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mathetria 's review for:
The Wedding Shroud
by Elisabeth Storrs
adventurous
emotional
informative
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I admit to being puzzled by some critiques in reviews of the book, particularly impatience over the time it took Caecilia to accept Etruscan ways. Given her age, and her sheltered life prior, for her to jump with joy about cultural norms she had been taught to abhor would have been shallow characterization. The events of the novel from her marriage to the end is only about a year. It takes time for a person to come to terms with such a very different culture, especially if they have been told that culture is sinful and wicked, and they are young with little life experience. I found Caecilia's journey-in-stages to be quite believable, tugged along by increasing affection rather than ideologies, as such changes inevitably are.
In short, I believed in Caecilia's slow acceptance, and look forward to where her story goes next. Anything much faster would have been annoying, in fact.
While no Etruscan expert (I do Macedonia and Greece), I do have some familiarity with the culture and found Storrs' portrayal accurate so far as I could tell, the places where she had to flesh out what we don't know logical in her construction. I especially appreciated the attention to all the senses when describing the countryside as well as the city. Some historical novelists don't seem to have a good grasp of *place*. She did. I particularly appreciated the attention given to Etruscan religion, which is fascinating and quite different from Roman, even if the Romans seem to have borrowed some aspects of it (just as they borrowed from the Greeks, albeit often translated by Etruria). The contrast of cultural development between Rome in this era and Veii was stark, but from what I know, correct. Nothing ahistorical threw me out of the story.
If I have any complaint, it was with the ending. I don't object to cliff-hangers, and Caecilia's story arc for the first book is satisfactorily concluded, but the Epilogue's end felt a little too abrupt. I wanted the final scene to extend one more paragraph to include her choice--or to make the choice clearer. (If the choice was meant to be made, the fact I'm not sure what it was suggests a need for more clarity.) There would still be obvious fallout that would lead the reader to the next book, I think.
In any case, that's a minor complaint. The novel is one of the better historicals I've read in a while, and that it involved Etruscans made it only that much better for me. There are lots of historicals about Rome, but relatively few about Etruria. I look forward to continuing the series.
In short, I believed in Caecilia's slow acceptance, and look forward to where her story goes next. Anything much faster would have been annoying, in fact.
While no Etruscan expert (I do Macedonia and Greece), I do have some familiarity with the culture and found Storrs' portrayal accurate so far as I could tell, the places where she had to flesh out what we don't know logical in her construction. I especially appreciated the attention to all the senses when describing the countryside as well as the city. Some historical novelists don't seem to have a good grasp of *place*. She did. I particularly appreciated the attention given to Etruscan religion, which is fascinating and quite different from Roman, even if the Romans seem to have borrowed some aspects of it (just as they borrowed from the Greeks, albeit often translated by Etruria). The contrast of cultural development between Rome in this era and Veii was stark, but from what I know, correct. Nothing ahistorical threw me out of the story.
If I have any complaint, it was with the ending. I don't object to cliff-hangers, and Caecilia's story arc for the first book is satisfactorily concluded, but the Epilogue's end felt a little too abrupt. I wanted the final scene to extend one more paragraph to include her choice--or to make the choice clearer. (If the choice was meant to be made, the fact I'm not sure what it was suggests a need for more clarity.) There would still be obvious fallout that would lead the reader to the next book, I think.
In any case, that's a minor complaint. The novel is one of the better historicals I've read in a while, and that it involved Etruscans made it only that much better for me. There are lots of historicals about Rome, but relatively few about Etruria. I look forward to continuing the series.