Sign in with FacebookCapitu's Reviews > The Dream of Scipio
The Dream of Scipio
by Iain Pears
by Iain Pears
This is my second time reading Dream of Scipio. I warded 5 stars the first time, but this time I came close to lowering to 4 starts. What seemed as enlightened erudition the first time, sounded a bit pompous this time around. Did I change or did the book?
Yet, I am keeping the 5 starts.
Ian Pears is not Umberto Eco, as the blurb on the book jacket suggests, but this is still a thought provoking book (and it does remind me in some ways of The Name of the Rose by Eco). Three men in three different eras, linked by the search of philosophical truths – and love - while civilization as each one knows it crumbles around each one of them. The collapse of the Roman Empire, the Black Death in the Middle Ages and WWII, all against the same geographic scenario of Southern France and united by the political persecution of Jews – the eternal scapegoats of history. Truly, this story is quite an undertaking.
Ian Pears seems at times to be holding it all together too neatly though. The narrator’ voice is too knowledgeable and overbearing. The reading tired me at times, requiring a mental effort I was not ready to give to it. And the endless jumping from era to era did not allow me to feel a strong connection with any of the characters.
Yet, I am keeping the 5 starts.
Because there are moments of brilliance in this book. One of my favorite passages is the “Last Supper” Claude Bronsen gives to his friends as the Germans are invading France. Another is Lucien’s thoughts on the holocaust towards the end of the book. And overall the question posed: What is civilization, and what human costs should we be willing to sacrifice to preserve it?
This is not a book that I would recommend indiscriminately. Do not read it if you are not drawn to philosophical questionings. But don’t be afraid of its erudition either, because it is quite accessible, in language and ideas. The 5 stars stays, at the end, because this is a book that is not easy forgotten, even if I wonder what a writer as Umberto Eco, or Salman Rushdie, or yet Ohram Pamuck could have accomplished with such a story.
Yet, I am keeping the 5 starts.
Ian Pears is not Umberto Eco, as the blurb on the book jacket suggests, but this is still a thought provoking book (and it does remind me in some ways of The Name of the Rose by Eco). Three men in three different eras, linked by the search of philosophical truths – and love - while civilization as each one knows it crumbles around each one of them. The collapse of the Roman Empire, the Black Death in the Middle Ages and WWII, all against the same geographic scenario of Southern France and united by the political persecution of Jews – the eternal scapegoats of history. Truly, this story is quite an undertaking.
Ian Pears seems at times to be holding it all together too neatly though. The narrator’ voice is too knowledgeable and overbearing. The reading tired me at times, requiring a mental effort I was not ready to give to it. And the endless jumping from era to era did not allow me to feel a strong connection with any of the characters.
Yet, I am keeping the 5 starts.
Because there are moments of brilliance in this book. One of my favorite passages is the “Last Supper” Claude Bronsen gives to his friends as the Germans are invading France. Another is Lucien’s thoughts on the holocaust towards the end of the book. And overall the question posed: What is civilization, and what human costs should we be willing to sacrifice to preserve it?
This is not a book that I would recommend indiscriminately. Do not read it if you are not drawn to philosophical questionings. But don’t be afraid of its erudition either, because it is quite accessible, in language and ideas. The 5 stars stays, at the end, because this is a book that is not easy forgotten, even if I wonder what a writer as Umberto Eco, or Salman Rushdie, or yet Ohram Pamuck could have accomplished with such a story.
Sign into Goodreads to see if any of your friends have read The Dream of Scipio.
sign in »
