The Egyptologist

The Egyptologist, by Arthur Phillips. A very well-written epistolary novel. It's ambitious and covers a lot of ground - in both the literal and figurative senses of the phrase. Plotlines split, multiply, intertwine and converge in a tongue-in-cheek narrative. The central theme of the novel is that of identity and the individual's ability to create or alter his own identity, for the present or for posterity.

It is about an Oxford-educated archaeologist by the name of Ralph Trilipush, who is attempting to uncover the lost tomb of the possibly apocryphal Egyptian King Atum-hadu in the 1920's. Trilipush is working in the same time and place as the perhaps slightly more famous Howard Carter, who discovered the tomb of the perhaps slightly more famous King Tut. Pieces of erotic literature (the verses of which, often quoted in the text, are hilariously salacious) have been found and attributed to Atum-hadu; many scholars are dubious as to either his authorship or his actual existence, but Trilipush is absolutely convinced. The novel is structured as a collection of documents assembled by Laurence Macy, a man interested in learning the truth about his aunt's past. His aunt was Margaret, daughter of C.C. Finneran, the financier of Trilipush's expedition, and also Trilipush's fiancée. These documents include correspondence between Macy and Ferrell, the private investigator who was originally investigating Trilipush's suspicious origins. They also include correspondence between Margaret and Trilipush, as well as Trilipush's journal.

I liked the epistolary structure of the novel. There is a great deal of mystery in the novel, including unreliable narrators, questionable identities, motives, murder, and of course the secrets of a tomb hidden for millenia. It's a well-researched book - Phillips did his homework on this one - and it is also very cleverly written and amusing in parts. It felt a bit long to me, but there's a lot going on, and the way the various mysteries wrap up is pretty entertaining. I definitely recommend it. It's a bit different, and a bit tough to get through certain parts, but it's witty, with a sort of wink-wink intellectual flavor.