Review of 'Claudius the God: And His Wife Messalina' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
This one was a let-down for me.
I, Claudius is stellar, one of the best historical novels ever written. While Claudius the God shares some of the qualities that made its predecessor great, it lacks others.
In particular, it lacks the scope. I, Claudius boasts a colorful roster of heroes and villains that cycle into and out of the narrative and keep the proceedings fresh, with the only constant being the passive Claudius. Claudius the God is driven by now-Emperor Claudius himself and his immediate circle of sycophants, as well as Herod Agrippa (who gets so much attention that the book would be better named Claudius the God and His Pen Pal Herod).
Claudius, once again the narrator, spends a lot of time discussing his acts as emperor, which (with one exception) are just not that interesting. He initiated several major public works, such as new aqueducts, a new …
This one was a let-down for me.
I, Claudius is stellar, one of the best historical novels ever written. While Claudius the God shares some of the qualities that made its predecessor great, it lacks others.
In particular, it lacks the scope. I, Claudius boasts a colorful roster of heroes and villains that cycle into and out of the narrative and keep the proceedings fresh, with the only constant being the passive Claudius. Claudius the God is driven by now-Emperor Claudius himself and his immediate circle of sycophants, as well as Herod Agrippa (who gets so much attention that the book would be better named Claudius the God and His Pen Pal Herod).
Claudius, once again the narrator, spends a lot of time discussing his acts as emperor, which (with one exception) are just not that interesting. He initiated several major public works, such as new aqueducts, a new harbor at Ostea, and so forth, but in the narrative it boils down to "I told my engineers to do it, and they did it". It's undramatic.
That one exception is Claudius's conquest of Britain. In those passages, the book surges with comedy, drama, and wit. Claudius' generals' underestimation of him allows him to revive his old underdog persona for a while and it's a reminder of what made him so engaging in the first place.
The thing that is so sympathetic about Claudius is the way everybody around him thinks he is an idiot because of his physical limitations. It's a reaction he deliberately encourages in the first book as a survival strategy. But in this book he actually seems to be an idiot. The way he is gulled by those around him and stays oblivious to his own tyranny frustated me throughout the book.
His constant protests that he intends to restore the Republic become feeble after the first year of his reign, and laughable after the tenth. Perhaps it's indeed a joke by Robert Graves, or perhaps it's a concession forced on Graves by the historical fact that the real Claudius did not restore the Republic.
Still, Graves gives Claudius a mordant wit and several memorable turns of phrase, and the early days of the Roman Empire are a fascinating topic. There are gems in the dross here, if you want to wade in after them.
