Reviews

The Pyramid by Ismail Kadare

oisincleere's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

zhelana's review

adventurous challenging dark slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

I think this book was a critique of the USSR? At any rate the pyramid is a huge monument to the leader made by all the laborers and then something goes wrong and there is a mass purge like movement in which everyone denounces their neighbors. So far so good. But then, it goes off on some weird tangent about pyramids made of human heads and other pyramid like things being made, and I just lost the plot. Anyway, it was published in 1992 and the author grew up in the USSR and was later quoted criticizing communism, so I'm pretty sure at least the first half of it is a critique of Stalinism and the Soviet Union. After that? I have no clue. Honestly, if the book had ended halfway through I would have rated it much higher, but I just have no idea what the second half of the book even meant. Maybe I'm too young and it was something that happened politically that no longer gets talked about or something, but honestly, i don't know. 

doctoroctopus7's review

dark funny lighthearted mysterious reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

5.0

nyzky's review against another edition

5.0

Buku yang... sulit saya deskripsikan.

Pertama kali melihatnya di bagian 'buku-buku tidak terlalu berat'. Don't judge the book by the cover menjadi pepatah yang diragukan di sini, karena mau tak mau, saya harus mengakui bahwa kedua sisi cover-nya lah yang menantang saya untuk membelinya. Gambar di cover depan, maupun semacam review singkat di cover belakang.

Saya jatuh cinta pada buku ini karena menyuguhkan cerita tentang Mesir. Bukan Mesir dengan latar belakang Al Azhar Kairo, ya, tapi Mesir kuno. Lebih tepatnya, tentang cerita awal pembangunan sampai pada penistaan (penjarahan dan lainnya) piramid-piramid yang kita tahu menjadi simbol kemegahan Mesir. Di halaman depan, ada komentar yang mengatakan 'lebih machiavellis daripada Machiavelli' dan memuji 'kejam namun puitis'-nya buku ini... sementara saya di sini berkata 'amen, brother, amen!'.

Sebagai catatan kecil, bukan berarti buku ini begitu sempurna tanpa cacat. Entah apakah salah cetak, tidak teredit dengan baik, atau memang demi diksi yang berbeda, tapi buku ini banyak menggunakan ejaan-ejaan lama dan beberapa kata yang saya kurang mengerti. Namun begitu, saya tidak pernah menyesal telah menyelesaikannya kemarin, walaupun saya tahu saya bisa lebih cepat dari itu.

borealis85's review against another edition

2.0

This is somewhat enjoyable read when you keep constantly in mind that this is the story of communism (Building the pyramid is the path towards communism) in disguise.

A second star comes from the notion that this book made me study the pyramids.

msgtdameron's review against another edition

dark sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

The main character is Cheops Pyramid.  So all four character questions are weird.  How do you love a pyramid?  But ,he is developed by being built and all the stories that go along with the building of Cheops pyramid.  He leads to other pyramids being built and finishes by asking us today "Am I real or am I a mirage."  If real what do I mean and if an ethereal image why do you all see me.  AM I a massive group psychological fraud perpetrated over thousands of years?  Interesting questions for a quick read. 

booksonmars's review

dark funny

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

dark and gruesome yet humorous at times

pas_moi's review

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

3.5

maddie_kelly's review

fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Death

Moderate: Misogyny, Rape, and Sexual violence

miramanga's review against another edition

2.0

I'm a fan of Ancient Egyptian stories - but this was a drudge. Sample text goes like "..stone number ten thousand and twenty six arrived from the quarry and was placed, stone number ten thousand and twenty seven arrived but was cursed and forty slaves died, stone number ten thousand and twenty eight had a crack in it..". No joke.

It put me in mind of this comedy sketch. It's only 2'29 mins long, but infinitely more entertaining than this book. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ob1rYlCpOnM

Having said that - if anyone knows of any great fantasy or detective novels set in Ancient Egypt please recommend in the comments.