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"Provoking, unsettling, ingenious -- and a delight to read."
-"Guardian"
.,."skillfully interweaves classical and 19th century stories, employing motifs from both Homer and Charlotte Bronte.... Ackroyd's most exuberant novel for years."
-"Daily Mail"
-"Guardian"
.,."skillfully interweaves classical and 19th century stories, employing motifs from both Homer and Charlotte Bronte.... Ackroyd's most exuberant novel for years."
-"Daily Mail"
Times
`richly imagined work is as gripping as any thriller'
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Good but not great,
By
This review is from: The Fall Of Troy (Paperback)
This is the first novel by Ackroyd that I have read. Although I came with no preconceptions, I must admit that I was hoping for the "gripping and terrible" story, promised on the back cover. What I actually got was a mediocre story.The book follows the archaeologist, Herr Obermann, whose passion for Troy and its legend seems to know no bounds - it posesses him and all that he percieves in the world. In deed, his passion is so large that he seeks out a Greek wife who is able to read the works of Homer. Sophia, his new wife is much younger than Obermann, but out of duty to her parents, and because she also has a great love for Troy, she agrees to the marriage and determines to make the best of it. Yet Obermann's obsession with Troy slowly begins to take more of a sinister twist. He makes his findings fit his own theories, and when an American begins to question his work, he just so happens to come down with a mysterious illness. As the novel progresses to its ending, Sophia aslo learns that Obermann has other, darker secrets that he is keeping from her - a secret that will ultimately lead him to his own destiny. Ackroyd has done a good job at creating the character of Obermann. Although he is not very likeable, he is not two dimensional. Sophia, also is quite believeable - the word I would use to sum her up is 'dutiful'. Yet, despite this good characterisation, the story, for me, left a lot to be desired. The love affair seemed rushed and intangible; I saw it more as a way to help the ending along. Even the ending was an anti-climax. It was not the terrible and gripping ending that was promised; for a seasoned writer, I expected more. Overall, this is an OK read. Good for a short while, but not something that will grip you from page one right up to the very end. Like archaeology, you may have to dig a little deeper.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A satisfying little book,
By
This review is from: The Fall Of Troy (Paperback)
This novel is based on the lives of the German excavator of Troy, Heinrich Schliemann (here called Heinrich Obermann) and his Greek second wife and fellow archaeologist Sophia Engastromenos (here called Sophia Chrysanthis). Both are deeply devoted to the Iliad and to Troy, but Obermann prides himself not only on his scientific skills but also on his intuition and imagination which make him identify physical features (beautifully described) with the very spots which Homer's gods and heroes had trodden. He is superstitious and even believes, when they experience an earthquake, that it was Zeus speaking. So vivid is his imagination that he takes liberties - to put it mildly - with archaeological evidence when it does not fit his theories (as the real Schliemann did also). In this novel he is a most unattractive character: loud, uncouth, unashamedly boastful of his genius, peremptory and controlling, and intolerantly dogmatic whenever his conclusions are challenged by other archaeologists - as they are in this novel by two successive visitors to his excavations. Sophia is more ready to listen to them, and she has already caught her husband out in telling downright lies - and she will discover more of what he is capable of. And then Ackroyd's own imagination, which for much of the book has been tethered to aspects of the real Schliemann's life, takes off to a purely invented ending that is, however, aptly in tune with the kind of myths in which Obermann had so passionately believed.A tale well told.
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Entertaining and quietly moving.,
By Miss Murgatroyd (England) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Fall Of Troy (Paperback)
Hugely enjoyable. This book had the effect of reawakening an old fascination of mine with the Trojan material. Of course, Ackroyd is a great story-teller, and this one realy captures the feel of mid-19th century excavations on the hill of Hisarlik. The central character is clearly Heinrich Schlieman under another name, and the excitement and passion for the old stories held by that individual is convincingly and sympathetically done. The elaborations that Ackroyd adds, however, pique curiosity to the utmost, and it was these elements that sent me scurrying back to the archaelogical books to try to find out the truth. Read it -- it's short; and then go back to Homer and the rest. It's so good, I wish it all were true, especially whats at the bottom of the mound.
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