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A review by troystory
I, Claudius by Robert Graves
3.0
So, I remember having read this book years ago -- five, actually, because apparently I saved some notes about it -- but I couldn't remember much about it, and I wanted to re-read it so I wouldn't be confused while reading the sequel, which I am finally getting around to.
Overall, I enjoyed this book, though I don't know if I liked it more or less than I did the first time. It was written well, and I felt like Robert Graves did an excellent job of bringing these people to life. My biggest problem was that, for a book that was supposed to be a fictional autobiography of Claudius, felt like a modernized version of Suetonius's histories and lacked... well, much about Claudius, really. He was a background character for the most part, and often I found myself forgetting this was written from his point of view.
That being said, I really appreciated the bit with Livy and Pollio (no spoilers!) where they talk about the truth of history. I recognized a lot of the anecdotes and stories that Claudius told about his family from other history books, and it raises the question of their accuracy -- even more so when this is a clearly fictional account. As a history nerd, I really loved those bits particularly.
My favourite things:
- Caligula. I adore the way he was written; he's such a vivacious character and he really has a charismatic presence, which I think is hard to do in books! He's by far my favourite person in this book.
- the conversations Claudius has with the historians. I already wrote about why I love these.
- the time taken to describe and explain things. I'm fairly well-versed in Roman history, so most of what the book discussed I already knew or was vaguely familiar with, but I think it still did a very good job of getting things across in an accessable way.
My least favourite things:
- it read like a history book. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, because it is basically Claudius giving a very thorough account of the imperial family to tell you how he got to where he is at the end, but it got very tedious at some parts and did take away from it being entirely fiction.
- Claudius wasn't a very active part of the story. I totally understand why, but personally I'm not the biggest fan of this.
I do recommend this book, though. For the most part it's a delight, and it's so rich and vivid and it brings you right into the story. I'm excited to read the sequel!
Overall, I enjoyed this book, though I don't know if I liked it more or less than I did the first time. It was written well, and I felt like Robert Graves did an excellent job of bringing these people to life. My biggest problem was that, for a book that was supposed to be a fictional autobiography of Claudius, felt like a modernized version of Suetonius's histories and lacked... well, much about Claudius, really. He was a background character for the most part, and often I found myself forgetting this was written from his point of view.
That being said, I really appreciated the bit with Livy and Pollio (no spoilers!) where they talk about the truth of history. I recognized a lot of the anecdotes and stories that Claudius told about his family from other history books, and it raises the question of their accuracy -- even more so when this is a clearly fictional account. As a history nerd, I really loved those bits particularly.
My favourite things:
- Caligula. I adore the way he was written; he's such a vivacious character and he really has a charismatic presence, which I think is hard to do in books! He's by far my favourite person in this book.
- the conversations Claudius has with the historians. I already wrote about why I love these.
- the time taken to describe and explain things. I'm fairly well-versed in Roman history, so most of what the book discussed I already knew or was vaguely familiar with, but I think it still did a very good job of getting things across in an accessable way.
My least favourite things:
- it read like a history book. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, because it is basically Claudius giving a very thorough account of the imperial family to tell you how he got to where he is at the end, but it got very tedious at some parts and did take away from it being entirely fiction.
- Claudius wasn't a very active part of the story. I totally understand why, but personally I'm not the biggest fan of this.
I do recommend this book, though. For the most part it's a delight, and it's so rich and vivid and it brings you right into the story. I'm excited to read the sequel!