Fred Jenkins’s Reviews > Rome and a Villa > Status Update

Really don't like this much; not sure why I am continuing. Why is it that so many famous, highly recommended books disappoint? To put it mildly, Clark's style sucks.

Clark really doesn't like Hadrian; granted the Villa is somewhat like Nero's Domus Aurea, but otherwise H. was a pretty good emperor and not very much like N.

Clark writes in a steam of consciousness, juxtaposing bits of the ancient, medieval, Renaissance, and modern in no particular order. Reading it is sometimes like climbing a wall of ice; slippery surfaces and hard to get beneath them. But there are many interesting bits.