Ok, here it is. I am waving my white flag. DNF.
My hackles should have been raised by the fact that this book was being sold, and on sale, literally everywhere. My local electronics shop was selling it, my local supermarket was selling it, as well as a local department store, and all of them had it on a discount rack. I wouldn’t have been surprised had I seen copies being hocked at my elderly grandmother’s nursing home, nor had I been offered a copy of this by my local heroin junkies. However, the sale on this book was always a two for one sale, and considering it was being offered at a steal for 8€ for this and a copy of Calvino’s Il Barrone Rampante, I figured just how bad could this fucking be?
Sigh.
Manfredi is a pretty big name, enough so to have even escaped Italy to some extent. Some of his work has even been translated onto the screen. I had been meaning to pick something of his up at some point, as I was always curious as to what not only this author but this genre held.
As it turns out, I don’t care.
Antica Madre follows some members of the Roman military first on an expedition to Africa, then back to Rome, and then back to Africa again. The first leg of their journey finds them kidnapping a stunningly beautiful woman, who is supposed to hold some greater significance. She ends up in the court of Nero, fights as a gladiator, and then some people decide to bring her back to Africa. I don’t know, freedom or something. A romance ensues between her and the protagonist. Seneca makes an appearance.
That last bit really got to me. It felt like a bad cameo in a movie.
In fairness to Manfredi and this novel, I never gave all that much of a shit about the Roman empire. I get that it is some people’s cosplay of choice, but it has never been my bag.
This isn’t a review. It’s an admission of defeat.
I may try to pick up some other historical fiction some day. I saw something in a book store about the Venetian empire, and that might be more my speed.
Failures in Polymathy 