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Felisa Rosa's Reviews > Creation
Creation
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This is not one of my favorite books of all time, but I am giving it five stars anyway because it truly is amazing. Vidal's grasp of history never fails to impress me. Creation is a long rambling journey across the fourth century B.C as viewed by Cyrus Spitama, a Persian diplomat and the grandson of Zoroaster. Vidal breaks several of the cardinal rules of fiction, and the book can seem a little exhausting at times; the lengthy conversations about ancient Greek politics would have been more interesting if I had a more in-depth understanding of Grecian history. That said, Gore is at his gossipy best when he delves into harem politics, and his vivid descriptions of Cathay, India, and Persia give life to an era too often blandly summarized.
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I don't think this book is perfect, yet I've reread it several times now and it seems to get better with each read. There's so much detail ... you can appreciate some bits of info only after knowing other bits. And of course whatever it is that keeps me rereading can't be underestimated.
I've never been a fan of historical fiction, however Vidal seems to have a way in being able to bring the best aspects of the period out through the use of a fictional character. You are right in that Vidal manages to successfully breathe life into this period.
Kevin wrote: "I don't think this book is perfect, yet I've reread it several times now and it seems to get better with each read. There's so much detail ... you can appreciate some bits of info only after knowin..."I agree that the level of detail is mind-blowing.
As someone who is very much into the time period, I can say that for me the detail, if anything, would have been disappointingly insufficient if I hadn't known how sparse our understanding of the places and times he describes are. That said, more detail might have satisfied the personal fancies of someone like myself, but I can say for sure that where the point of this book was concerned, not a single tidbit of it was superfluous. Everything buttressed the points being made by the book, which were very many. :)
"Girls, Lisa. Boys kiss girls."