February Book Group: "Pompeii" by Robert Harris
AD79 and engineer Marius Attilius Primus takes charge of the Aqua Augusta, the mighty aqueduct which carries fresh water to the nine towns around the Bay of Neapolis. His predecessor has mysteriously disappeared; and it is two days before the eruption of Vesuvius.
A favourite book of mine and a regular re-read.
A favourite book of mine and a regular re-read.
Comments
We went to the Bay of Naples on holiday once and the tour guide recommended this book as being pretty good history as well as a good read.
Good to see you @Penny S !
Did you enjoy it?
Given the story has a known ending, did you feel it was still compelling and suspenseful?
Did you find the short factual passages from other books that preface each chapter helpful?
Did you find the characters credible? What about the love story?
"What was leadership, after all, but the blind choice of one route over another and the confident pretence that the decision was based on reason?" Would you say this is true? Were you struck by any other memorable quotations?
Have you read other books by Robert Harris? What did you think of them?
Anything else you'd like to discuss?
I think it was a re-read. The first eel scene felt familiar.
Did you enjoy it?
Yes. It was good to see how Harris was going to examine the last days of Pompeii.
Given the story has a known ending, did you feel it was still compelling and suspenseful?
The suspense was only in what would happen to the protagonist and his love interest. Much like the Titanic.
Did you find the short factual passages from other books that preface each chapter helpful?
I am not sure I would call them “helpful” but they were certainly educative.
Did you find the characters credible? What about the love story?
As credible as characters usually are in books. The released slave becomes an asshole theme ( or any variations) have been used before. Love at first sight has also been done many times over.
"What was leadership, after all, but the blind choice of one route over another and the confident pretence that the decision was based on reason?" Would you say this is true? Were you struck by any other memorable quotations?
A rather cynical quote but probably close to reality.
Have you read other books by Robert Harris? What did you think of them?
I have read Fatherland and Conclave. I enjoyed them both.
This was a re-read. I first read after visiting Pompeii. Our tour rep for the holiday recommended the book, as she thought it was a fairly accurate depiction of what happened. I re-read it on holiday, it was ideal stuck on a plane for three hours reading.
Did you enjoy it?
Yes. I think I enjoyed it more the first time when I didn't know exactly how the story would pan out, apart from the volcano erupting of course.
Given the story has a known ending, did you feel it was still compelling and suspenseful?.
I thought Harris did a good job with the mystery of what had happened to Exominus, and the gradual build up that something was about to happen. The sulfur in the water, the wine in the glass shaking, the blocked aqueduct.
Did you find the short factual passages from other books that preface each chapter helpful?
I read them, but they didn't make much impression.
Did you find the characters credible? What about the love story?
I thought Attilius came across as a credible character, as did the difficulties he was having getting the team to get used to him after their previous boss. The love story was pleasant and I could believe an intelligent girl rebelling against her father.
"What was leadership, after all, but the blind choice of one route over another and the confident pretence that the decision was based on reason?" Would you say this is true? Were you struck by any other memorable quotations?
I'd hope that real leadership is based on evidence that shows that the course you are suggesting is the best. There weren't any quotes that really stood out to me, though I enjoyed the fact that a lot of it was obviously 'true' and Harris had done his research.
Have you read other books by Robert Harris? What did you think of them?
I've read quite a few. Some are good like the recent Act of Oblivion, others such as V2 less so. The strangest was The Second Sleep. That starts our really well, but I think he got bored with it as the ending reminded me of the old Tony Hancock's Half Hour episode The Bowmans.
First time!
Did you enjoy it?
Yes, I really enjoyed it.
Given the story has a known ending, did you feel it was still compelling and suspenseful?
Yes! As I think I mentioned above, this was the second book about the destruction of Pompeii that I'd read in a few months, the other one being Elodie Harper's The Temple of Fortuna. Both experiences were similar, in that the reader knows the characters are all hurtling towards an unimaginable devastating that will be either life-ending or life-changing for all of them, but of course they don't know know that. So in both books I found myself thinking, "Well, this problem that is so pressing and concerning for you right now, Book Character, is really not going to matter at all in a couple of days!" But the suspense comes from wondering which of the fictional characters will survive and, for those that do, how their lives will be changed by the eruption and its aftermath.
Did you find the characters credible? What about the love story?
Yes, I really liked the main character, especially because I like learning a bit about types of people and jobs in the ancient world -- like an aqueduct engineer -- that I might not necessarily have thought about before. The love story required a bit of suspension of disbelief but I did enjoy it and was hoping for a happy-ish ending. I thought the author did a good job of making us believe that the girl had died in her bedroom, but I kept hoping she would be protected by plot armor so wasn't entirely surprised when she re-appeared at the end. I did like the very ending, where Harris clearly positions his characters' unlikely survival in the context of other stories of unlikely survival from Pompeii. Weird stuff did, and does, happen in natural disasters.
Have you read other books by Robert Harris? What did you think of them?
I read the three Cicero novels after seeing the stage play, and enjoyed them a lot. I really like good fiction set in the world of ancient Rome. I've kept intending to read more of his books -- Act of Oblivion is on my to-read list -- but this one wasn't on my radar so I'm glad I read it.
Anything else you'd like to discuss?
I was sorry this novel didn't have an afterword where the author tells us what was historical and what he made up (something I always appreciate in reading historical fiction, and always do when writing it). Specifically, the blocking of the aqueduct -- was this a real thing? I went back through the other Pompeii novel I read, and noticed that there was a reference to one of the characters going to a fountain in Pompeii to get water on the morning before the eruption and finding there was none, which seemed to fit with what happened in this novel.
But then @Penny S 's comment above that the blocking of the aqueduct "didn't fit with what I had read elsewhere from vulcanologists, with reference to Vesuvius" made me question that. I don't really know much about Pompeii apart from one tourist visit to the site, and then reading these two novels. Was disruption to the water supply part of the recorded events, or did Harris make all that up for this novel?
Another thing I found interesting in comparing this to The Temple of Fortuna was the date. Harris has the eruption happening in August, which seems to have been the generally accepted date for a long time. But the other novel, written much more recently than Harris's book, puts the eruption in the autumn, which some newer evidence suggests may be the case.
In any novel about a well-known disaster, it's always interesting to me to see how the characters react to what is, to the reader, quite obvious foreshadowing of the coming event -- they may be troubled by it, but often they just write it off as, "Oh well, that's how things are, it's probably nothing" which some characters in this book seem to do. Human nature, I guess.
Finally, the scene with the elaborate feast at the home of the wealthy former slave was one of the most nauseating meal descriptions I'd ever read -- and that was before they brought out the eel that had fed on human flesh!! It really made me not want to time-travel back to Pompeii - at least, not for a meal at the home of someone ostentatiously trying to prove how rich they are!
This was my first time reading it.
Did you enjoy it?
I enjoyed the book. I liked that there was a mystery as well as the main theme of the volcano. Some of the descriptions of the characters sex lives were a bit ick, but based on reality. Sometimes it's nice to read a book where the heroic, 'good' characters survive and the deserving are punished, though some of the nice characters died as well. I wondered what happened to the mother of the slave who was killed by eels as I don't think that plot point was tied up.
Given the story has a known ending, did you feel it was still compelling and suspenseful?
I still found the book compelling. It seemed that Marcus Attillius would survive and I thought he would probably rescue Corelia or she would save herself, but the exact details and where the main characters would be during the eruption were not obvious. The solution to what happened to Exonimus was also satisfying as you couldn't be sure until he was found if he had fled, been murdered or died some other way. I was not expecting him to have died from the poisonous fumes from the volcano.
Did you find the short factual passages from other books that preface each chapter helpful?
I skim read them mostly, though they did give an idea how close to the eruption the story was, building on the suspense.
Did you find the characters credible? What about the love story?
The characters were a bit black and white and the love story was predictable. Attillius and Corelia barely knew each other and it seemed he was partly attracted to her because she resembled his late wife. The rescue plot seemed like Attilius' chance to save Corelia because he was unable to save his wife or child during childbirth. I liked that some of the side characters were given a back story and was invested enough in their stories to want to know their fates after the eruption.
"What was leadership, after all, but the blind choice of one route over another and the confident pretence that the decision was based on reason?" Would you say this is true? Were you struck by any other memorable quotations?
Sometimes it can seem that way. I prefer leaders who admit their is complexity and uncertainty in life, but I guess that doesn't win votes or prevent uprisings (in non-democracies).
Have you read other books by Robert Harris? What did you think of them?
I haven't read any others.
Anything else you'd like to discuss?
Responding to the questions made me read up on other eruptions of Mount Vesuvius. I don't think I have ever heard that they had to move the 1908 Olympics from Naples after it was damaged by an eruption. It also erupted in 1944 and damaged US bombers based on the Pompeii airfield. Apparently it is in a less active period now, but has to be closely monitored and is now surrounded by a national park to prevent people living too close and ensure evacuation would be hopefully easier.
Spike Milligan was serving in Italy, in the area, at the time of the 1944 eruption, and writes about it in his memoir "Mussolini: His Part in my Downfall". I won't spoil it, in case anyone feels they should read it, but there's one experience there that I envy him utterly, to anyone with an interest in history it must have been mindboggling.
Did you enjoy it?
This would have been a re-read of the book, and I enjoyed it last time I read it. However, I just couldn't get into it this time. I suspect this is because I was reading a lot of stuff set in ancient Greece/Rome recently, and am currently classiced-out! I eventually gave up and started re-reading a sf series instead.
Given the story has a known ending, did you feel it was still compelling and suspenseful?
As far as I recall I found the suspense on whether or not people would survive was enough, despite knowing what would happen generally - it's like Greek theatre, the audience know going in that the hero is doomed, but they're going and watching to see how interestingly he's doomed.
Did you find the short factual passages from other books that preface each chapter helpful?
I found them interesting. That type of thing appears in a lot of the fiction that I read; a chapter header that sort-of relates to what's happening in the chapter. Usually chosen by the author to try and not give the plot point away completely
Did you find the characters credible? What about the love story?
Can't remember now!
Have you read other books by Robert Harris? What did you think of them?
Yes, read the Cicero set after hearing parts of the first one on radio. I found them interesting, but it's long enough ago that I can't really remember the details now.
Anything else you'd like to discuss?
As @Trudy mentioned above, it would have been interesting to have an afterword about what was known and what was guessed/made up. I always read those if they're there, and sometimes it can shed a different light on the time period for me.
It is a regular favourite reread.
Given the story has a known ending, did you feel it was still compelling and suspenseful?
Yes, because there were a lot of compelling and suspenseful elements to it apart from the eruption. What did happen to Exomnius? Will the Augusta be repaired in time? Will Corelia survive? Will she and Attilius meet?
I liked the occasional hint at something we as readers know but the characters in the story don't. When Corax and Attilius are inspecting the reservoir, the reflection of the torchlight on the water "suggested a fire in the depths." After the aqueduct is repaired, ironically the workforce are desperate to get back to "the safety of Pompeii."
Did you find the short factual passages from other books that preface each chapter helpful?
I did; very interesting to hang the story on those informative passages.
Did you find the characters credible? What about the love story?
Call me an old softy, I did like the love story and found it credible. I hoped it might be true! I found the depiction of the one real-life character, Pliny, very interesting indeed and thought his story was very cleverly woven into the fiction. A friend of mine who studied classics went back to his writings after reading this book and was impressed at how closely it followed them.
I found myself concentrating on the character of Ampliatus much more on this reading. A ghastly person in so many ways but there were reasons for that (being abused by his master when he was a slave) and although his relationship with Corelia had been irrevocably damaged there was something very poignant about the jolt he felt seeing the doll he had bought for her birthday years ago. "What had happened to her? He had loved her so much - his little girl! - how had it come to hatred? He was suddenly baffled."
There are two non-human characters who dominate the story as well - the mountain and the aqueduct, the latter referred to as "she" and with whom Attilius has a close relationship of understanding. He can tell the health of the Augusta by the smell and taste and sound of the water. He knows the answers to the mysteries lie on the mountain and heads there when everyone else is going in the opposite direction.
"What was leadership, after all, but the blind choice of one route over another and the confident pretence that the decision was based on reason?" Would you say this is true? Were you struck by any other memorable quotations?
Well, it struck a chord with me - a lot of us are winging life as best we can!
Have you read other books by Robert Harris? What did you think of them?
I've read Conclave - a long time ago, must revisit it. A friend of mine recently recommended The Second Sleep and I'd be interested to read that one too.
Last time I was there, admittedly more than 10 years ago, we were told that that hadn't prevented a large amount of illegal building going on very close to the lower slopes.