Antony and Cleopatra: A Novel

Even though I know how it ends, I was pretty much captivated by the fictional account of the battle for dominance between Octavian and Antony. It reads much more like a thriller than the earlier novels in the series. The tone is very much changed and most of the novel was of very high quality. The

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end, however, seemed rushed by comparison. Normally, detail in these novels is exhaustive and the summary that makes up the conclusion seemed tacked on as a comparison.

I loved McCullough’s idea of what happened to Antony to make him so subservient and un-Roman. He who seemed to embody and empower Rome became enthralled by Cleopatra. I still don’t really get that, but I inferred it was because at heart Antony was lazy. He liked to go along with a grand plan, but not be the architect or driving force of it. I think his personality while craving glory, needed dominance. He wanted the praise, not the responsibility and fundamentally he’s portrayed as a weak man. It’s plausible.

Through many movies and other depictions of Cleopatra, we’ve come to expect a great beauty and conniving sexpot. The latter she may be, but the former she certainly was not, so it was nice to find some accuracy. Her hold over Antony was complete though and I didn’t understand her appeal. McCullough just didn’t make her attractive to me. She seemed shrewish, unlearned and overbearing to me. Definitely unattractive. At the end I felt sympathy for Caesarion though. What a cross to bear.

My only exposure to Octavian and Livia has been through Graves’s [I, Claudius] and I looked forward to hearing someone’s take on their relationship and exactly what drew them together. It seems there is true love on Octavian’s part, but I’m still not sure what Livia’s motivations are. Either she’s a very shrewd judge of character, a psychic or she is ok with very long odds. When she took up with Octavian, there was no real evidence for his eventual success. It was a huge gamble, especially when she married him in the strict form, severely limiting her rights and freedom and I still don’t know what to make of it. Who knows, maybe she does love him. I wonder if McCullough will continue the series even though she’ll be trodding on Graves.

Battles are as usual, well documented, but politics are less focused on than in past years. We get virtually no narratives dealing with any senators or other politicos involved in the process either for or against Octavian. This made for a novel of more limited scope and therefore it moved a bit faster and didn’t stray to other plots or developments. All in all I thought it was pretty decent.

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Bit of a slog sometimes but worth it for the histroical aspects. funny fellows the romans

Just started, but very well written. I picked it up at Magrudy's in Abu Dhabi the other day and it's migrated to the top of my stack of fiction.

Wonderful stuff, a return to form after the slight dip I perceived in October Horse (though that may have been false expectations due to the long gap since Caesar). The author is clearly pro-Octavian and I share her view that Octavian's triumph was by far the better outcome for the Roman Empire at

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that point, in terms of bringing about peace after decades of civil war. Caesarion emerges as a strong character here and his death at Octavian's hands is poignant and macabrely logical. Antonius comes off poorly here and is only superficially the hero of romantic legend, while Cleopatra's ambitions for Egypt are as great as Octavian's for Rome. Great stuff.

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this was recommended as a book to learn about Egypt before my trip there. Most of the book was about Antony. Never finished it. Might go back to it when I'm more interested in learing about Cleopatra. She was very powerful, especially for the time period.

I have enjoyed McCullogh's other novels set in ancient Rome, but this one was a disappointment. I was never drawn to either Anthony or Cleopatra. I stopped reading about one-third of the way through.

Although I am usually intrigued by historical fiction, as it can make some dry history a bit more interesting by providing some colorful characters, I can't say that about this book. It seemed quite long and I felt, in need of editing. McCullough can usually be counted on to be accurate in her

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historical facts, but the book seemed too long. If the reader is going to lose interest, the story will never be told, no matter how factual it is. Cleopatra was interesting but Antony seemed rather blah and I was not drawn to either of them to find out what drew them to each other. I was expecting more of a love story but while there was a great deal of information, regarding military and ploitical facts that drove Cleopatra and Anthony to behave as they did, I didn't notice much that indicated a great love between them.

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The only reason I gave this book 2 stars instead of 1 is because the last third was fairly interesting.
The first third of this book could be done without! Goodness what a lot of wordy dribble - hard to follow - the "building" of characters never occurs, as such, there was no bye-in to feel any

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emotion as the story progressed.
The only other McCullough book I have read is "The Thorn Birds", which is a master-piece. I don't know if I will try any more of her work after ready Antony and Cleopatra. I wanted to feel emotion when characters died off but the whole story was presented in such a bland manner, I think a high school history book would be more engaging.
Don't waste your time or money!

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This is the first book I have read of this series. The author is well known for writing well-researched books, and this comes out in this case. At times one is a bit overwhelmed with the amount of detail.
However, I found that I got to know a lot more about the character of a number of people that

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to date I knew little more than by name and place in history: Octavian, Mark Antony, Cleopatra, Agrippa, Octavia, and Herod as well also Caesarion. Many more less familiar people are also given space to develop.
Most come across as normal human beings, some good, some bad. The situation of Caesarion was most interesting, although I suspect this is where most of the fiction occurs.

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Oh. My. Goodnes. What a slog! I never once had any compassion or connection to a single character in this story, least of all Antony or Cleopatra. The only sympathetic character was Octavia. And the dozens of name for each character! And sooooo many characters!

The story is filled with interesting

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historical detail, almost to distraction at times. This is my first novel by Colleen McCullough, and I don't know if I'll read another.

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Excellent portrayal of Mark Anthony and why he eventually lost to Octavian (Augustus Caesar) even though he started out with all the advantages. I do wonder if she is right that Cleopatra's meddling with Mark Anthony was the cause of his downfall. I think irregardless of Cleopatra Octavian was so

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superior in strategy that he eventually would have won anyway. I didfeel sorry for Caesarion, the child of Julius Caesar, who was executed by Octavian.

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