A sweltering week in late August. Where better to enjoy the last days of summer than on the beautiful Bay of Naples? But even as Rome's richest citizens relax in their villas around Pompeii and Herculaneum, there are ominous warnings that something is going wrong. Wells and springs are failing, a man has disappeared, and now the greatest aqueduct in the world - the mighty Aqua Augusta - has suddenly ceased to flow. Through the eyes of four characters - a young engineer, an adolescent girl, a corrupt millionaire and an elderly scientist - Robert Harris brilliantly recreates a luxurious world on the brink of destruction. (20031017)
Pompeii
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Amazon Review
Certain thriller writers burst upon the scene with considerable impact: Forsyth with The Day of the Jackal, Cruz Smith with Gorky Park and Robert Harris with the masterly Fatherland. Interestingly, of these three authors, by far the most consistent has been Harris, and his new novel, Pompeii is in some ways his most audacious offering yet, a brilliantly orchestrated thriller-cum-historical recreation that plays outrageous tricks with the reader's expectations.
As in the equally adroit Enigma, Harris takes a familiar historical event (there, the celebrated code-breakers at Bletchley Park, here the volcanic obliteration of an Italian city in AD79) and seamlessly weaves a characteristically labyrinthine plot in and around the existing facts. But that's not all he does here: few novelists who (unlike Harris) make a speciality of ancient history for their setting pull off the sense of period quite as impressively as the author does here. As the famous catastrophe approaches, we are pleasurably immersed in the sights, sounds and smells of the Ancient World, each detail conjured with jaw-dropping verisimilitude.
Harris's protagonist is the engineer Marcus Attilius, placed in charge of the massive aqueduct that services the teeming masses living in and around the Bay of Naples. Despite the pride he takes in his job, Marcus has pressing concerns: his predecessor in the job has mysteriously vanished, and another task is handed to Marcus by the scholar Pliny: he is to undertake crucial repairs to the aqueduct near Pompeii, the city in the shadow of the restless Mount Vesuvius. And as Marcus faces several problems--all life threatening--an event approaches that will make all his concerns seem petty.
Other writers have placed narratives in the shadow of this most famous of volcanic cataclysms, but Harris triumphantly ensures that his characters' individual dramas are not dwarfed by implacable nature; Marcus is a vividly drawn hero: complex, conflicted and a canny synthesis of modern and ancient mindsets. Some may wish that Harris might return to something closer to our time in his next novel, but few who take this trip into a dangerous past will be able to resist Harris's spellbinding historical saga. --Barry Forshaw --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
Blazingly exciting... Harris, as Vesuvius explodes, gives full vent to his genius for thrilling narrative... pulse-rate-speeding masterpieces of suffocating suspense and searing action (Peter Kemp Sunday Times )
Robert Harris's Pompeii is his best yet: as explosive as Etna, as addictive as a thriller, as satisfying as great history (Simon Sebag Montefiore Daily Telegraph )
Breakneck pace, constant jeopardy and subtle twists of plot... a blazing blockbuster (Simon Brett Daily Mail )
Harris has done a tremendous job in evoking life in ancient Italy... I am lost in admiration at his energy and skill (Boris Johnson Mail on Sunday )
The long drawn-out death agony of the two cities is brilliantly done. Explosive stuff indeed (Tom Holland Daily Telegraph )
Robert Harris's Pompeii is his best yet: as explosive as Etna, as addictive as a thriller, as satisfying as great history (Simon Sebag Montefiore Daily Telegraph )
Breakneck pace, constant jeopardy and subtle twists of plot... a blazing blockbuster (Simon Brett Daily Mail )
Harris has done a tremendous job in evoking life in ancient Italy... I am lost in admiration at his energy and skill (Boris Johnson Mail on Sunday )
The long drawn-out death agony of the two cities is brilliantly done. Explosive stuff indeed (Tom Holland Daily Telegraph )
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
By L. Davidson
VINE™ VOICE
Format:Paperback
I could have written a one sentence review of "Pompeii" such as "Nothing much happens and then a volcano goes off", but that would be cruel and ignore the many positive and absorbing aspects of this novel.Nearly everyone has heard the story of the destruction of Pompeii by Vesuvius from their schooldays or, more likely, from Frankie Howard films and how the decadent ,corrupt Roman town was wiped out by a volcanic eruption that dwarfed the Hiroshima explosion.
Harris conveys the Shock and Awe of the inhabitants of the Bay of Naples very well in this well researched piece of "faction" as Pompeii and its environs are bombarded by ash,rock and flame in the finale (and yes, there is no surprise twist in the tale -the volcano does go off) and this is one of the plus points of "Pompeii". But what I enjoyed most about the book was the description of and the detail surrounding the Roman aqueducts and in particular the failure of the Aqua Augusta which served the Bay of Naples area and the repair of which constitutes the main storyline of "Pompeii". Ah, the storyline. This is the main weakness of the novel in that it barely exists for three-quarters of it. The main character , the stoic Attilius, is the head aquarius who identifies,investigates and sorts out a water supply problem and this is essentially all that happens plot wise. Well apart from a rather unconvincing love story and a minor civic corruption sub-plot. "Pompeii" is ,in the main,an imaginative re-creation of life 1900 years ago; a detailed ,convincing description of Roman society in its imperial heyday. Harris's research is impressive and fact and fiction are interwoven expertly. But nothing much happens and you already know the ending before you even start the book. I fail to see why so many critics have raved about this book. It is certainly well written and well imagined , but the characters are a little one-dimensional and at times the "factual" overwhelms the "fictional" to the detriment of the novel. Definitely not in the same league as "Fatherland" or "Archangel" which were much more exciting.
52 of 55 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Read this book if you wish to be transported back to the week of Vesuvius erupting and to witness it all from the eyes of the engineer responsible for the fresh water supply to the Bay of Naples. This is a very difficult book to put down, and can cause sleep deprivation in the suceptible. Harris captures the culture, customs and corruption of the time, and also shows just how advanced the Romans were as builders and engineers. The descriptions of people, places and events are excellent.He manages to build the tension in the plot in parallel to the pressure in the vulcano.
Probably the best novel I have read this year.
Probably the best novel I have read this year.
36 of 38 people found the following review helpful
By "blazedj"
Format:Hardcover
This book, although not complicated or amazingly original plotwise, is utterly enthralling and i challenge anyone to be able to put it down for too long.
You cant help but like Marcus Attilius or get involved with his struggle to prove himself to the might of the Roman Empire as the new Aquarius, overseer of the aqueduct providing Campania with its much needed water supply.
Through his obvious enthusiasm and research into the topic Harris gets across with ease the sense of self importance and indestructibility that the Romans felt at this period in their history, in the decades before the fall of the empire.
Some of the characters are fictional but others such as Pliny the Elder (author of 37 volumes entitled Natural History) were actually in the city at the time of its destruction and some of the events and dialogue described in the book are well documented by his nephew (also featured) who survived to tell the tale.
Harris fuses fact and fiction into a tale that remorselessly picks up pace from the idyllic surroundings of Pompeii at the height of Roman civilisation to the humbling and ruin of the city by one of natures greatest forces. I forsee a Hollywood blockbuster coming before long.
You cant help but like Marcus Attilius or get involved with his struggle to prove himself to the might of the Roman Empire as the new Aquarius, overseer of the aqueduct providing Campania with its much needed water supply.
Through his obvious enthusiasm and research into the topic Harris gets across with ease the sense of self importance and indestructibility that the Romans felt at this period in their history, in the decades before the fall of the empire.
Some of the characters are fictional but others such as Pliny the Elder (author of 37 volumes entitled Natural History) were actually in the city at the time of its destruction and some of the events and dialogue described in the book are well documented by his nephew (also featured) who survived to tell the tale.
Harris fuses fact and fiction into a tale that remorselessly picks up pace from the idyllic surroundings of Pompeii at the height of Roman civilisation to the humbling and ruin of the city by one of natures greatest forces. I forsee a Hollywood blockbuster coming before long.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Couldn't put it down
Having disliked "Fatherland" I was reluctant to try another Robert Harris but "Pompeii" is brilliant. Read more
Published 6 days ago by Louise Wright
5.0 out of 5 stars
First class read
This book was recommend to me. In so far as I know it's historically accurate. A learning curve for me and a book I will refer back to in the future
Published 9 days ago by liz
5.0 out of 5 stars
a fascinating insight into the power of Versuvius
Robert Harris does it again. A fabulous tale of lives at different ends of the Roman social scale, of the magnificence of Roman engineering and of the absolute devastation of... Read more
Published 13 days ago by t cadz
4.0 out of 5 stars
Entertaining and interesting
A good roll along thriller, Harris manages to make a book about an event that we are at least reasonably familiar, with into a gripping page turner. Read more
Published 15 days ago by J. Brookes
5.0 out of 5 stars
Brilliant
This book is a fantastic read and would recommend it. There is history and drama all the way through. Brilliant
Published 23 days ago by Dawn
5.0 out of 5 stars
It has the lot!
I read Pompeii 10yrs ago and enjoyed it then. Since then I've been to Pompeii & Herculaneum (about 5yrs ago) and very recently been to the Pompeii & Herculaneum exhibition at the... Read more
Published 24 days ago by Simon Thackray
4.0 out of 5 stars
My view of this novel and my views on asking for reviews
I haven't finished it yet, but it is up to the usual standard of a Harris historical novel.
You ask us to review things must too swiftly. Read more
You ask us to review things must too swiftly. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Philippa Pigache
5.0 out of 5 stars
Review of Pompeii
the book was a revelation, not really shown any interest in the roman period before i read this book. Read more
Published 1 month ago by David Ireland
4.0 out of 5 stars
An excellent read
An excellent read, plausible historical storyline set around a Roman Plumbing Engineer during the time leading up to Vesuvius erupting. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Chris Graham
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Good Read
I enjoyed this book, as I always enjoy a book by Robert Harris, but although the events of the volcanic eruption were exciting, and seen from an unusual point of view, it was a... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Mary Bronte
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