12-16-2013, 09:01 PM
This is a curate's egg of a novel. Simply, this book doesn't rate 4 star for me, but neither does it merit 3, or 3.5. So maybe it's a 3.75 - or not quite.
At first glance, what's not to love? This is a short tale (250 pp.) of two Greek traders, Zonas and Dasius, at the time of the Second Punic War. It's beautifully written - Bryher had a really deft turn of phrase, etching vivid scenes with the minimum of words. Her prose is concise and for the most part, extremely engaging. You'll find few examples of the adverbs ('angrily, 'fiercely' etc.) that litter my novels and those of others. It doesn't suffer from 'info dumps', so we gradually learn little details about Hannibal, about Rome, about the campaign up and down Italy, and how the tide turned against Carthage.
But - and it's a big but - the novel suffers from two things that I really didn't like. One perhaps I should ignore, because it was clearly the way Bryher wrote. I thought that it was a modern habit to use commas where it's better to use semi colons or full stops, but this book proved me wrong. Bryher's sentences go on and on, interspersed with so many commas, that one, forgets what the meaning, is. Was. Or something.
I can set that aside, however, because the tales of the two men are good ones. What bugged me the most was the fact that the novel didn't seem to have a purpose. It meandered all over the place, often leaving us not knowing what was happening to another character for long periods (I do that, but not for as long as in this book). In fact, it wasn't clear that it was about two characters for quite some time. By the end of the book, I was wondering what had been Bryher's purpose in writing it? If it is to prove that life is transient, and can be capricious, cruel and random, and is quite likely, ultimately pointless, she did her job. I can take that in a film, strangely, but I don't like it in a book.
Nonetheless, I recommend this novel to those of you with an interest in the time. It's worth a read.
At first glance, what's not to love? This is a short tale (250 pp.) of two Greek traders, Zonas and Dasius, at the time of the Second Punic War. It's beautifully written - Bryher had a really deft turn of phrase, etching vivid scenes with the minimum of words. Her prose is concise and for the most part, extremely engaging. You'll find few examples of the adverbs ('angrily, 'fiercely' etc.) that litter my novels and those of others. It doesn't suffer from 'info dumps', so we gradually learn little details about Hannibal, about Rome, about the campaign up and down Italy, and how the tide turned against Carthage.
But - and it's a big but - the novel suffers from two things that I really didn't like. One perhaps I should ignore, because it was clearly the way Bryher wrote. I thought that it was a modern habit to use commas where it's better to use semi colons or full stops, but this book proved me wrong. Bryher's sentences go on and on, interspersed with so many commas, that one, forgets what the meaning, is. Was. Or something.
I can set that aside, however, because the tales of the two men are good ones. What bugged me the most was the fact that the novel didn't seem to have a purpose. It meandered all over the place, often leaving us not knowing what was happening to another character for long periods (I do that, but not for as long as in this book). In fact, it wasn't clear that it was about two characters for quite some time. By the end of the book, I was wondering what had been Bryher's purpose in writing it? If it is to prove that life is transient, and can be capricious, cruel and random, and is quite likely, ultimately pointless, she did her job. I can take that in a film, strangely, but I don't like it in a book.
Nonetheless, I recommend this novel to those of you with an interest in the time. It's worth a read.
Ben Kane, bestselling author of the Eagles of Rome, Spartacus and Hannibal novels.
Eagles in the Storm released in UK on March 23, 2017.
Aguilas en la tormenta saldra en 2017.
www.benkane.net
Twitter: @benkaneauthor
Facebook: facebook.com/benkanebooks
Eagles in the Storm released in UK on March 23, 2017.
Aguilas en la tormenta saldra en 2017.
www.benkane.net
Twitter: @benkaneauthor
Facebook: facebook.com/benkanebooks