The Rule of Four (2005) (edit title/settings)

Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit

Write a ridiculously simplified synopsis.

Characters/People edit see section history

• Thomas Corelli Sullivan (Tom): The narrator of the story, is the son of a professor who had dedicated his life to the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili. Throughout the novel, he struggles between being fascinated by the book and trying to pull away from the obsession that drew a rift between his father and his mother and is now causing discord between him and his girlfriend.
• Paul Harris: A brilliant young scholar who is writing his undergraduate thesis on the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili. He has spent all four of his undergraduate years studying the book and is close to a breakthrough.
• Katie Marchand: Tom's girlfriend, a sophomore at Princeton.
• Charlie Freeman: roommate and friend of the main characters Paul and Tom. Charlie is the buddy that you can count on to have your back at all times.
• Dr. Vincent Taft: The thesis advisor to Paul.
• Gil: the son of a rich banker, Gil is roommate and friend of the main characters Paul and Tom. He's also the President of Ivy club.
• Francesco Colonna: the alleged author of Hypnerotomachia Poliphili
• Tara Pierson: An undergrad at Princeton and friend of Tom Sullivan.
• Richard Curry: A friend of Tom's father. He has been Paul's mentor since freshman year.
• Bill Stein: Paul's thesis research partner. Junior to Vincent Taft
• Donato: One of the messengers who delivered the letter from the noble man in 1497.
• Parker Hassett: A member of the Ivy Club at Princeton.
• Mrs. Freeman: Charlie's mother.
• Rodrigo: One of the messengers who carried the noble man's letter in 1497.
• Dod: Short for Princeton Dormitory
• Terragni: After Francesco leaves Florence, he asks Terragni to have it delivered anonymously, to Aldus.
• Brooks Franklin: The vice president of the Ivy Club.
• Mrs. Lockhart: A librarian.
• Michelangelo: Paul thinks that civilization has taken a nose dive since the death of Michelangelo.
• Joseph: Paul states that the stories of Joseph have a meaning in solving the puzzle.
• Alberti: This is who Tom turns to in order to solve the first riddle.
• Dickinson: The history building at Princeton.
• Donald Morgan: Someone Katie has been seen dating.
• Leonardo: Add a description of this character.
• Sam Felton: A woman in the school newsroom.
• Jenny Harlow: A girl Tom bought a bracelet for in the past.
• Mary Shelley: Author of "Frankenstein."
• Anna: Gil's old girlfriend
• Henderson
• Cesare
• Hogue
• Galen: The second father of modern medicine, after Hippocrates.
• Sarah: One of Tom's elder sisters.
• Kristen: Tom's other elder sister.
• Aldus Manutius: A Venetian who published the "Hyperothomachia Poliphilii"
• Rhoda Carter: Head librarian of Firestone.
• Kelly Danner: A friend of Tom's girlfriend at Princeton.

Quotes edit see section history

• “Adulthood is a glacier encroaching quietly on youth. When it arrives, the stamp of childhood suddenly freezes, capturing us for good in the image of our last act, the post we struck when the ice of age set in.”

  Tom Sullivan

• “Like all things in the universe, we are destined from birth to diverge. Time is simply the yardstick of our separation. If we are particles in a sea of distance, exploded from an original whole, then there is a science to our solitude. We are lonely in proportion to our years.”

  Tom Sullivan

• Popular Highlights from Kindle Customers

• never invest yourself in anything so deeply that its failure could cost you your happiness.

  Highlighted by 13 Kindle customers

• Hope, Paul said to me once, which whispered from Pandora’s box only after all the other plagues and sorrows had escaped, is the best and last of all things. Without it, there is only time. And time pushes at our backs like a centrifuge, forcing us outward and away, until it nudges us into oblivion.

  Highlighted by 11 Kindle customers

• A son is the promise that time makes to a man, the guarantee every father receives that whatever he holds dear will someday be considered foolish, and that the person he loves best in the world will misunderstand him.

  Highlighted by 9 Kindle customers

• Like all things in the universe, we are destined from birth to diverge. Time is simply the yardstick of our separation. If we are particles in a sea of distance, exploded from an original whole, then there is a science to our solitude. We are lonely in proportion to our years.

  Highlighted by 9 Kindle customers

• “The strong take from the weak, but the smart take from the strong.”

  Highlighted by 8 Kindle customers

• Leonardo wrote that a painter should begin every canvas with a wash of black, because all things in nature are dark except where exposed by the light. Most painters do the opposite, starting with a whitewash and adding the shadows last. But Paul, who knows Leonardo so well you’d think the old man slept in our bottom bunk, understands the value of starting with the shadows. The only things people can ever know about you are the ones you let them see.

  Highlighted by 8 Kindle customers

• It is the greatest houses and the tallest trees that the gods bring low with bolts and thunder. For the gods love to thwart whatever is greater than the rest. They do not suffer pride in anyone but themselves.

  Highlighted by 8 Kindle customers

• Borrowing from Michelangelo, he would say that life was like sculpture: a matter of seeing what others couldn’t, then chiseling away the rest.

  Highlighted by 8 Kindle customers

• “He’s not supposed to be on your side. You fight with him; you try to undo what he does to others. But he’s too powerful. No matter how much we suffer, Virgil says, our hardships cannot move him.”

  Highlighted by 6 Kindle customers

• The delicious futility of impossible tasks is the catnip of overachievers.

  Highlighted by 5 Kindle customers

Setting & Locations edit see section history

• Hypnerotomachia Poliphili: A book which in Latin means "Poliphilo's Struggle for Love in a Dream"
• Princeton: Princeton is a stopover for Gil on the way to Wall Street. The main characters are students at Princeton.
• Savonarola
• Florence
• Rome: Where two messengers carried a note to a church.
• Italy
• New York
• Chicago: The University of Chicago offers Tom admission to a doctoral program in English.
• Nassau Hall
• Columbus
• Manhattan: Gil is a banker's son from Manhattan.
• Texas
• Poliphilo
• San Lorenzo: This is the name of the church where the two messengers came in 1497.
• Egypt
• Frankenstein
• Ohio: Tom's father was an Ohio bookseller's son.
• Europe
• Vatican
• Philadelphia
• Firestone
• Hypnerotomarbia
• Ivy Club: A club Gil belongs to at Princeton.

First Sentence edit see section history

Table of Contents edit see section history

Series & Lists edit see section history

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

1. Ian Caldwell (Author)
2. Dustin Thomason (Author)

Other Contributors:

1. A. P. Babichev
2. L. K. Gillespie

First Edition edit see section history

Classification edit see section history

• Library of Congress: PS3603.A435 R85 2004
• Dewey: 813.6

Notes for Parents edit see section history

Add a note to help parents select a book for a child.

Subjects edit see section history

• Books › Mystery & Thrillers › Thrillers › Suspense
• Books › Literature & Fiction › Contemporary
• Books › Mystery & Thrillers › Mystery