence. Death follows him everywhere and he is prone to spouts of delusion, where his story and reality are at times difficult to discern. His mood shifts rapidly, mostly depending on drink, and his memory drifts on a tide of rum.
Poe is not a likable character, but he is the guiding force. Avi's Poe seems more based upon the smear campaign and forged letters of Rufus Wilmot Griswold that followed his death, which presented him as a wicked drunkard, though scholarly evidence to the contrary has long been the accepted truth. This can be disheartening to Poe lovers like me, but it does make for a unique character in a young adult novel. A year after the novel takes place Poe dies under questionable circumstances. Some have said alcohol was to blame, while others have denied that reason entirely, though it is true that his engagement to Sarah Helen Whitman was ended due, supposedly, to Poe's alcoholism and erratic behavior, so Avi isn't entirely off the mark with his Poe.
Readers shouldn't approach this work to learn who the true Poe was, but rather to experience a clever young-adult thriller that pays homage to his style.
I am a sixth grader March 6, 2007
The Man Who Was Poe
By Avi
4 stars
I am a sixth grader. The Man Who Was Poe is a good book, but not one of my favorites. My favorite all-time books are The Spiderwick Chronicles, but I read those a long time ago. The best book I read recently is Dragon Rider, by Cornelia Funke.
The Man Who Was Poe is a good mystery. I am a fan of Edgar Allen Poe, and I like this story because it is similar to a kind of story he would write. I recommend you read some Poe stories before you read this so you get the idea of what I mean. My favorite Poe stories are The Black Cat, The Masque of Red Death, The Fall of the House of Usher and The Telltale Heart.
The main characters in The Man Who Was Poe are a man named Augustus Dupin and an eleven-year old boy named Edmund. Mr. Dupin is a mysterious character that is a heavy drinker and writes in his journal a lot. He runs into Edmund at a time when the boy is in serious need of help and has no one else to turn to. Augustus Dupin is a very interesting character and his relationship to Edmund makes the story fascinating.
My favorite part in the book is when Mr. Dupin reveals his true identity. Edmund wasn't stunned; he just wanted Dupin to keep his promise to help him. One of the reasons that The Man Who Was Poe isn't one of my favorite books is because it is a little bit predictable. I suspected Dupin's true identity from very early in the book.
I recommend this book for Poe lovers or mystery seekers.
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