Imperium by Robert Harris, anyone read this???

[Brenda in MA]

A cousin recommended this book and said he enjoyed the book on tape version. I know nothing about it, but I'm wondering if this would be appropriate for a 12 yo.

 

TIA,

Brenda

[Michelle in MO]

a book review from Barnes & Noble, plus a link to the book (I tend to get on B&N's website instead of Amazon):

 

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Imperium/Robert-Harris/e/9780641889608/?itm=1

 

It actually looks pretty good!

 

Now, I can heartily recommend Anthony Everitt's biography of Marcus Cicero: Cicero: The Life and Times of Rome's Greatest Politician. I read this about five years ago, when we first started Henle I Latin. I had read once that one of the major goals in Latin study for early American patriots was to master Latin enough to eventually read Cicero, who was considered to be Rome's greatest orator and rhetorician.

 

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Cicero/Anthony-Everitt/e/9780375758959/?itm=3

 

Now, I think the level of this second book would be beyond most 12-year-olds, but it was fascinating to me. The complexity of Roman politics "lost" me from time to time; now that I've read more of ancient history, I could probably read it again and gain much more from it. I thought Cicero was a fascinating individual who fought against Caesar's impending dictatorship.

 

I would recommend that you read the reviews on the book from the readers at the B&N website. Imperium might be fine for a 12-year-old; it might be a good introduction to Roman politics and the collapse of the Roman republic.

 

By the way, I also noted that Anthony Everitt has a new book out about Augustus Caesar, which, if it is as good as the Cicero book was, should be excellent! You might enjoy both of them!

[Kareni]

For her AP Latin (Cicero/Catullus) class this year, my daughter had three books to read for a summer reading assignment. They were:

 

Imperium by Robert Harris ... http://www.amazon.com/Imperium-Novel-Ancient-Robert-Harris/dp/074326603X

 

Cicero: The Life and Times of Rome's Greatest Politician by Anthony Everitt ...

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0375507469/ref=cm_rdp_product

 

and The Lock by Benita Kane Jaro ...

http://www.amazon.com/Lock-Benita-Kane-Jaro/dp/0865165351/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1211759548&sr=1-1

 

Now, sadly, I've forgotten what my daughter thought of all of these. If you'd like to know, I can ask her.

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Laura Corin]

No, but I read his Pompeii. There's one scene in which a slave provides 'extra services' for a client in the bath house. You might like to pre-read Imperium.

 

Best wishes

 

Laura

[Brenda in MA]

Now, sadly, I've forgotten what my daughter thought of all of these. If you'd like to know, I can ask her.

 

Regards,

Kareni

Karen,

 

If it's not too much trouble, I'd love to know what she thought of Imperium. I'm most concerned to know if there are scenes like the "bath house" that Laura referred to in Pompeii. We would probably listen to the book on tape, and I'm not so concerned about my son being able to follow along because we've done lots of read alouds. I'm more concerned about potential adult content.

 

TIA,

Brenda

[Kareni]

Karen,

 

If it's not too much trouble, I'd love to know what she thought of Imperium.

 

Hello Brenda,

 

My daughter recalls some brief adult language but not any sex scenes in Imperium. This may be in part because the story is narrated by a secondary character rather than by Cicero. (In The Lock, she does recall more adult content but nothing too graphic.) Bear in mind that she read these as a 16 year old not as a 12 year old. Another student in the class, who was 12 or 13, did listen to Imperium on tape. As far as she knows, he enjoyed it.

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Brenda in MA]

;

[Sandy in KY]

I've read Imperium and would recommend it for an adult but not a child (ditto for Pompeii). It's been a couple of years, so I can't recall the specific incidents in the book, but Harris does not shy away from the depravity of Roman culture. I'm pretty sure that Imperium included a section where male clients in a bathhouse were receiving "services" from slaves. I would pre-read this even for an older teen; you could probably do some parent-editing and make it work just fine. With a teen, I would also emphasize that this is more "fiction" than "historical, " although Cicero, Tiro and many of the other characters were real. That being said, I got a real sense of the struggle it took to become consul in ancient Rome, and I thoroughly enjoyed the book for that reason. Pompeii is also a good read, but contains even more overt adult themes.