Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.66 AVERAGE
3.66 AVERAGE
Good yarn to read whilst actually visiting the place - did help me think about water and the city-scape but the central romance was a tad flimsy.
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
dark
informative
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
adventurous
dark
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Loveable characters:
Yes
I mean. What did you expect from a book called Pompeii. Joyful romps through the meadows in midwestern America? Ffft.
We know how the story is going to end. It's a foregone conclusion. So taking most of the story as a sort of political mystery/architectural dissertation as the focus is entertaining. The story is about a really charming plumber doing really dangerous things at the foot of a really active volcano. Neat.
It feels very much like a 90s disaster movie. I mean. There's even a 90s disaster movie about a volcano, right? I always distinctly remember the scene with the grandma in the boiling lake for some reason. It's like that (the overall movie, not the grandma in the lake), but with togas instead of denim.
Which is to say, it's fun, but it's really just a set piece to play with some fancy special effects and some exceedingly tropey characters. The heroes are SO GOOD and the villains are SO RELENTLESSLY EVIL and the girl is SUPER HOT and doesn't really feel like a proper girl in ancient Rome but whatever you can go all modern if you want; we all know the volcano is the truly sexy one here and the rest is just window dressing. It plays up the decadence and silliness of the villains and the super rich (man, it's really just the ultra corrupted president trope, and it's just missing a "would have gotten away with it too" line to make it perfect), but in the end the book never feels particularly real, which is weird because of the whole, y'know, Actually Happened thing. There's a sort of clinical distance from itself, which might be from the Good Guy Plumber's very orderly view of the world coming into play.
Additionally, once things started going explodey (and), the book sort of derails itself into spending time with Pliny on the bay, which is fine, but again really emphasizes just how clinically distant the book is from the action. It may be out of respect for the Pompeii citizenry and loss of life (is a "too soon" joke tasteless?) but probably not since the book describes with gleeful delight a torrential wave of heat blasting all clothes and shoes from the villain and spinning him back against the wall like a Looney Toons character seconds before he dies. It's tonally bizarre, I've got to admit.
Weird how there seemed to be some mild political bites at the end that go all floppy, too? Like, "Oh, global warming isn't real; humans are so arrogant to think we're the ones who start everything lol" and mocking tourism of Pompeii in modern times which...okay, yeah, that would be fair if you hadn't just made a ton of money publishing a book based on a tragedy.
And all this sounds like I didn't enjoy it, but...I did enjoy it. It thrives on build up, some of the snark is charming, and since it's so tropey, it feels really safe and comfortable and straight out of my nostalgic 90s. Silly as the characters are, I was really rooting for Attilius and hoping he'd somehow survive. The final paragraph was an ooey gooey piece of strangely sentimental garbage, but a Hollywood Good Ending ooey gooey piece of strangely sentimental garbage.
It's a popcorn natural disaster thriller flick in book form. A super light diversion for an afternoon--assuming you'll be as way into the delightfully fascinating Roman architecture as I was, because if you're not into aqueducts, you're in for a world of really boring pain for about 70% of the book and should pick up something different.
We know how the story is going to end. It's a foregone conclusion. So taking most of the story as a sort of political mystery/architectural dissertation as the focus is entertaining. The story is about a really charming plumber doing really dangerous things at the foot of a really active volcano. Neat.
It feels very much like a 90s disaster movie. I mean. There's even a 90s disaster movie about a volcano, right? I always distinctly remember the scene with the grandma in the boiling lake for some reason. It's like that (the overall movie, not the grandma in the lake), but with togas instead of denim.
Which is to say, it's fun, but it's really just a set piece to play with some fancy special effects and some exceedingly tropey characters. The heroes are SO GOOD and the villains are SO RELENTLESSLY EVIL and the girl is SUPER HOT and doesn't really feel like a proper girl in ancient Rome but whatever you can go all modern if you want; we all know the volcano is the truly sexy one here and the rest is just window dressing. It plays up the decadence and silliness of the villains and the super rich (man, it's really just the ultra corrupted president trope, and it's just missing a "would have gotten away with it too" line to make it perfect), but in the end the book never feels particularly real, which is weird because of the whole, y'know, Actually Happened thing. There's a sort of clinical distance from itself, which might be from the Good Guy Plumber's very orderly view of the world coming into play.
Additionally, once things started going explodey (and
Spoiler
after our hero somehow managed to get off of the explodey mountain despite actually climbing around on the summit mere minutes before eruption started because lol why notWeird how there seemed to be some mild political bites at the end that go all floppy, too? Like, "Oh, global warming isn't real; humans are so arrogant to think we're the ones who start everything lol" and mocking tourism of Pompeii in modern times which...okay, yeah, that would be fair if you hadn't just made a ton of money publishing a book based on a tragedy.
And all this sounds like I didn't enjoy it, but...I did enjoy it. It thrives on build up, some of the snark is charming, and since it's so tropey, it feels really safe and comfortable and straight out of my nostalgic 90s. Silly as the characters are, I was really rooting for Attilius and hoping he'd somehow survive. The final paragraph was an ooey gooey piece of strangely sentimental garbage, but a Hollywood Good Ending ooey gooey piece of strangely sentimental garbage.
It's a popcorn natural disaster thriller flick in book form. A super light diversion for an afternoon--assuming you'll be as way into the delightfully fascinating Roman architecture as I was, because if you're not into aqueducts, you're in for a world of really boring pain for about 70% of the book and should pick up something different.
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
informative
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated