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jonfaith's review against another edition
3.0
My day to day involves routine investigations regarding incidents and accidents involving the significantly disabled. Most of the actual conversation is with caretakers. I go home often feeling drowned in bullshit, well maybe dunked with spittle-some baiting in between the submersions. I can handle tall tales, I could listen to Dylan spin a yarn about his upbringing amongst Chippewa carnies all night long. I just can’t handle the shit, the demonizing.
It shouldn’t be surprising then that this book wasn’t fun. No tales of trained geese pleasuring the nympho queen of Byzantium could lift this from being labor. The last forty percent of the account regards the rapine corruption of the regime. Measure upon measure robbing the populace and all without recourse. Somewhere Steven Pinker is saying, see I told you it was all improving.
It shouldn’t be surprising then that this book wasn’t fun. No tales of trained geese pleasuring the nympho queen of Byzantium could lift this from being labor. The last forty percent of the account regards the rapine corruption of the regime. Measure upon measure robbing the populace and all without recourse. Somewhere Steven Pinker is saying, see I told you it was all improving.
chairmanbernanke's review against another edition
5.0
An insightful perspective on the people and society of a distant time. Some personalities seem near even today.
jenjones83's review against another edition
3.0
An interesting tell of historical events. Who needs the Kardashians when you have history.
whatjackiereads's review against another edition
3.0
The Secret History is a vicious attack on Theodora and Justinian. The writing practically drips with Procopius' hatred for the pair, every sentence throwing nasty accusations of every kind at them. These accusations range from immorality to murder, from lies to the theft of the empire's wealth and glory. I give three stars for the sheer scale of the writing, although Procopius has been dead 1500 years so this review isn't constructive in any way. Just me disagreeing.
mervegunal's review against another edition
2.0
representation of how a man can write a book about his hatred towards a woman without getting tired. That's all.
lizzird's review against another edition
4.0
When my friend Mary and I read this book in college, we were flabbergasted that such a salacious book could have been written so long ago. So much for our theories about modern taste in literature being the most depraved ever. If Procopius is to be believed, the court of Justinian and Theodora was filled with incestuous, adulterous torturers without a lick of morality or sympathy. The stories are so outrageous that it's awfully difficult to take him seriously, but it is a truly delicious read.