Lavinia
| Author: | Le Guin, Ursula K. |
| Genre: | Novel - Historical |
| Written in the year 2008 and set in the time period: B.C. | |
| Places: | |
| Originally entered by James Schellenberg (Oct-08) | |
| Rating: | 10/10 |
Comments
This is an excellent book! The cover makes it look really respectable and boring, but Le Guin's writing is as smooth and powerful as ever, and the story flows very seductively. Lavinia is a story taken from Vergil's Aeneid - Lavinia herself is the woman given to Aeneas as a wife when he lands on the shores of Italy to found Rome. She doesn't get to speak in Vergil's epic, so Le Guin takes us into her life and gives us a larger glimpse into the era. The two main villages mentioned in the story, Laurentum and Lavinium, are just down the coast from Rome, and Rome (as it was way back then) is mentioned often. In the afterword, Le Guin talks about how she tracked down the current locations of the places mentioned in The Aeneid. Fascinating stuff! And she actually provides an interesting story to go with the historical research, which doesn't always happen with historical novels of this type. Highly recommended.
Additional Comments
Aug-09 - Fiona Scannell gave the book 7/10 and wrote:
It took me a while to get into this novel, but the payoff was worth it. My memory/knowledge of The Aeneid wasn't too clear and I think that may have impeded my initial enjoyment of the book. Once the story gets going, though, I found it fascinating. It makes me want to go to Rome!
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