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A review by thebookboy
The Emperor's Babe by Bernardine Evaristo
5.0
I had great fun with this one! Set during the Roman occupation of Britain and inspired by the knowledge that black people have been in the British isles since that time, The Emperor's Babe is a fast flowing verse novel that explores various aspects of roman culture, sexuality, society and more through a tongue-in-cheek witty narrative.
Zuleika is an excellent character and despite her youth manages to be a lively and interesting focus for the novel. Born effectively poor and risen to great heights, she is an example of the fetishising of the exotic and the fluid nature of Roman society in many ways.
I adored the Latin, the puns, the fun speech and the characters, the representation and even the whole verse format which I thought may be a bit contrived and irritating after a while (it thankfully wasn't).
Obviously this is not a novel that is going to be everyone's cup of tea - it's very experimental and silly in some respects, but that just added to the whole feel of it for me - I found myself utterly transported and wanting more and more.
5 stars
Zuleika is an excellent character and despite her youth manages to be a lively and interesting focus for the novel. Born effectively poor and risen to great heights, she is an example of the fetishising of the exotic and the fluid nature of Roman society in many ways.
I adored the Latin, the puns, the fun speech and the characters, the representation and even the whole verse format which I thought may be a bit contrived and irritating after a while (it thankfully wasn't).
Obviously this is not a novel that is going to be everyone's cup of tea - it's very experimental and silly in some respects, but that just added to the whole feel of it for me - I found myself utterly transported and wanting more and more.
5 stars