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A review by lucybbookstuff
Agrippina: The Most Extraordinary Woman of the Roman World by Emma Southon
funny
informative
medium-paced
4.0
As someone who doesn't read much history, this was engaging and informative!
I really like and appreciate Southon's irreverent narrative voice. I am usually intimidated by history books, but her style made this very digestible and more fun than I'd usually expect.
I didn't quite find it as laugh-out-loud funny as I was lead to believe, but it was still enjoyable.
Otherwise, I do feel that I could have gotten this exact same info from a single chapter or section of some other book. I'm not saying that this historical figure doesn't deserve a deep dive. It just felt like the available info was stretched pretty thin to create this full book. And a lot of it was Southon's personal extrapolation and theorizing based on extremely vague info.
Again, not saying there's no place for that, but I was expecting something a bit different.
Definitely learned some things, though! And Agrippina is undoubtedly fascinating. If anything, this book made me wish there were more firm info about her out there.
I really like and appreciate Southon's irreverent narrative voice. I am usually intimidated by history books, but her style made this very digestible and more fun than I'd usually expect.
I didn't quite find it as laugh-out-loud funny as I was lead to believe, but it was still enjoyable.
Otherwise, I do feel that I could have gotten this exact same info from a single chapter or section of some other book. I'm not saying that this historical figure doesn't deserve a deep dive. It just felt like the available info was stretched pretty thin to create this full book. And a lot of it was Southon's personal extrapolation and theorizing based on extremely vague info.
Again, not saying there's no place for that, but I was expecting something a bit different.
Definitely learned some things, though! And Agrippina is undoubtedly fascinating. If anything, this book made me wish there were more firm info about her out there.