false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1166723668m/16442.jpg 16442 20 Like his elegant debut, <I>An Instance of the Fingerpost</I>, Iain Pears's <I>The Dream of Scipio</I> is an inventive, gloriously detailed historical novel told from multiple viewpoints. But Pears has set himself an additional challenge by spreading his narrators over several centuries: there's the fifth century French nobleman and bishop, Manlius, a civilized man who has embraced the uncouth Christian faith in order to protect what he holds dear; an 11th-century scholar and troubadour named Olivier de Noyen, the famously ill-fated admirer of a married girl; and Julien Barneuve, an early 20th-century scholar of de Noyen who discovers, through him, a magnificent manuscript of Manlius's called "The Dream of Scipio." Though all three men come from the same small Provençal town, it is this manuscript, derived from the teachings of a wise woman, that links the three narrative threads of Pears's story. At the heart of <I>The Dream of Scipio</I> and, one suspects, at the heart of its author, is the conflict between a classical ideal of learning and the contemplation of beauty, and the noisy, uncivilized, democratizing impulses of the Christian era. A novel of ideas like its predecessor, <I>The Dream of Scipio</I> is neither chilly nor didactic and doesn't shy away from depicting the costs of its narrators' unpopular devotions. <I>--Regina Marler</I> 2548352 2002 The Dream of Scipio total:586|5:137|4:204|3:168|2:54|1:23| 586 2136 897 101 3 2 false false Mon Feb 25 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Wed Jan 09 08:36:30 -0800 2008 Mon Feb 25 08:01:30 -0800 2008 more...]]> 2 1 true false Sat Dec 22 10:12:43 -0800 2007 Wed Jan 02 22:44:05 -0800 2008 more...]]> 5 1 false false Wed Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2003 Tue Oct 09 08:34:57 -0700 2007 Tue Oct 09 08:34:57 -0700 2007 more...]]> 3 0 false true Sun Jun 15 00:00:00 -0700 2003 Tue Aug 11 07:14:19 -0700 2009 Tue Aug 11 07:15:11 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Sun Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Wed May 13 08:22:09 -0700 2009 Wed May 13 08:23:28 -0700 2009 The Dream of Scipio by Iain Pears and it has continued to drift around my mind ever since. Simply put, it is a wonderful book that, if you are anything like me, you will savor as the rare delicacy that it is. I literally forced myself to put it down several times in order to...more...]]> 3 0 false false Sat Jun 06 20:56:58 -0700 2009 Wed Jun 10 19:39:10 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Wed Nov 26 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Sat Oct 25 08:17:46 -0700 2008 Fri Nov 28 10:29:32 -0800 2008 more...]]> 1 0 false false Fri Apr 17 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Apr 08 07:03:49 -0700 2009 Fri Apr 17 12:38:40 -0700 2009 1 too many! I do, as a rule, like some historical fiction. This would be the exception.
I think that, in theory, it has the bones of a good story but the author missed the mark. I disliked most of the characters, especially Man...more...]]> 3 0 false false Thu Oct 09 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Thu Aug 07 19:17:16 -0700 2008 Thu Oct 09 08:37:49 -0700 2008 more...]]> 3 0 true false Mon Jun 23 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Mon Jun 16 13:27:26 -0700 2008 Mon Jun 23 18:51:03 -0700 2008
For my own part, I wouldn't go out of my way to criticize Pears' work...more...]]> 3 0 false false Tue Aug 05 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Wed Apr 02 18:07:08 -0700 2008 Tue Aug 05 11:57:20 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sat Mar 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Tue Mar 18 08:02:47 -0700 2008 Tue Mar 18 17:40:38 -0700 2008
The book centers around three characters living in France during three different crises in history (the end of the Roman Empire, the black plague and German occupation during World War II). The way the three are connecte...more...]]> 5 0 false false Wed Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2003 Sun Jan 20 21:26:16 -0800 2008 Sat Feb 23 13:55:51 -0800 2008 Yet, I am keeping the 5 starts.
...more...]]> 0 0 false false Mon Apr 07 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sun Nov 18 08:46:22 -0800 2007 Wed Dec 26 16:27:00 -0800 2007 more...]]> 2 0 false false Fri Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Wed Jun 06 12:30:31 -0700 2007 Wed Jun 13 04:23:32 -0700 2007
One of my biggest complaints about this bo...more...]]> 4 0 false false Wed Apr 15 11:20:21 -0700 2009 Wed Apr 15 11:26:07 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Sat Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2000 Tue Nov 18 06:06:08 -0800 2008 Tue Dec 16 07:42:47 -0800 2008 more...]]> 2 0 false false Wed Sep 01 00:00:00 -0700 2004 Fri Jan 16 10:43:44 -0800 2009 Fri Jan 16 10:44:37 -0800 2009
It's not that it is not well written, but I am not engaging in the characters or the plot. Well--that's not exactly true. One set of characte...more...]]> 3 0 false false Sun Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2006 Sun May 24 19:35:06 -0700 2009 Sun May 24 19:38:49 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Mon Oct 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Fri Oct 05 21:54:25 -0700 2007 Mon Oct 15 11:15:45 -0700 2007
Pear's writing is scholarly and delicate; without lecturing, he weaves into the story information about Neop...more...]]> http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=16442