Outsized personages richly recast against a convincing backdrop will keep readers riveted throughout Antony’s slow...
The latest volume in McCullough’s ancient Rome series tracks Antony’s precarious alliances with his lover, Cleopatra, and his nemesis, Octavian.
McCullough (On, Off, 2006, etc.) begins the story in 41 BCE, after the battle of Philippi where Octavian, Antony and Lepidus defeated Julius Caesar’s assassins, Brutus and Cassius. With Lepidus dispatched to Africa, Octavian and Antony—distrustful co-rulers—have divided the Western and Eastern provinces between them. Octavian’s main concern is the piracy of Sextus Pompeius, a renegade aristocrat who has taken over Sicily and embargoed Rome’s grain trade, the lynchpin of the economy. Antony procrastinates and dreams of defeating the Parthians, clearing the way for a Roman passage to India. He summons Cleopatra to account for her support of Cassius, and after a tryst aboard her royal galleon, Antony is ensnared for life by the too-skinny, odd-looking Egyptian queen. Marital diplomacy ensues: Octavian marries Scribonia, an in-law of Sextus. After first wife Fulvia opens her veins, Antony marries Octavia, sister of Octavian. Although the marriage is a happy one, Antony is mostly absent, still plotting conquest in Asia Minor. He loses four legions and his mammoth supply train in a failed campaign against the Parthian city of Phraaspa. In a post-defeat alcoholic daze, Antony signs over large portions of Syria and Judea to Cleopatra. Meeting Livia Drusilla by chance, Octavian realizes they are soul mates and engineers their divorces from their respective spouses. With the help of his bosom friend, master strategist and engineer Agrippa, Octavian defangs Sextus, ensuring Rome’s prosperity and undying gratitude. Due largely to Octavian’s spin-doctoring of Cleopatra’s depravity, Antony loses political support in Rome. Only one thing can topple Octavian now, and Livia knows it.
Outsized personages richly recast against a convincing backdrop will keep readers riveted throughout Antony’s slow unraveling and ultimate sacrifice, and Octavian’s methodical ascent.Pub Date: Dec. 1, 2007
ISBN: 978-1-4165-5294-9
Page Count: 768
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2007
Too beholden to sentimentality and cliché, this novel fails to establish a uniquely realized perspective.
Hunter’s debut novel tracks the experiences of her family members during the Holocaust.
Sol and Nechuma Kurc, wealthy, cultured Jews in Radom, Poland, are successful shop owners; they and their grown children live a comfortable lifestyle. But that lifestyle is no protection against the onslaught of the Holocaust, which eventually scatters the members of the Kurc family among several continents. Genek, the oldest son, is exiled with his wife to a Siberian gulag. Halina, youngest of all the children, works to protect her family alongside her resistance-fighter husband. Addy, middle child, a composer and engineer before the war breaks out, leaves Europe on one of the last passenger ships, ending up thousands of miles away. Then, too, there are Mila and Felicia, Jakob and Bella, each with their own share of struggles—pain endured, horrors witnessed. Hunter conducted extensive research after learning that her grandfather (Addy in the book) survived the Holocaust. The research shows: her novel is thorough and precise in its details. It’s less precise in its language, however, which frequently relies on cliché. “You’ll get only one shot at this,” Halina thinks, enacting a plan to save her husband. “Don’t botch it.” Later, Genek, confronting a routine bit of paperwork, must decide whether or not to hide his Jewishness. “That form is a deal breaker,” he tells himself. “It’s life and death.” And: “They are low, it seems, on good fortune. And something tells him they’ll need it.” Worse than these stale phrases, though, are the moments when Hunter’s writing is entirely inadequate for the subject matter at hand. Genek, describing the gulag, calls the nearest town “a total shitscape.” This is a low point for Hunter’s writing; elsewhere in the novel, it’s stronger. Still, the characters remain flat and unknowable, while the novel itself is predictable. At this point, more than half a century’s worth of fiction and film has been inspired by the Holocaust—a weighty and imposing tradition. Hunter, it seems, hasn’t been able to break free from her dependence on it.
Too beholden to sentimentality and cliché, this novel fails to establish a uniquely realized perspective.Pub Date: Feb. 14, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-399-56308-9
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Nov. 21, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2016
BOOK TO SCREEN
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.
Sisters work together to solve a child-abandonment case.
Ellie and Julia Cates have never been close. Julia is shy and brainy; Ellie gets by on charm and looks. Their differences must be tossed aside when a traumatized young girl wanders in from the forest into their hometown in Washington. The sisters’ professional skills are put to the test. Julia is a world-renowned child psychologist who has lost her edge. She is reeling from a case that went publicly sour. Though she was cleared of all wrongdoing, Julia’s name was tarnished, forcing her to shutter her Beverly Hills practice. Ellie Barton is the local police chief in Rain Valley, who’s never faced a tougher case. This is her chance to prove she is more than just a fading homecoming queen, but a scarcity of clues and a reluctant victim make locating the girl’s parents nearly impossible. Ellie places an SOS call to her sister; she needs an expert to rehabilitate this wild-child who has been living outside of civilization for years. Confronted with her professional demons, Julia once again has the opportunity to display her talents and salvage her reputation. Hannah (The Things We Do for Love, 2004, etc.) is at her best when writing from the girl’s perspective. The feral wolf-child keeps the reader interested long after the other, transparent characters have grown tiresome. Hannah’s torturously over-written romance passages are stale, but there are surprises in store as the sisters set about unearthing Alice’s past and creating a home for her.
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.Pub Date: March 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-345-46752-3
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2005
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
bookshelf
