History for the layman
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This is my first Robert Harris book and I was not disappointed. Those who love history written in layman's prose would enjoy this book. I loved that he chose to write the story from the perspective of Tiro as it improved the writing style. Although the book is about Cicero I ended up liking Tiro better. The book started slow and it took me a couple of days to really start off. The tempo eventually rose and I couldnt wait to get towards the end of the book. It also made me understand politics a lot better. Based on the reviews I have read I guess I wll try fatherland. For once I found a book not bogged down by unnecessary sex and violence.
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Hard to Categorise
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Its taken me a while to get around to reading Imperium. Partly this was because there were other more appealing reads available to me, and partly because I was unsure how much I would actually enjoy Robert Harris' portrayal of the Roman politician/orator/lawyer Cicero.
Having read all of Harris' previous novels, including his latest 'The Ghost', plus a number of his comment pieces in various newspapers and magazines, I knew he was was a talented writer even if I hadn't been truly blown away by any of his fictional works since Fatherland. My worries however, were that even a writer of his talents would struggle to make the intricacies and intrigues of pre-Imperial Roman politics clear to the lay reader and that he would try too hard to draw overt parallels with contemporary politics instead of simply recounting history.
As it turns out I need not have worried. Harris manages to present a clear picture of the politics of the Roman republic whilst maintaining a quick narrative pace that holds the reader's attention. He also avoids laying on the contemporary parallels too overtly and refrains from trying to twist events just for the sake of making comparisons with modern politics.
Despite his successful approach however, Imperium remains a very difficult book to categorise. A work of 'faction' (fact mixed with fiction), it is neither a straight history lesson nor an outright historical thriller. There are the elements of both to be found within it. Readers will come away with a reasonable understanding of politics towards the end of the Roman republic and there are thriller like elements to be found too; especially in the last third of the book. Overall however, it is hard to work out exactly what Harris was trying to achieve in writing this book.
It certainly wasn't a biography of Cicero. For a start Imperium only deals with a very short period of his life and even then it does so in an episodic manner. Moreover Harris is not a biographer and characterisation as a whole is not his strongest suit. None of the individuals on display here, from Tiro the narrator, to supporting characters such as Pompey, Crassus and Julius Ceasar to Cicero himself really feel like proper 'Romans'. That's not to say that they lack any depth, but just that their attitudes and behaviour on the whole feel far too contemporary.
So its not a political or legal thriller, its not a biography, its not an allegory of contemporary politics, its not a sword and sandals epic and its not a straight history lesson. By not clearly falling definitely within any one genre some readers, like me, may be put off picking it up. If so then they are missing out on an interesting, well written book
that takes a fresh and accessible look at a brilliant man living through interesting and turbulent times. A curates egg Imperium may be, but its one worth cracking in to.
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Cicero's Rule
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A reviewer called this novel "Labour in Togas" because of the many parallels one can draw between Tony Blair's ascent and Cicero's career. Both men stood against the "aristocracy" and represented the common people; both men had to change the laws of their governments because of "terrorists"; and both men eventually found themselves shaking hands with their enemies in order to maintain their power. Imperium is a historical novel that builds its thrills much like a John Grisham courtroom thriller. It follows the rise of an ambitious lawyer, Cicero, told through the memoirs of his slave Tiro. Harris blends in some of Cicero's more famous sayings with imagined scenarios involving ancient Rome's key players, and the final result is a perfect example of how historical novels can also be page turners.
A perfect holiday read, and a perfect introduction to ancient Rome's dangerous political world. Bring on Part II!
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Not as good as Pompeii.
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I don't think this is up to the high standards of Fatherland. I think Harris fell into the same trap as many bands and put all his best material into his first book. From then on it has gone steadily downhill, with a minor upturn with Pompeii. This book however is wooden, dull, and NOT the first book to treat Cicero as a major character as the author is always so fond of telling us - see the Gordianus the finder books by Steven Saylor for that!
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An attempt to humanise a rather unlikeable man...
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Through Latin A level and later at university, I read a great deal of Marcus Tullius Cicero's writings and found them, unusually, very hard going. While we all appreciate that he pulled himself up by his bootstraps, brain and linguistic ability, he comes across, nonetheless, as an arrogant bore, stuffed full of himself and with an incredbile ability to irritate others. His ability to write golden Latin is beyond all doubt, and Queen Elizabeth I's proudest boast was that she could write "Ciceronian" Latin.
"Against Verres", the speech that is the subject of this novel, is Cicero's prosecution of Verres, ex-Governor of Sicily. Verres, even given Cicero's hatchet job in 70 BC, seems to have been a pretty loathsome creature who plundered and intimidated his subjects openly and without remorse or guilt. The remainder of the novel is concerned with Cicero's climb up the greasy pole to real power and all the resulting intrigues and plotting. Fascinating stuff, and as Mr Harris said, if what he propounds did not actually happen, then something like it probably did. After all, 2 + 2 generally makes 5 - ish.
Harris has obviously done his research here and the bones of the historical fact are fleshed out by a very entertianing novel. He is an extremly funny writer in an "ars celat artem" way and the various discussion and debates in this novel are extremely amusing: Cicero's comments about marriage will make you laugh out loud, and many other passages will cause you to smile.
Harris' characterisation is very good indeed, and Cicero comes over as a prissy, self-important, principled yet proud man who in real life I have always found insufferable. In this, he appears rather like a cross between the late Bob Monkhouse and Rumpole of the Bailey and becomes likeable. His family are alive and real, and the scurrying, desperate gents from Sicily in the first half are both pitiable and amusing.
Above all, Harris writes the most beautiful English, reminiscent of Mortimer and Huxley.
This is a fine read and very amusing in a dry way. He manages to make one of the world's most five-star arrogant bores entertaining and witty - in fact almost human. I repeat, almost ...
Excellent stuff.
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