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4.15 AVERAGE
4.15 AVERAGE
DNF 50%
There's nothing wrong with this book, I just took a break from it for 3 weeks while I went home over the break, and now I have absolutely no motivation to finish it.
Good description of Egypt and Rome at the time, as well as providing good insight into Cleopatra and her romance with (so far) Julius Caesar and the beginning of her romance with Marc Antony. Maybe one day I'll pick this back up to finish it.
There's nothing wrong with this book, I just took a break from it for 3 weeks while I went home over the break, and now I have absolutely no motivation to finish it.
Good description of Egypt and Rome at the time, as well as providing good insight into Cleopatra and her romance with (so far) Julius Caesar and the beginning of her romance with Marc Antony. Maybe one day I'll pick this back up to finish it.
adventurous
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
dark
informative
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Tbh the book was not good enough to justify holding all that weight, got like 1/5 the of the way through.
The book truly opens up and hooks most readers in to Cleopatra's life as she lived it before becoming Queen all the way leading up to her crowning and her four marriages while she ruled over Egypt. This book had many historical facts laced in to the fiction of her life, it was a learning experience reading the novel. Very well written, like you're breathing the sands of Egypt however, the length is a little over done. Especially in the last half of the book where all Cleopatra is doing is waiting in fear for the end of her life and her children. I can expect to be worried myself in such a place but the constant annoyance of it never fades until the last page. The first two scrolls were amazing to read, I couldn't tear myself away but after that the novel goes boring. Almost like I didn't care to know what happened to Cleopatra anymore. Though, I stuck with her to the end and I'm sad to see it end, yet grateful for the conquering of the novel.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I’ve owned it for a while and I think the length held me back but I am glad I finally decided to dive in. I find Egypt and Cleopatra to be fascinating. I love learning about Cleopatra’s time period and this was a fantastic portrayal of the period and Cleopatra herself. The descriptions brought me directly back to ancient Egypt- they were absolutely beautiful. In reading this you can clearly tell how much the author loves this topic as well and how much research she did into it. Of course some of the politics got to be a little tedious at times but it in no way spoils the story. Historical fiction can be tough especially when written about real people because most times he reader knows how the story will end however even so the author wrote the end a way that was still captivating and honoring to Cleopatra’s death. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in the topic.
(It kills me how much history is destroyed by others whether in conquering or in spite)
(It kills me how much history is destroyed by others whether in conquering or in spite)
First off, this book was so freaking long. So, so long. It actually exhausted me reading it. But I didn't want to put it down at all. I feel very accomplished having read it and I will say that I am VERY grateful I read it on my kindle, not in paperback, I think I'd have a broken wrist if I'd have read it the 'real' way (I have the utmost respect for people who read the hardback edition, you must have wrists of steel).
Anyway, this was just an epic. I've been enjoying reading Egyptian era fiction recently, I saw this and I knew I had to read it. The length was something that put me off initially, however I think every word was warranted - if it were any shorter it just wouldn't have the depth or beauty, it wouldn't convey the true extravagance and grandeur of Ptolemaic Egypt.
It's a very convincing fictional memoir - following Cleopatra from her childhood to her death. I've noticed (while looking for fiction on Ancient Egypt) that a lot of fiction about Cleopatra focuses only on her relationships with Julius Caesar and Marc Antony. Many of them also regurgitate the myths and inaccurate stories about her that grew out of Roman propaganda. Books like these usually ignore the facts that Cleopatra was not a woman who seduced hundreds of men, but a capable Queen who competently governed Egypt by herself for many years and that she was actually only with two men in her entire life (her arranged “marriages” to her brothers were almost certainly in name only).
Overall, I'd give this 4.5/5 - but I round up today as it was just amazing. I feel some parts did drag, but generally it was just beautiful and I loved it. The fact it was written from her perspective, I felt like I was there with how Margaret George establishes and embellishes scenes... I could gush about it forever, but I'll refrain.
Honestly, if you have an interest in the period I would say READ IT, without a doubt. If you don't, then maybe still try because it is a truly amazing book.
Anyway, this was just an epic. I've been enjoying reading Egyptian era fiction recently, I saw this and I knew I had to read it. The length was something that put me off initially, however I think every word was warranted - if it were any shorter it just wouldn't have the depth or beauty, it wouldn't convey the true extravagance and grandeur of Ptolemaic Egypt.
It's a very convincing fictional memoir - following Cleopatra from her childhood to her death. I've noticed (while looking for fiction on Ancient Egypt) that a lot of fiction about Cleopatra focuses only on her relationships with Julius Caesar and Marc Antony. Many of them also regurgitate the myths and inaccurate stories about her that grew out of Roman propaganda. Books like these usually ignore the facts that Cleopatra was not a woman who seduced hundreds of men, but a capable Queen who competently governed Egypt by herself for many years and that she was actually only with two men in her entire life (her arranged “marriages” to her brothers were almost certainly in name only).
Overall, I'd give this 4.5/5 - but I round up today as it was just amazing. I feel some parts did drag, but generally it was just beautiful and I loved it. The fact it was written from her perspective, I felt like I was there with how Margaret George establishes and embellishes scenes... I could gush about it forever, but I'll refrain.
Honestly, if you have an interest in the period I would say READ IT, without a doubt. If you don't, then maybe still try because it is a truly amazing book.
I should preface this review by saying: I *love* long books. My two favorite books - The Crimson Petal and The White and Jonathan Strange and Mr Norell - both have more than a thousand pages each. And I adored Margaret George's Autobiography of Henry VIII. History is a special pet subject for me, and in middle school I read everything I could about Ancient Egypt I could lay my hands on.
So why only two stars? This book had so much promise to be everything I adored. Yet, I still found it supremely lacking. For a Queen who defied her time's expectations, managing to resuscitate a failing empire so well that it could take on the might of Rome and barely financially feel the hit - for a woman who managed to have children with two of the most powerful men in Rome - why was Cleopatra so...just...boring?
Her narrative was painfully repetitive. Every time she saw Alexandria, she compared it to a jewel; Julius Caesar was slow in bed, as capable in the sheets as he was in the battlefield (but who was he leaving her behind to go sleep with next? A man?); and all the encounters with Antony made her wish she could escape her skin and have their souls entwine! It was as if Margaret George had wanted to drive certain points home about the way that Cleopatra related to these people and surroundings - but that, unlike people like myself, these feelings overall never changed. I have had boyfriends I would've told you three years ago I planned to marry that I can't stand now. Friends that were my "besties" for decades until there was betrayal on a side that created a frosty overtone that precludes us from being anything more than nodding acquaintances now. Cleopatra's relationships with people barely changed at all once she got to know them: Caesar, the perfect, elusive husband; Antony, the rollicking captain of a band of pirates (I mean Roman soldiers, oops); Octavian, the frosty blonde with a crush on Cleo herself. Instead of having these characters' interactions markedly change Cleo Philopater, George seemed hardly willing to find new ways to express the same impressions we'd already had.
And Cleo's narration was as dry as the sand covering the Sphynx! Pretending for a moment that this pharaoh on the run had time to sit down and speak with her scribes for what I would consider to be YEARS on end, instead of what George describes as a few short months while waiting for Octavian to roll into Alexandria - why would she take care to describe every detail of every gown, every single nuance of the landscape? Unless it's the daily travel journal of a scholar who has nothing else to do with his time, it's completely unlikely that so much detail could be lavished on simple affairs. I feel as if cutting some of the narration would have made this book more interesting - there's only so much about banquets and awkward love-making I can read and retain before I'm bored stiff. By about four hundred pages, I was counting the single-digit percentages I was finishing up. By the end, I couldn't take Antony's death scene and was praying for it to be over soon. (Spoiler alert: it wasn't.) Olympos' ending was honestly better than the rest of the book put together - his wit and reverence for the Queen brought a little breath back into this mummy of a novel.
The Memoirs of Cleopatra was honestly just okay. Cleopatra Philopater did not come to life for me; she was just as static as the paintings on the inside of a pyramid. I wasn't stirred by any of the major moments of the plot nor did I particularly care that almost all of the main characters were dead. For those looking for charm and wit in equal measure, I suggest Margaret George's Autobiography of King Henry VIII - and am hoping other of her books will match that tome's tone and not this one's.
So why only two stars? This book had so much promise to be everything I adored. Yet, I still found it supremely lacking. For a Queen who defied her time's expectations, managing to resuscitate a failing empire so well that it could take on the might of Rome and barely financially feel the hit - for a woman who managed to have children with two of the most powerful men in Rome - why was Cleopatra so...just...boring?
Her narrative was painfully repetitive. Every time she saw Alexandria, she compared it to a jewel; Julius Caesar was slow in bed, as capable in the sheets as he was in the battlefield (but who was he leaving her behind to go sleep with next? A man?); and all the encounters with Antony made her wish she could escape her skin and have their souls entwine! It was as if Margaret George had wanted to drive certain points home about the way that Cleopatra related to these people and surroundings - but that, unlike people like myself, these feelings overall never changed. I have had boyfriends I would've told you three years ago I planned to marry that I can't stand now. Friends that were my "besties" for decades until there was betrayal on a side that created a frosty overtone that precludes us from being anything more than nodding acquaintances now. Cleopatra's relationships with people barely changed at all once she got to know them: Caesar, the perfect, elusive husband; Antony, the rollicking captain of a band of pirates (I mean Roman soldiers, oops); Octavian, the frosty blonde with a crush on Cleo herself. Instead of having these characters' interactions markedly change Cleo Philopater, George seemed hardly willing to find new ways to express the same impressions we'd already had.
And Cleo's narration was as dry as the sand covering the Sphynx! Pretending for a moment that this pharaoh on the run had time to sit down and speak with her scribes for what I would consider to be YEARS on end, instead of what George describes as a few short months while waiting for Octavian to roll into Alexandria - why would she take care to describe every detail of every gown, every single nuance of the landscape? Unless it's the daily travel journal of a scholar who has nothing else to do with his time, it's completely unlikely that so much detail could be lavished on simple affairs. I feel as if cutting some of the narration would have made this book more interesting - there's only so much about banquets and awkward love-making I can read and retain before I'm bored stiff. By about four hundred pages, I was counting the single-digit percentages I was finishing up. By the end, I couldn't take Antony's death scene and was praying for it to be over soon. (Spoiler alert: it wasn't.) Olympos' ending was honestly better than the rest of the book put together - his wit and reverence for the Queen brought a little breath back into this mummy of a novel.
The Memoirs of Cleopatra was honestly just okay. Cleopatra Philopater did not come to life for me; she was just as static as the paintings on the inside of a pyramid. I wasn't stirred by any of the major moments of the plot nor did I particularly care that almost all of the main characters were dead. For those looking for charm and wit in equal measure, I suggest Margaret George's Autobiography of King Henry VIII - and am hoping other of her books will match that tome's tone and not this one's.