Benita Kane Jaro

Novel about Cicero and other famous names through the waning of the Roman Republic. Cicero comes from a small town. He makes his mark in Rome and wins fame as a successful lawyer, defending the underdog. The novel carries us through his career from his first case, exile and return, and finally, unsuccessful defense of Milo. For many years he tries to fend off the end of the Republic.
There was nothing that would save the city now....The lock -- [Cicero] -- was broken; the wall had failed to hold. Milo was an exile; Caelus a hunted man, he himself had been caught, bound, muzzled, forced to dance to someone else's tune....

I enjoyed the novel but not as much as other of this author's works -- [The key] and [Betray the night] -- or Harris's Cicero trilogy. Marcus Caelius Rufus, who also appears in other works of hers, is a major character herein, and appears here as Cicero's student and apprentice, then a successful attorney in his own right. The author's style in all her works has captivated me.… (mehr)

This fascinating and enthralling novel was the author's speculation on why Ovid was relegated to Tomis on the Black Sea. He tells us himself in his later poems it was because of "Carmen et error" [a song and a mistake] and also that he saw something, but nothing criminal. The poet's wife, Pinnaria, after the relegation, tries in vain talking to nobility and the imperial family to have him brought back. In her attempts, while searching a house in the slums, she finds a scrap of a leather book cover. This is the first clue as to the reason for Ovid's disgrace. Her wanderings lead her from talking to slaves, freedmen, then to disgraced royalty. She finds out which of her friends and relations present their true faces to her.

This was quite an interesting speculation, which the author has reconstructed from primary sources. I liked Pinnaria's transition from ordinary Roman matron to a strong female figure when she takes control of her own life. Lyrical and descriptive writing made the book out of the ordinary. The impressionistic front cover done in shades of green showing her on the shore and the ship bearing her husband away, was something special. The title is taken from one of Ovid's poems in his "Heroines": about Penelope, in myth the wife of Odysseus, she exhibiting the same determination and patience as Pinnaria. Each endures a long separation from her husband. To me there was an implied comparison between the two.

I did find several errors on p. 147 in my copy which someone should have noticed: Pinaria's cousin, Macer, tells her about the Varian Disaster in the Teutoberg--Legions XXVII, XXVIII, XXIX should have been XVII, XVIII, and XIX. The German leader's name was Arminius, NOT Ariminius. Although the mistakes should be corrected, they did not interrupt the flow of the story.

Highly recommended. Upon rereading I did not change my opinion.… (mehr)

Intense, intense, intense! I was enthralled by this novel of the life of Catullus, the Roman lyric poet during the ten years he lived in Rome. Immediately upon closing the book in 2014 I reread it.

My December 2016 rereading really brought home the artificiality and purpleness of the prose, which really had impressed me the first time, but is annoying this time. This is one of the few times I have downgraded a book.

After the poet's sad life of barely thirty years, his good friend Marcus Caelius Rufus conveys the corpse to its burial. Catullus's father [the Old Man] journeys out from Verona, visits Caelius, and asks, "Explain my son to me" after giving Caelius a box of mementos and writings--poems, notes, letters. The novel jumps back and forth in time [54 BC--in the novel the present] to Caelius's memories through those years, the most important event being Catullus's passionate love affair with Clodia Metelli. As she is a high-born lady and he doesn't want to compromise her reputation, he calls her Lesbia'.

Some of his poetry is inserted into the text, each poem having to do with some incident in the story. We see how Catullus has poured his heart's blood into these poems; 'Lesbia' has played viciously with his emotions; Catullus has swung from euphoria to despair because of this unrequited love.

"Odi et amo. quare id faciam, fortasse requiris?
nescio, sed fieri sentio et excrucior."
[I hate and I love. Perhaps you ask why I do this?
I do not know, but I feel it happen and I am torn apart.]
Poem #85

In his 'crossroads and alleyways' poem, #58, he admits to himself what a slut she is. Even so...
The author tells us in her Notes its ambiguity is the key --i.e., catalyst, to her conception of the story.

Through the descriptions of Rome -- the mansions on the Hills to the seedy taverns and the Subura to the mystery rites of the goddess Cybele -- I felt myself to be an onlooker of the events. The characters were not saints, by any means; I loathed Clodia, the femme fatale. As one character, an actor named Xanthius, describing Clodia: "Now I know how to play Circe." Catullus was completely obsessed with the woman; we might even call him a "stalker" in our day. Yes, there was sex in this novel owing to the subject, but as it was written a generation ago, I felt it was not as blatant or vulgar as much of today's writings. Also, for that time, although graphic, it was not tasteless.

In my December 2016 rereading I still felt it wasn't tasteless, but it got repetitious and boring. The author should have used such descriptions more sparsely

The last few pages were poignant. I will never again listen to Orff's Catulli Carmina without thinking of this novel. On rereading, I've marked each poem in the novel with the number in Catullus's own poems and am fascinated with how the author worked them into the story, especially as they were out of order.… (mehr)

I understand what Jaro was doing with this book--fleshing out her theory of the trajectory of Catullus' relationships with Clodia and Marcus Caelius Rufus and how they relate to his poetry--but I really did not enjoy reading it. She has some interesting theories on the kinds of people they were and on the origins of some of the poems (e.g. the glubit in the crossroads poem as a final frustration with Clodia's constantly being with other men). But that alone a good book does not make. There is way too much "in the head" reflection, and a lot of it is repeated over and over again--I found myself skimming whole paragraphs and pages because I already knew what it was saying and I just wanted to get to the dialogue that actually moved the story along. There are also no characters to like (including Catullus himself). I guess I am glad I read it for the provocative ideas it will make me think about, but I did not enjoy it and I will not read it again or recommend it to others.… (mehr)