- Hardcover: 213 pages
- Publisher: Prometheus Books (25 May 2010)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 1616141751
- ISBN-13: 978-1616141752
- Product Dimensions: 23.5 x 16.8 x 2.3 cm
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,527,813 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Tiberius Julius Alexander: A Historical Novel
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3 reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Short, Quick Read of Roman, Alexandrian, Judean History
25 Aug 2010
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
Tiberius Julius Alexander by Daniel M. Friedenberg may be more interesting to one new to the history. The story line is a retired intellectual being called to St Catherine Monastery at Mt Sinai to translate a manuscript found within the walls, literally, of the monastery written in Greek Koine. The manuscript is an autobiographical history of an Alexandrian born Jew, Tiberius Julius Alexander, whom rose to Roman prestige through honorable duty to various emperors, Caligula, Claudius, Nero, Vespasian and others between Nero and Vespasian. He was at the second Temple Judean revolt. The manuscript is the chronological history from his birth, loosing faith, becoming a respectable Roman commander and his struggle with faith and eventually finding his meaning of life. In the end Tiberius Julius Alexander and the translator have much in common questioning and accepting their Epicurean leanings. The books ending is compelling, but this reader had difficulty following the narrative. This reader allows a little latitude in that the thrust of the book is a translation of a Greek language manuscript. The final chapter's narrative is flowing and easily read. Therefore, we assume the manuscript translation is not as free-flowing for being a translation. The book is a quick, short read with a lot of Greek, Roman, Judean history shallowly touched upon. That doesn't mean it isn't worth the read for the history contained, it is.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
A worthy effort, marred by some clumsy mistakes
4 Feb 2011
Format:Hardcover
This novel of imperial Rome comes at the era from a refreshingly different perspective, as a memoir dictated by a now largely forgotten but, in his own day, highly successful Alexandrian Jew, Tiberius Julius Alexander, whose status as both outsider and insider among the Roman elite, and whose estrangement from his own native culture, shapes his view of the world. Tiberius is both alienated from his world and integral to it; this is the stuff of good novels.
The author is clearly a competent and experienced wordsmith, but his previous expertise has been in the field of nonfiction. Fiction is a different art, and he makes some typical beginner's mistakes. The most jarring, and one that should have been mitigated by a good editor, is his inclusion of an intelligence report (see page 140) to convey certain personal information to the narrator; this device is very clumsy and not even remotely believable. The episode could possibly have worked by having Tiberius interview his agent and indirectly solicit the information, but in this form the agent's report stops the novel in its tracks.
A mixed blessing is the narrative sweep of the novel. Cast as a discovered document (there's a framing device about a world-weary translator who's been called to Egypt to read the memoir), this text often genuinely reads like something that might have been written by an ancient author. That gives it a convincing air. But it also undercuts one of the main pleasures we expect from a historical novel, a complete imaginative immersion in the times. We often find ourselves at one remove from Tiberius's experiences, not vividly present in the moment with him. When the author does switch to a more conventional storytelling style (conversations, descriptions, scenes structured to build to a dramatic end), it doesn't always work.
But on the plus side, I was never bored reading this book, and I found myself in sympathy with the gloomy world view (both of Tiberius and, I presume, of the novel's author), so that I looked forward to returning to the book each time I opened it. Despite displaying some of the typical awkwardness of a first novel, this is an ambitious book with a worthy theme, and if you are at all interested in the period, I recommend it.
The author is clearly a competent and experienced wordsmith, but his previous expertise has been in the field of nonfiction. Fiction is a different art, and he makes some typical beginner's mistakes. The most jarring, and one that should have been mitigated by a good editor, is his inclusion of an intelligence report (see page 140) to convey certain personal information to the narrator; this device is very clumsy and not even remotely believable. The episode could possibly have worked by having Tiberius interview his agent and indirectly solicit the information, but in this form the agent's report stops the novel in its tracks.
A mixed blessing is the narrative sweep of the novel. Cast as a discovered document (there's a framing device about a world-weary translator who's been called to Egypt to read the memoir), this text often genuinely reads like something that might have been written by an ancient author. That gives it a convincing air. But it also undercuts one of the main pleasures we expect from a historical novel, a complete imaginative immersion in the times. We often find ourselves at one remove from Tiberius's experiences, not vividly present in the moment with him. When the author does switch to a more conventional storytelling style (conversations, descriptions, scenes structured to build to a dramatic end), it doesn't always work.
But on the plus side, I was never bored reading this book, and I found myself in sympathy with the gloomy world view (both of Tiberius and, I presume, of the novel's author), so that I looked forward to returning to the book each time I opened it. Despite displaying some of the typical awkwardness of a first novel, this is an ambitious book with a worthy theme, and if you are at all interested in the period, I recommend it.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
A good summary of 1st Century Roman Palestine
18 Nov 2010
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
I give this short novel top marks for what must have been a daunting task by the author, Mr. Friedenberg. What is known about Tiberius Julius Alexander, an Egyptian Jew who rose to high rank in the Roman army during the 1st century is not much more that that -- a name, a place of birth, and him being Roman general. What made this 200 or so page historical novel plausible was how the author got so many details of the period correct, especially the Roman military and political narrative. The Roman legions are where they're supposed to be, doing what they were supposed to do, for example. He seemed to favor Josephus Flavius' version of things for the Jerusalem-specific events more than the Jewish (Talmud or Midrashim) texts, but all-in-all an entertaining read for me. I liked the pace and the book's ending. It seemed very fitting.
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