A review by seebrandyread
The Volcano Lover by Susan Sontag

adventurous challenging dark informative mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Susan Sontag’s The Volcano Lover is a fictional telling of the lives and entanglements of Sir William Hamilton, English ambassador to Naples; his second wife, Lady Emma Hamilton; and the celebrated naval hero, Horatio Nelson, at the end of the 18th century and turn of the 19th. Sir Hamilton’s obsessive collecting, Emma’s common background but meteoric rise to popularity through her own cleverness and fortunate marriage, and Nelson’s military exploits make them an odd trio, but they somehow encapsulate much of what was wrong with yet fascinating about their particular period of history. As the the three become more enamored with one another, they become less concerned with the duties and expectations of their stations. As one would expect, the woman pays a much dearer cost for her indiscretions. Though this story is already laid out in the annals of history, Sontag still raises questions about the nature of history. Whose stories are remembered? How? Why? She reminds us that history is a construct, a carefully curated collection by those with the power and means to assemble it.