The mistress of Rome by Kate Quinn book review

Rating 4/5
Genre historical fiction, romance


The emperor of Rome, Domition has had many mistresses..he gets tired of a woman in no time and moves onto another..until he comes across a Jewish slave and singer Thea. Thea, a slave to Lepida pollia, was in intense love with a celebrated and undefeated gladiator Arius when they were separated by the hand of her mistress Lepida Pollia. Thea is sold to a pimp by Lepida but she escapes the fate of a prostitute.  She turns a singer and comes under the notice of the emperor. Separated from Arius for 12 years and  craving for him even after becoming the mistress of Rome(Roman emperor)..she eventually meets Arius and sets up for a story of love, vengeance,betrayal and survival. 

I thought the character of Arius is just overblown in its valor, his God like power in the arena and his stroke of luck in not succumbing to a fate many others like him have. He has a voice of an inner demon the answer to whose calls for hunger he replies by killing his opponents in gladiator games. A man cold and frigid to the outside world, he relaxes and opens up to the warmth of a slave girl Thea. 

I liked the character of Thea..a slave girl who doesn't want much..not even with a desire to live..until she meets Arius and all she ever wants after that is to be with him.. Its her tale that we read..loved by all the main characters..desired and hated in equal strength..she is the heroine of the story. 

I loved the character of Lepida Pollia..a selfish, self indulgent,  scheming woman..married to a senator..wanting to be popular,wealthy and powerful..she hatches plans to become the empress..only to suffer a fate of oblivion.

I thought the character of the emperor is underdeveloped..he is supposed to be ruthless but instead becomes a vessel of convenience..his role becomes softened to magnify either that of Thea or Arius..the reason for his death is not justified.. an honourable and just administrator, he had not suddenly become a untenable dictator that deserved slaughter like a pig..it was indeed a crime of passion undertaken by players with their own interests at heart. 


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Story of Bhagiratha bringing Ganga to Earth

Image
             King of Himalayas Himavantha had two beautiful daughters Ganga and Uma with his wife Menu.  One day the gods of heaven approach Himavantha and his wife. They ask him to give  his daughter Ganga to them for the welfare and prosperity of the world. Himavantha happily accepts this request and sends Ganga away with the Gods. Ganga starts living among the other damsels and demigods in heaven.               King Bhagiratha is a ruler iof the Ikshvaku dynasty into which Lord Rama will be born later. Several of his ancestors try to bring Ganga to earth and die without succeeding. Bhagiratha is determined to bring Ganga down to earth so that her divine waters could liberate his ancestors. He leaves his kingdom to the management of his ministers and goes to perform severe penance and austerities in the forest. He spends hundreds of years in penance to impress God Brahma. Brahma becomes pleased with his dedication and appears in front of him along with other demi gods. Brahma ask
Read more

Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood - book review

Rating: 4.5/5 Genre: Historical fiction, Drama, mental illness A mesmerizing tale! One of the very good books I have read in a while! A young girl named Grace Marks of sixteen along with a man James is accused of murdering her employer Mr.Kinnear and his mistress in cold blood. They run off to United States from Canada from getting caught. But police eventually get to them and James accuses Grace of instigating him with the murder. Grace tells different versions of her story during her arrest, trial and confession. She also suffers from lapses of memory as to what has happened and how she has ended up in company of James. James gets a death sentence and Grace gets life imprisonment on account of being a young girl who is quite susceptible. So she is locked away in a penitentiary in Canada. When they think she has wild dreams or is quite unsubdued, they commit her to a mental asylum where the conditions of living and treatment are not sanitary and quite harsh. Some respectable persons
Read more

Easy Journey to other planets - A.C.Bhaktivendata Prabhupada - book review

Image
Rating 4/5 Genre Religion,Spirituality, Evolution For starters, this is not a science book. It does not lay out a step by step plan for the construction of spacecrafts and satellites to help transmigrate masses of people between planetary systems. Why I am saying this is because the title can be misleading. Srila Prabhupada prescribes perfecting the art of meditation and bhakti yoga in order to develop an ability of moving to higher planets. He presents his case to the readers as to why they should opt the yoga method as opposed to scientific methods for traveling to other planets and calling them home. He calls the endeavours of scientists to reach other planets through spacecrafts a waste of time and whatever success they yearn for as meaningless. It is easy to see why this work of literature rubs a scientific minded person the wrong way. Those who are not acquainted with the teachings of iskcon or haven't read other works of Srila Prabhupada might call it a little extrem
Read more