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Title: The Last Days of Pompeii by Edward George, Sir Bulwer-Lytton, John Gregory Betancourt, Sir Edward George Bulwer-Lytton ISBN: 1-58715-740-3 Publisher: Wildside Pr Pub. Date: November, 2002 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $39.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4 (3 reviews)
Rating: 3
Summary: Worth the read, but get a different edition
Comment: I agree with other reviewers that this is a wonderful story based in 79 AD just prior to Mt Vesuvius' fateful eruption. The characters are vivid and the story is very rich. However, the prose is completely overblown which is sometimes a distraction. I couldn't even read the lyrics of the various songs and odes in the book. Too much to slog through.
My main complaint with this book, however, is the editing. This edition is really horrible. The introduction alone has glaring errors (such as the author lived from 1803 - 1873, but was married in 1927). This mistake is repeated on the back cover blurb. Entire pages in the book are blank. Whole words and phrases are missing in the chapter titles. For a $20 paperback, I would expect a bit more.
I would recommend the book if you have an interest in the ancient Roman empire, but definitely buy a different edition.
Rating: 5
Summary: A thousand delicate tints
Comment: If all you know about Sir Edward Bulwer-Lytton is the notorious opening sentence of another of his novels, "It was a dark and stormy night ...," and that this is supposed to imply that he wrote overblown purple prose -- I urge you to try The Last Days of Pompeii (first published in 1834). You may be surprised to find yourself in the hands of an expert storyteller and, yes, an often splendid stylist.
Bulwer-Lytton was one of the most popular fiction writers in the 19th century (and his reputation has really only waned in the last 60 years or so). Our ancestors weren't naive dupes; they rightly recognized that there was something exceptional about Last Days. If the book is now out of fashion, it nevertheless remains a fascinating read.
Briefly, the story concerns four people in Pompeii in the period leading up to the eruption of Mount Vesuvius that buried the city in ash in AD 79. They are Glaucus, a Greek-born, rich young man who is a bit of a rake (he gambles on the gladiatorial games) but fundamentally decent; Ione, his lover (in the author's words, "The wealth of her graces was inexhaustible -- she beautified the commonest action; a word, a look from her, seemed magic. Love her, and you entered into a new world, you passed from this trite and common-place earth"); Nydia, a blind slave girl passionately and uselessly in love with Glaucus; and Arbaces, a brilliantly malevolent high priest of the cult of Isis.
The reader, too, passes out of "this trite and common-place earth" in the book's pages. The style is of another time, to be sure, one that is unashamedly colorful and romantic. To some poor cynical souls I suppose it will seem corny; to those who still look at the stars and sunsets with awe, the language will resonate with a thousand delicate tints.
Last Days is not only an evocative re-imagination of a historical time and place, and a craftily plotted story; it also touches on deep philosophical matters. Bulwer-Lytton was interested in the Mystery cults of the Roman empire, including that of Isis. Although, probably to avoid offending the conventions of his time, he had Glaucus and Ione eventually convert to Christianity, it's hard to doubt that he was sympathetic to earlier pagan religions. Although Arbaces is the villain, his literary portrait is drawn with keen psychological insight and his religious rites are thoughtfully and strikingly portrayed. (The scene in which Arbaces tries to initiate Ione's brother into the secret -- highly sensuous and erotically tinged -- rituals of the cult is electrifying!) Mystical undertones are not far from the jewelled surface of this novel.
So read this as a period piece, but not in a condescending way; let yourself be drawn into the sun-glazed temples and forums, the loves, the cruelty and the jealousies of ancient Pompeii. See them through a dreamy, extravagant early-Victorian literary sensibility. Give yourself up to Bulwer-Lytton's magic, as so many did in generations before you.
Rating: 4
Summary: Vacation from reality
Comment: I stumbled across this book when I was 14 years old and from that time I've re-read The Last Days Of Pompeii every year or so. And every time my appreciation for the simple beauty and grace of Bulwer-Lytton's story grows. From the frenzied descriptions of supernatural phenomena to the one-dimentional emotions that grip the characters it is possible to simply let your mind flow past the minor character and plot development problems, and instead let the sweet music of his purple prose capture your imagination. I find that conjuring up the images that his writing envokes is far easier than with most other historical writers that I have come across. Now, the minor flaws that I felt dampend the glory of this novel a bit are the shallowness of the characters. While it is lovely that Glaucus is a rake with a heart of gold, and that Ione is the only perfect human ever to exsist; the fact that most people would find it difficult to relate to the main characters is a bit tragic. Actually I found that the most believable character in the novel was that of the gladiator Lydon, who feels a guilty responsibility to his father and who is willing to sacrifice anything to release him from the life of drudgery and sin that are before him. Lydon feels all of the baser emotions that Glaucus and Ione are deprived of-anger, envy, disbelief, and the desire for revenge. But while he does feel these base emotions he is not a low individual, simply human with all of the flaws that youth will bring in abundance. Still, I greatly enjoyed the feeling of reading what is akin to a complex, tragic 400 plus page epic poem. I hope that anyone who takes up the challenge of reading this novel will take my advice to read it every few years-trust me, as you experience more of life your perception of the novel will change. Happy reading!
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Title: Herculaneum: Italy's Buried Treasure by Joseph Jay Deiss, Joseph Jay Deis ISBN: 0892361646 Publisher: J Paul Getty Museum Pubns Pub. Date: December, 1989 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
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Title: Pompeii: The Day a City Died by Robert Etienne ISBN: 0810928558 Publisher: Harry N. Abrams Pub. Date: 30 March, 1992 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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Title: The Lost World of Pompeii by Colin Amery, Brian, Jr. Curran ISBN: 0892366877 Publisher: Getty Trust Pubn Pub. Date: January, 2003 List Price(USD): $45.00 |
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Title: Phoenix: Cities of Vesuvius: Pompeii & Herculaneum by Michael Grant ISBN: 1842122193 Publisher: Phoenix Press Pub. Date: 31 December, 2001 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: Pompeii: A Novel by ROBERT HARRIS ISBN: 0679428895 Publisher: Random House Pub. Date: 18 November, 2003 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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