Rating: 
Summary: A wonderful afternoon read!
Review: "Never fall in love with the medium" is the anthem for this novel. Martin Finch, a Harvard graduate student, is called upon by his mentor to travel to Philadelphia to observe the seances performed by Mina Crawley. A $5,000 award is the prize for an actual spirit appearance. Martin provides all the gimmicks to prove Mina a fraud. However, he falls in love with her and now we are questioning each appearance by her dead brother. Her much older husband becomes suspect.
I loved the spiritualism, seances, and the young Martin, always at odds with his fellow compatriats who must come to a
decision as to whether Mina's visions are real or trumped up!
Rating:
Summary: A wonderful afternoon read!
Review: "Never fall in love with the medium" is the anthem for this novel. Martin Finch, a Harvard graduate student, is called upon by his mentor to travel to Philadelphia to observe the seances performed by Mina Crawley. A $5,000 award is the prize for an actual spirit appearance. Martin provides all the gimmicks to prove Mina a fraud. However, he falls in love with her and now we are questioning each appearance by her dead brother. Her much older husband becomes suspect.
I loved the spiritualism, seances, and the young Martin, always at odds with his fellow compatriats who must come to a
decision as to whether Mina's visions are real or trumped up!
Rating:
Summary: Enamored
Review: As a college student, it is a rare occasion in which I find the time to read a book of my own choosing. Fortunately I came across Inamorata this summer and I just can't stop raving about it. I am completely amazed that this is Joseph Gangemi's first novel. The character development and dialogue were fantastic and his attention to detail in regards to the era was spot on. As a fan of 1920's culture, I was in heaven. The perfect blend of intelligence, spiritualism, glamour, and romance all in this wonderfully quirky, twisted novel. It has quickly become one of my favorites and I am sitting on the edge of my chair for Mr. Gangemi's next work!
Rating: 
Summary: Average -- some interesting moments but overall dull
Review: Gangemi's story of a Harvard student who gets involved in disproving the powers of various mediums starts strong and then gets bogged down in a relatively uninteresting mystery and romance.Not a bad novel, there's just nothing special here. If you haven't read The Alienist or The Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, start with them first.
Rating:
Summary: I actually gasped out loud!
Review: I loved reading this book: not only a thrilling glimpse of life in the roaring 20's, but a rare look at one of the most important (and forgotten) movements in this country: spiritualism, where people were convinced they could communicate with the dead. I have never been so transfixed by a book since Kavalier and Clay; I actually gasped out loud twice and had to stay up all night to finish it. I heartily recommend this as a great read with a wonderful finish to it: you can't get the wonderful eerieness out of your head for a long time.
Rating:
Summary: The Cat's Meow
Review: I read this book on the recommedation of a friend, and it didn't leave my hands from the moment I picked it up until I finished it. As an aficionado of both the 1920s, the era in which the novel is set, and mystery novels/spooky settings, I was in heaven. Everything in the book is historically accurate, down to the most minute details. As an F. Scott Fitzgerald scholar, I also enjoyed Mr. Gangemi's occasional oblique references to Fitzgerald's work. Inamorata is a real page-turner, and all-in-all an excellent novel. I'm looking forward to reading more from the talented Mr. Gangemi.
Rating:
Summary: Haunting and Wonderful!
Review: INAMORATA is everything I want in a novel! Brains, beauty, and bravura. The story is at once light and dense -- you're plowing through the twists and turns and oddities, and then suddenly you stop in your tracks to admire the delicious writing, or to ponder a wonderful insight. It's a head-spinning stew: supernatural romance, historical fiction, the loss of innocence. When we close the book, both the hero and the reader are forced to ponder the mysteries that lie beneath the surface of all things. This novel is fun. This novel moves. Buy it. Spread the news. Writer Joseph Gangemi has conjured up a winner.
Rating: 
Summary: A clever and fun debut
Review: It is the 1920s and the Scientific American Magazine is offering a $5,000 reward for anyone who could prove themselves to be a real spiritualist. Many apply and only the most promising are investigated by the committee. One of the members of the committee is a promising graduate student, Martin Finch. His ingenuity has proved several of the most brilliant and famous spiritualists as frauds. He now is off to Philadelphia with the committee to evaluate the 'society psychic' Mina Crawley. Mina presents a unique problem to Martin. First, her seances appear authentic and quite difficult to prove as fake. The second and more important problem is that Martin is falling in love with her in spite of the fact that she is married.
INAMORATA is not a true mystery in the usual definition of the genre. No murders occur but the mystery lies in finding the proof that Mina is a fraud. The book is clever and quite a bit of fun. The historical era is very well depicted in this atmospheric novel filled with realistic characters. The length is perfect for the plot and the solution is both clever and satisfying. A recommended read.
Rating:
Summary: (3.5)Science at war with the human heart
Review: Martin Finch is living on limited resources, working on an advanced degree at Harvard. Through an embarrassing fluke, he is hired as a paid assistant to a renowned professor. The professor is on the board of The Scientific American, a magazine dedicated to the exploration of all things scientific. It is no coincidence that by 1886 Spiritualism is enjoying great success in society, inspiring hybrid religions, such as Christian Science. The Scientific American is sponsoring a contest: there will be a $5,ooo award, an enormous sum in 1922, to any medium who can offer proof of legitimate contact with the spirit world. The spiritualist must pass inspection by a designated committee of the Scientific American. Finch's precise mind fits perfectly into his new employment, as he successfully engineers the denouement of a number of frauds. The professor is indisposed and cannot make the trip to Philadelphia, sending Finch to investigate in his place. When Martin meets the spiritualist, who has been recommended by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, he is unprepared for the decidedly unscientific experience of falling in love. A product of Victorian repression, the young man is unable to maintain his objectivity under the scrutiny of the beautiful woman; the clever Mrs. Crawley perfectly checkmates Martin's scientific mind, playing cat and mouse with his emotions and his inexperience with the opposite sex. Are Mina's séances authentic and does she deserve the prize, or is there another explanation? Once Finch becomes enamored of Mina, his ability is fatally compromised. Still, he leaves no stone unturned, going to a number of unsavory places, physically at risk and certainly out of his element in the sprawling city. Subconsciously, Martin knows his judgment is impaired, yet he continues to probe for answers; his difficulty is acting as inquisitor, when the person who stands to lose is the woman he loves. Gangemi's period piece is stuffy and tedious- in other words, a perfect example of post-Victorian society with it's attendant snobbery. The avid group engaged in the pursuit of the paranormal has all the priggish sensibilities of entitlement: the men are pompous and pretentious; Mina represents the delicate female who must be protected. This strata of society is rigid and structured, although Prohibition brings welcome revenue and frivolity to a thirsty city. The author creates a small island of Spiritualism's enthusiasts where the normal challenges the paranormal, even though the world-at-large is rushing toward the future. This tight little novel is but a chapter in Mr. Finch's young life, but it is also a microcosm of the early 20th century, where mores and manners are subject to examination. Regardless of the purity of his intentions, Martin Finch finds that human nature will triumph. Luan Gaines/2004.
Rating:
Summary: Great read, very well done
Review: Mr Gangemi has excelled with this novel. I could not stop reading this book once I started it! A really well crafted novel mixed with humor, historical facts and well known figures (such as Houdini).
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