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Lustrum
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Amazon.co.uk Review
The rise of Robert Harris as one of the UK's premier novelists has been something of a phenomenon. His breakthrough book was, of course, Fatherland, and even though the premise (Germany had won the Second World War and occupied Britain) was not original, the treatment was astonishingly assured. From that date onwards, a series of remarkable books flowed from his metaphorical pen: Archangel, Enigma and the much-acclaimed Ghost. But if one element has distinguished Harris’s career, it is his wholly admirable refusal to be typecast with regard to genre. The thriller may be his natural home, but he has shown an immense skill at dealing with historical subjects and the past: one of his most impressive novels was the massive and ambitious Pompeii (recently on the point of being filmed by Roman Polanski before his own past came back to haunt him).
And here's Lustrum, another historical novel that cannily utilises elements of the thriller but attempts something far more challenging than most proponents of that genre. Harris’s continuing theme is the battle for power, and this Rome-set narrative deals with the years around 63BC when Cicero was Consul of Rome, building to the unstoppable accession to power of the canny and ruthless Caesar. Rome, in the process of consolidating its massive empire, resounds to the sounds of a no-holds-barred struggle for influence. The protagonists here are the canny consul Cicero, the equally Machiavellian Caesar, the Republic's eminent general Pompey and the hyper-rich Crassus. These real historical figures (and others, including the psychopathic Catilina) are stirred into a very heady brew by Robert Harris, beginning when the body of a child, grotesquely mutilated, is discovered. The trial and execution that follows plunges the city of Rome into a ferment as destabilising as anything it has faced.
This is Robert Harris at his considerable best, evoking the ancient past with a vividness that few of his contemporaries can muster. But apart from the richly detailed historical pageant on offer in Lustrum, the real coup of the book lies in the creation of the character of Cicero: wonderfully realised, with all the contradictions and charm of his nature acting as the perfect fulcrum for this sprawling but utterly persuasive narrative. --Barry Forshaw
Customer Reviews:
Bernard
A litle too slick for a historical faction, more Da Vinci Code than I Claudius.
Bravo!
A wonderful read. Having studied late Republican Rome some 15 years ago I felt I was familiar with the characters in Lustrum but this book brings them to life unlike any school-teacher or university lecturer. A great story written at a good clip but deep with history and resonance of a wonderful age. I think it was "better" than Imperium but that's becuase the period covered is so compelling.
Five more years.
I've enjoyed many of Robert Harris's books, and this one is certainly not an exception. The book deals mainly with Cicero's consulship, his changing allegiances and the rise of powers within Rome that seek autocratic power such as Caesar, Crassus, Pompey and Catalina. The book therefore deals with Cicero's famous involvement in the Cataline conspiracy and the subsequent fallout with Clodius. Generally the book is historically accurate in terms of the events, but it does deviate from the order slightly for dramatic effect. In comparison to the previous novel Imperium, Lustrum is as well written but somewhat faster paced and rich with intrigues.
Graves Robber
Robert Harris is today's Robert Graves, not only in his choice of subject matter, but in his storytelling. Just as Graves chose a slave to tell the story of Count Belisarius in 1938, Harris chooses Tiro. This is no minor matter or coincidence, as the entire point of view comes from this narrator, giving him both intimacy and distance, a trick Graves used to excellent effect. Harris takes up Graves' cynical view of Rome - as in both the Claudius books and Belisarius - complete with a raging politics of immorality and power grabbing. The one missing ingredient is the centrality of venal women in all of Graves' books.In this day of feminism, women are minor characters characters, occasionally bad (Clodia, for example) or weak (wife Terentia -'Marriage to you has been the only purpose of my life!'), but the true villains are all testosterone fuelled men like Caesar, Pompey, Catilina, etc. This makes Lustrum read a bit old fashioned, and Graves much more modern.
Cicero is a legal Belisarius, moral and upright, in a world that does not value this kind of valour. Harris fills the story with wordy set pieces, so appropriate for his windbag hero. The best part of the story is how Cicero is brought down by his own hubris and blindness to other's resentments and designs. Is Cicero meant to be Harris's former friend Tony Blair, another windbag brought down by hubris? I enjoyed the tale despite all of this. I don't think Harris is great at dialogue, and his tale is also let down sometimes by leaden prose. But there is enough in Lustrum to keep you reading until the story comes to second act conclusion. Now we await the third.
Lustrum by Robert Harris
Excellent read. Robert Harris depicts Rome in a lively and interesting way. The characters really come alive. He has the knack of making politics interesting.
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Lustrum
By: Robert Harris - ISBN-13 978-0-09-180100-7 (ISBN-10 0-09-180100-1)
http://www.books-by-isbn.com/0-09/0091801001-Conspiracy-Robert-Harris-0-09-180100-1.html
Book in the Media - Lustrum
ISBN-10: 0091801001 ISBN-13: 978-0091801007 Product Dimensions: 23.6 x 15.6 x 4.4 cm Product Description Rome, 63 BC. In a city on the brink of acquiring a vast empire, seven men are struggling for power. Cicero is consul, Caesar his ...
http://annettedunlea.blogspot.com/2009/11/book-in-media-lustrum.html
Books in the Media
http://astore.amazon.com/annduniriwri-20/detail/0091801001 2. Tricks of the Mind by Derren Brown http://astore.amazon.com/annduniriwri-20/detail/1905026382 3. Flash Forward by Robert J Sawyer ...
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Read It Later « Annette J Dunlea Irish Author's Literary Blog
Title: Lustrum Author: Robert HarrisHardcover: 464 pages Publisher: Hutchinson (8 Oct 2009) Language English ISBN-10: 0091801001 ISBN-13: 978-0091801007 Product Dimensions: 23.6 x 15.6 x 4.4 cm Product DescriptionRome, 63 BC. ...
http://ajd8.wordpress.com/2009/11/05/read-it-later/
Lustrum
0091801001 (hbk.), 9780091801304 Year: 2009 Subjects: Cicero, Marcus Tullius, Republic, 265-30 BC, 265-30 BC, Rome, Fiction, History, Politics and government, Historical fiction Rome, 63 BC. In a city on the brink of acquiring a vast ...
http://search.aucklandcitylibraries.com/?hreciid=%7Clibrary%2Fmarc%2FACL-iii%7Cb2303845
