The Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer brings to life the most intriguing woman in the history of the world: Cleopatra, the last queen of Egypt. Tho...
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Aug 07, 2011
Elizabeth
rated it: 
So far, I am very disappointed in this book--by a Pulitzer Prize winning author. She uses very long paragraphs that should have been divided. She puts her points embedded so that it's hard for a reader to see what she intends to be significant. There are "clever" pieces that are not at all clever.
The author says she will not create material but may create context from other sources, but she does not give the reader cues. For example, in Chapter II she goes on and on abou More...
The author says she will not create material but may create context from other sources, but she does not give the reader cues. For example, in Chapter II she goes on and on abou More...
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(24 people liked it)
Aug 14, 2011
RandomAnthony
rated it: 
I picked Stacy Schiff's Cleopatra: A Life biography off the library's new releases shelf because 1) I recently realized that I hadn't read a biography since Plutarch's Greek Lives, maybe a decade ago and 2) the latest National Geographic had a cool article on the subject. Cleopatra: A Life was strong, full of detail and suspense, but evidenced some of what keeps me away from biographies in the first place.
I get the sense biography, like all writing, I suppose, is about choices. How More...
I get the sense biography, like all writing, I suppose, is about choices. How More...
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(17 people liked it)
Apr 18, 2011
Kelly A.
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http://freshofftheshelf.blogspot.com/201...
The number one thing that I learned from Cleopatra: A Life was this: I had deceived myself in thinking I knew anything about her before reading this book. Stacy Schiff digs deep into the life of one of the most well-known, yet misunderstood women in history. Most of us know her as the Egyptian queen who had affairs/children with both Caesar and Mark Antony, the two most powerful men of their age. She herself was much, much more than that.
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The number one thing that I learned from Cleopatra: A Life was this: I had deceived myself in thinking I knew anything about her before reading this book. Stacy Schiff digs deep into the life of one of the most well-known, yet misunderstood women in history. Most of us know her as the Egyptian queen who had affairs/children with both Caesar and Mark Antony, the two most powerful men of their age. She herself was much, much more than that.
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(17 people liked it)
Apr 28, 2011
Donna
rated it: 
First and foremost this is a history book. The plot is taken from real time 2,000 years ago. It hasn't been bloated with fantastical elements or intense drama. In fact, if you were reading this book as you would a work of fiction, you'll find yourself sadly lacking that same kind of connection to Cleopatra as you would to a main character in a novel. Why? Because Cleopatra is nearly unknowable. And she's not a fictional character. She's spoken of from a distance, seen more through the eyes of me
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(14 people liked it)
Jan 26, 2011
David
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Stacy Schiff has crafted, somehow, a new angle on one of the world's oldest great stories. By focusing on the first degree sources we have from the period (mostly from Roman scholars & historians, since Alexandria was destroyed by earthquakes), Schiff at once claims expertise but only in a context that is also accessible to the reader. At times Schiff's explanation of the sources and the perceived motivations of their authors feels plodding, but the framing of these sources is essential to Schi
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(11 people liked it)
May 12, 2011
Cleopatra: A Life, has given me a greater insight on B.C. Eygptian life. Cleopatra's ways of ruling her country are very different to the way that the United States today is ruled. Although, there are still a few similarites. The obvious differentiation is that Cleopatra ruled as a monarch while the United States is ruled democratically by a president. Cleopatra's duties and handlings of various problems are different to the precendes of today's republic.
Cleopatra controlled almost e More...
Cleopatra controlled almost e More...
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Aug 01, 2011
Dana
rated it: 
So my book club read Stacy Schiff's Cleopatra last month.
Every single one of the extant sources who wrote about Cleopatra's life had an agenda, specifically to demonize Cleopatra and make hers a name to live in infamy
Cicero, Plutarch, Dio, Lucan, Schiff quotes them all extensively and compensates for their obvious bias by attempting to put the reader in that place and time. In this case the "dev More...
Every single one of the extant sources who wrote about Cleopatra's life had an agenda, specifically to demonize Cleopatra and make hers a name to live in infamy
...her story is constructed as much of male fear as fantasy.
Cicero, Plutarch, Dio, Lucan, Schiff quotes them all extensively and compensates for their obvious bias by attempting to put the reader in that place and time. In this case the "dev More...
3 comments
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(4 people liked it)
Aug 30, 2011
Mo
rated it:
This one was one of the most highly rated books of the last year, so I added it to my reading list. I'm glad I did, although I'm not entire sure it lived up to its billing.
The author is erudite, and not afraid to show it. What she does successfully is to really give the reader an idea of the context of what the Roman world was like in those days, and the complex political world that was the mediterranean. Understanding that goes a long way to understanding the machinations in Rome and More...
The author is erudite, and not afraid to show it. What she does successfully is to really give the reader an idea of the context of what the Roman world was like in those days, and the complex political world that was the mediterranean. Understanding that goes a long way to understanding the machinations in Rome and More...
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(5 people liked it)
Feb 02, 2012
Renee
rated it:
If you enjoy history, mixed with greed, politics, scandal and palace intrigue, you will love the historical account of Cleopatra and her exploits, as detailed by author Stacy Schiff. Schiff carefully, and as accurately as possible, fleshes out the back story leading up to the rise and glory of Cleopatra as ruler of Egypt, one of the most modern of all historical civilizations. As most students of history are aware, she was one of the most prolific and influential rulers in the ancient world, b
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(1 person liked it)
Sep 12, 2011
Julia
rated it:
I labelled this one as "feministy," because I don't think that Stacy Schiff could deny her "let's re-examine Cleopatra's ACTUAL awesomeness as opposed to this hyper-sexualized harpy-witch-seductress-harlot nonsense" angle. Nonetheless, Pulitzer Prize-winning past or no, Schiff delivers fluff here. Good fluff, feminist as opposed to misogynistic fluff, but fluff nonetheless. Grad school is starting to ruin me for reading things that aren't in academic journals; after Schiff wo
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(3 people liked it)
Jul 02, 2011
Paul
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Billed as a biography of Cleopatra, this well researched book (the works of Lucan, Plutarch, Cicero, Dio, Suetonius and others are examined to buttress the conclusions) also shines a spotlight on several other important personages of the queen’s time. The lives of Julius Caesar, Marc Antony and Octavian are highlighted as well as those of some minor characters such as Herod. In addition, the cities of Rome and Alexandria are compared – with Rome found wanting in a majority of departments.
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Feb 09, 2011
Stephanie
rated it:
I couldn't be more pleased about the resurgence of interest in Cleopatra VII of Egypt. Given that I've spent the past few years of my life working on a trilogy about Cleopatra's daughter starting with Lily of the Nile, I admit a ready bias in favor of Stacy Schiff's new biography. However, I believe that this book would appeal even to those who don't have an obsession with Egypt's most famous monarch.
Schiff's tone is easy and breezy--injecting humor and modern comparisons into this s More...
Schiff's tone is easy and breezy--injecting humor and modern comparisons into this s More...
Jan 21, 2012
Mis
rated it:
I keep falling asleep on this book...way too clinical & dry:( I'm going to keep trying though, as some books get better after 1st couple chapters?
Update:
It did not get better. The writer seemed to have to keep reminding us that nothing of real fact is known of Cleopatra. Wasn't that kind of the point of her book to give a different perspective (that of a woman writing about a powerful & influential woman)? Which she sort of did...but I would imagine a much more lush, exciting, liter More...
Update:
It did not get better. The writer seemed to have to keep reminding us that nothing of real fact is known of Cleopatra. Wasn't that kind of the point of her book to give a different perspective (that of a woman writing about a powerful & influential woman)? Which she sort of did...but I would imagine a much more lush, exciting, liter More...
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(2 people liked it)
Sep 05, 2011
Kim
rated it: 
Disappointed in this. Was really looking forward to it after it made so many Top 10 of 2010 lists, but I was sufficiently underwhelmed. Subject matter really interested me, so I would have been very forgiving, but this book jumped all over the place. One criticism I had read was that the author takes a lot of liberties based on her exhaustive research, some of which are just silly. Concur.
February and March are insanely busy and I usually find little time to read during these months, but e More...
February and March are insanely busy and I usually find little time to read during these months, but e More...
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(7 people liked it)
Feb 12, 2011
Mag
rated it:
It’s a very interesting book. I would say that Schiff's approach to Cleopatra was not only feminist, but also, and possibly foremost, critical. She did not take historians' accounts on their face value; she vigilantly evaluated everything they said, and provided her own commentary. Her image of Cleopatra, Cesar and Mark Anthony is fascinating, and the portrayal of Egyptian, Roman and Middle Eastern society quite eye opening.
4.5/5
4.5/5
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(3 people liked it)
Aug 08, 2011
One of those books that’s kind of disappointing, after all the hype, but you feel virtuous for having read it. The obvious problem is that so little is actually known about Cleopatra from firsthand or sympathetic sources that a real biography is impossible. Schiff has done a commendable job of presenting and assessing the available information but Cleopatra’s emotional presence is elusive; she probably raises more questions than she answers. I think I was hoping for a cleaner narrative along
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(1 person liked it)
Jan 14, 2012
Sophia
rated it:
Cleopatra: A Life brings this mythical figure back to human proportions, in a good way. Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer Stacy Schiff restores this last queen of Egypt from her infamous beauty and sexuality to reveal a powerful, educated, and popular female ruler who presided over the most prosperous realm in the ancient Mediterranean world. Without new sources and two thousand years in the interim, this book isn't a detailed account of what Cleopatra thought, said, or felt, but instead interp
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Nov 27, 2011
James
rated it:
Voluminous is one way to describe this book. Vivid, colorful, elaborate and unorthodox would also fit the bill. It took me a few months to work my way through the life of Cleopatra, but to be fair to Schiff, there's a lot to talk about a woman who lived half as long as the average American does these days.
The principal focus of the book seems to be working to dispel many of the traditional lore about Cleopatra - that she was a witch, a concubine, a usurper, that she used her body a More...
The principal focus of the book seems to be working to dispel many of the traditional lore about Cleopatra - that she was a witch, a concubine, a usurper, that she used her body a More...
Nov 15, 2011
Lila
rated it:
Cleopatra, A Life is a great biography about one of the most famous and misunderstood women in history. Schiff handles the details of Cleopatra's life with refreshing honesty. When there's a lack of data, and there often is, Schiff supplies the reader with a caveat, and then provides the various possibilities to fill in the timeline. Since it is a biography, the book starts with Cleopatra's early life and ends with her death, not by snakebite as commonly believed. The book does not read like a b
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(1 person liked it)
Nov 08, 2011
Marks54
rated it:
This bio got good reviews so I used a local book club event as the stimulus for reading it. It is a very ambitious book but I think the author is fairly successful.
What's the motivational challenge for this effort? Well. . .
First, Cleopatra has a strong popular image primarily fueled by Elizabeth Taylor (and other actresses), along with popular characterizations in cartoons and children's books.
Second, the image is significantly at odds with the historical recor More...
What's the motivational challenge for this effort? Well. . .
First, Cleopatra has a strong popular image primarily fueled by Elizabeth Taylor (and other actresses), along with popular characterizations in cartoons and children's books.
Second, the image is significantly at odds with the historical recor More...
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(1 person liked it)
Oct 26, 2011
Meghan
rated it:
Such a good read. Try not to get hooked in the first paragraph alone:
"Among the most famous women to have lived, Cleopatra VII ruled Egypt for twenty-two years. She lost a kingdom once, regained it, nearly lost it again, amassed an empire, lost it all. A goddess as a child, a queen at eighteen, a celebrity soon thereafter, she was an object of speculation and veneration, gossip and legend, even in her own time. At the height of her power she controlled virtually the entire easte More...
"Among the most famous women to have lived, Cleopatra VII ruled Egypt for twenty-two years. She lost a kingdom once, regained it, nearly lost it again, amassed an empire, lost it all. A goddess as a child, a queen at eighteen, a celebrity soon thereafter, she was an object of speculation and veneration, gossip and legend, even in her own time. At the height of her power she controlled virtually the entire easte More...
Oct 12, 2011
Jaclyn
rated it:
It’s a talented writer who can take a historical figure (albeit one steeped in mythology and intrigue) about which almost nothing is known with certainty and turn out a fact-based, in-depth book.
I don’t want to turn this review into a synopsis (as is so easy to do with biographies), but instead point out that this book will attract and hold the attention of a specific type of person and will likely bore anyone else to some extent. If you’re a fan of Cleopatra, ancient Rome/ancient Egyp More...
I don’t want to turn this review into a synopsis (as is so easy to do with biographies), but instead point out that this book will attract and hold the attention of a specific type of person and will likely bore anyone else to some extent. If you’re a fan of Cleopatra, ancient Rome/ancient Egyp More...
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Sep 23, 2011
Arabella
rated it:
I really knew very little about Cleopatra's life, so I found this book fascinating. In fact, towards the end I couldn't put it down. Schiff does a good job of showing how historians, whether contemporary or otherwise, are never just reporting history; there's always an agenda, and in Cleopatra's case, most of her history was written by the Romans who brought a mixture of envy, misunderstanding, misogyny, cultural bias and the victor's perspective.
Cleopatra is brought to life in t More...
Cleopatra is brought to life in t More...
Sep 16, 2011
Laura
rated it:
I loved this book about Cleopatra because I learned so much. And boy can Stacy Schiff turn a phrase. (Yeah, no wonder she won the Pulitzer!) For instance: “Cleopatra stood at one of the most dangerous intersections in history: that of women and power.” Schiff tells us she is going to give us nothing but the facts. She is going to pull Cleopatra’s face from the histrionics of the story tellers, to rescue her from the obscura of politics, to give us the real Cleopatra. But the story itself,
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Sep 16, 2011
Dara
rated it:
It took be awhile to get into it, but I ended up quite liking this intensive biography of Cleopatra.
Based on snippet reviews I had read I was expecting more of a social history of Cleopatra. I think some reviewers may have only read the Introduction, which does go into the Myth of Cleopatra. But the book itself is much more of a straight historical biography, albeit a very rich and at times opinionated one. Schiff makes a great case for how unreliable any of our records about Cleopatra are More...
Based on snippet reviews I had read I was expecting more of a social history of Cleopatra. I think some reviewers may have only read the Introduction, which does go into the Myth of Cleopatra. But the book itself is much more of a straight historical biography, albeit a very rich and at times opinionated one. Schiff makes a great case for how unreliable any of our records about Cleopatra are More...
Sep 10, 2011
Abby Lyn
rated it:
I have always found that biographies can either be dry and dull, or absorbing and rich. I have attempted to read biographies about Cleopatra before, but just never seemed to get past the first few chapters, usually revolving around the confusingly incestuous Ptolomy family tree. I have been looking for a more reader friendly description of Cleopatra's life, along the lines of biographies I have loved (for example, Pernoud & Clin's Joan of Arc: Her Story, or Stuart's Rose of Martinique, both gr
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Sep 03, 2011
MJ
rated it:
Schiff does a wonderful job presenting the often-conflicting accounts of Cleopatra, and teasing out the probable truth. She candidly admits that there’s much we don’t know. Because of this, Cleopatra maintains her distance. You never feel a close intimacy with her. Of course, she was the queen of Egypt, descended from Isis. How many people who knew her ever felt a close intimacy? Very few, I’m guessing.
Cleopatra has been immortalized as a wanton seductress, sleeping her way into his More...
Cleopatra has been immortalized as a wanton seductress, sleeping her way into his More...
Aug 21, 2011
Elizabeth
rated it:
I debated between giving this book three or four stars. The fact that I finished it quickly (I often had to make myself put it down to get other things done) was the determining factor. The experience of members of a book club I belong to was quite different, however. Most of them couldn't bring themselves to finish it. Most described it as hard to follow and not particularly engaging. I mention this as a caveat if you are using my review to help you decide whether to read this book or not.
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Aug 14, 2011
Glee
rated it:
What a bore. In fairness, I didn't finish it. Got through 2 discs out of 11 or 12 and just couldn't stand it anymore. Two problems - the substance of the book, and the reader on the CD version I was listening to. The author starts off by telling you that very little real evidence exists about Cleopatra's life and that most of what we "know" was written by three biographers none of whom were born before she died and who (in the author's opinion) had agendas to grind with the idea of
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Jul 28, 2011
Yeah, I guess I could go on to critique the merits of this book as a biography and work of history, but then this review would sound like everyone else's. But rarely is a biography at once so well-rounded as well as just plain fun to read.
It is already a difficult task to take on a biography of a character shrouded in so much legend; but I daresay our author did it, and well, for that matter.
What was most enjoyable about this book, apart from its readability, was Schiff's level-headed approach More...
It is already a difficult task to take on a biography of a character shrouded in so much legend; but I daresay our author did it, and well, for that matter.
What was most enjoyable about this book, apart from its readability, was Schiff's level-headed approach More...
