Take a photo of a barcode or cover
carduelia_carduelis 's review for:
Augustus
by John Williams
I am bowled over by the power of a good writer.
I have very little interest in the classics (blame bad secondary school latin classes if you will) but picked this up at the airport, in faith of Williams' writing from Stoner, and I have left it with a desire for classics!
Augustus is the first example in my experience, of the 2nd person narrative being the best and only choice for a novel.
The first part speaks of the founding of the empire and the second, of the sacrifices in its maintenance or, as this edition's introduction so neatly encapsulates it:
But i think it is also about the stage that happens after you grow up and that an achievement in adulthood is just keeping together what you worked so hard to build as a youth/young adult.
It will be interesting to read this novel again in 20 years and see if I've changed my mind! :)
I have very little interest in the classics (blame bad secondary school latin classes if you will) but picked this up at the airport, in faith of Williams' writing from Stoner, and I have left it with a desire for classics!
Augustus is the first example in my experience, of the 2nd person narrative being the best and only choice for a novel.
The first part speaks of the founding of the empire and the second, of the sacrifices in its maintenance or, as this edition's introduction so neatly encapsulates it:
[...] part one is about success in the public, political sphere and part two about failiure in the private, emotional sphere -- the latter being a potential cost, Williams suggest, of the former.
But i think it is also about the stage that happens after you grow up and that an achievement in adulthood is just keeping together what you worked so hard to build as a youth/young adult.
It will be interesting to read this novel again in 20 years and see if I've changed my mind! :)