Rating: 
Summary: Too Complicated for a Newcomer to McCullough
Review: This was the first Colleen McCullough novel I've ever tried to read. I remember saying to my girlfriend about 120 pages in "I think I've found another great one" -- and I meant that I've finally found another contemporary novelist who's intensity level was as focused and whose storytelling power was as solid as just about any other contemporary writer. However, Caesar is *not* a place to start with McCullough. It is too complicated. I'm aware that writing this review will not win any "helpful" votes, but I've got to speak my mind.I thought McCullough's description of Caesar was the best physical and emotional description of a character I've ever read. Her description of his eyes may have been worth the 8 bucks alone. And if I'd have been an early editor, I would have suggested she stay with his character like a bloodhound on a perfumed fugitive. The novel is at its best when her imagination is on and she's just describing a character or a scene or writing dialogue. *That* is when McCullough is without peer. My beef with this book is that she simply tries to do way too much. I got lost when she moved the story back to Rome around pages 150-200 while Caesar was not there. On one page alone I counted 17 different character names, and ultimately this is what did in this novel for me. Way too many characters who just appear for seemingly no reason, and then dissappear. It is just too difficult to follow. Indeed, the initial heft of a 900 page novel isn't exactly a welcome mat into a novel. I imagine those of you who read McCullough will say that it's easy to follow. And fun! And exciting! And I'll not argue that McCullough has the inate ability to tell a story as well as anyone. And *that* is rare. Ultimately, I gave up on this novel at page 277. But it's a strange "giving up." I think I'll try another McCullough novel in the future. Her storytelling ability is that good. I think she could make the reading world spin on its head if she turned her immense talent to telling a more simple story, and kept one or two characters right in the forefront of each chapter (I'm imagining Alfred Hitchcock taking on the "B"-type movie in Psycho and forever changing the landscape of American cinema). Let the imagination do the work for you, McCullough. Give us a simple story. You're that good! You are! You really, truly are! Stacey
Rating: 
Summary: Caesar: A Novel
Review: The story of Caesar's Gallic Wars (roughly 5851 b.c.) and return to Rome warfare, followed fictively and, in the main, meticulously, from Caesar's Commentaries. Again, the portraits are memorable--from Brutus (here, a money-mad ``wet fish'' with acne) to Cleopatra (scrawny, ugly, calmly plotting fratricide)--and the politicking is showy, sly, witty, and often deadly. At the close of Caesar's Women (1996), McCullough's fourth massive staging of the power wrests and wrestlings of mighty men of ancient Rome, Julius Caesar, a true colossus of skill and brilliance, had left for ``Further Gaul.'' Now, while mopping up the revolts in his detested Britannia of ``blue-painted relics,'' he receives word from Pompey the Great, First Man in Rome and husband of Caesar's lovely daughter Julia, that Julia and his mother are dead. Grief drains him, but oddly he grows in strength, proceeding to un-Romanized Gaul, pacifying tribe after tribe, and eventually defeating Vercingetorix, an ambitious but inexperienced leader out to unite Gaul, who would not accept Caesar's offer of Rome's ``light rein'' in a ``shrinking world.'' While Caesar with his beloved legions win Gaul with extraordinary tactics and hardship, his foes in Rome have swung Pompey--once a Golden Boy, now tarnished with fatuous conceit and lack of political savvy--to their cause, which is, simply, to destroy Caesar. Although scrupulous in his observance of law, Caesar crosses the Rubicon to become Rome's aggressor. (McCullough appropriately uses Plutarch's account of his utterance: ``Let the dice fly high!'' instead of the gloomy ``The die is cast.'') While temporarily Dictator, afterward, Caesar pursues Pompey's armies until the Great One's sad end. In the wings for Book Six: the gorgeous Mark Antony, slinky Octavius, and Cleopatra. Rewarding but rugged terrain for the casual reader. Armchair generals, though, should love this--perhaps with De bello Gallico at the ready. Maps, glossary, and photos of sculptured portraits of the time.
Rating: 
Summary: If it weren't for Margaret George....
Review: Laden with historical information and obsessions of one Marcus Antonius's. The only interest that this book held for me was to give further historical insight into the world which Margaret George brought to life in 'The Memoirs of Cleopatra'. I think that the book suffered from over extension.. i.e. there was just too much information about too many people being crammed into an average sized novel. The book could have just as aptly been titled Pompey the Great....
Rating:
Summary: "Caesar" fails to triumph
Review: What can be said about "Caesar" that hasn't already been said? It is a large, sprawling book that covers the end of Caesar's Gallic campaign and the Civil War between himself and Pompeius Magnus. It is a thinly-characterized book that utterly fails to make Caesar's enemies threatening or in any way real. When the most memorable scene in a book is from a letter written by one of the characters, that book is in trouble. The death and burial of Julia, Caesar's daughter, is one that brings to mind the spectacle of the funeral for Diana Spencer, albeit the end of Julia's funeral evokes more horror than grief in the reader. Caesar continues on the way to greatness, and McCullough makes references here and there to his having lost something . . . to being shorter-tempered, not as clement. That's fine, but it would have been nice to read about him being shorter-tempered and less clement instead of being told by every character who crosses Caesar's path. I will continue beating my head against the wall on this one point: McCullough's anachronistic language is a distraction, and her portrayal of all Caesar's enemies as saps or braggarts is infuriating. Vercingetorix was a grand warrior in the Celtic tradition; McCullough makes him a vainglorious adolescent. Likewise the "Good Men" (the boni) at Rome are all depicted as idiots, bad-tempered malcontents, or foaming with jealousy at Caesar's exploits. The backstory regarding Rhiannon (why does a Gallic woman have a Welsh name?) is interesting, but it fails to enthrall. Rhiannon is, after all, only another foreign woman for Caesar to use and leave behind; although her scenes make her sympathetic, Caesar's lack of feeling for her makes us wonder why we should care either. In this novel, the women again do not fare well. The death of Aurelia, described in an appalling letter by Calpurnia (badly written to reflect on the character's lack of verbal expressiveness? Or just another of McCullough's odd characterization quirks?), is told so badly that the force of her passing is weakened. Fulvia's appearances are hackneyed; she shows up either pregnant, grieving, or raving. Porcia, Cato's daughter, is the most startling of the women shown here, an eager, vibrant person who is so unlike Cato--and yet so like him in many ways--that she won me over, but she appears too rarely in the book. As for Marcia, Cato's wife, she is flat. The woman who loves the unlovable man sparks little interest, and is a bore when the book finally ends. The sole reason I gave this book three stars is for its battle scenes and the end of Pompey. Pompey, the spoiled darling of Fortune, meets a heartbreaking end in this book, and displays the charm and kindliness that made him likable in "The Grass Crown." McCullough, who has shown him as a sweet, egotistical bumpkin masquerading as a world player, treats him with astonishing grace in the conclusion.
Rating: 
Summary: again, fascinating and rivetting
Review: This book covers Caesar in his prime, first in the conquest of Gaul and then in the Civil War with Pompey. To my amazement, I have not tired one bit of this series and simply couldn't stop reading this one. In this volume, the author concentrates on Caesar's action and military techniques and they are indeed fascinating. For example, in the siege of Alesia, Caesar faced threats from within the citadel and from far vaster forces without, at his flank. SO he built a kind of defensive/offensive plankway - a ring around the citadel that could be attacked and defended from both sides and starved the occupants out while holding off hostile reinforcements. This was totally new in military history, as McCUllough explians in vivid detail and action. Though I have never been one to enjoy military history, I found myself cheering for Caesar and in awe of his creativity. Much less is devoted in this volume to who Caesar was and why he did what he did, which were explored in the earlier volumes. Nonetheless, the personalities of his assistants - the cruel Labienus, the indolent yet growing Anthony (and his huge crotch) and at least a score of others - come through in great detail and with remarkable historical accuracy. The reader is treated to how Caesar managed them all. THe counterpoint of this volume is Pompey the Great, whose flaws and pretentions are magnified with age. While I was less convinced by this portrait, it is still very interesting. FInally, the portrait of the Gauls (and their brash leader Vercingetorix) is very well drawn and informative, as is the portrayal of the young Cleopatra struggling to maintain herself on the throne. As I have said before, the measure of success for me is that I want to go back to the classical sources to learn more. Warmly recommended, both for the action and for the learning about vanished worlds.
Rating:
Summary: Good but not great.
Review: I like McCullough's "Masters of Rome" series very much, although it has its share of flaws. The worst thing about "Caesar" is my perception that McCullough has in effect fallen in love with Julius Caesar. She literally appears blind to the possibility that he had any flaws at all, except possibly ambition and lust (both of which she heartily approves of, it seems.) This irritating infatuation by McCullough of Caesar permeates all of her books in which Caesar plays a part. This book is pretty good, in that it is readable and does a very good job of explaining something that I admit I never understood: why Caesar felt that he had to cross the Rubicon, "let the dice fly high" and essentially overthrow the Republic (although that was perhaps not his intent at the time.) McCullough seems to pick her favorites among the figures of ancient Rome, and the non-historic parts of her novels quickly clue you in on who falls into the favored vs. disfavored camp. Caesar can do no wrong. On the other hand, Sulla is portrayed as a sick wife-abusing monster (read "Fortune's Favorites" and "First Man in Rome" and see if you don't agree), another figure picks up the nickname "piglet," and Pompey is portrayed as well, pompus. By contrast, Caesar is portrayed virtually as a god-on-earth. A more detached view of history probably fails to bear these opinions out, but McCullough is anything but detached. From a stylistic point of view, some parts of this novel move along smartly, with crisp clear prose, while other parts get bogged down badly. But if you can hang in there, this book will reward you with an interesting, if flawed, view of Caesar. Just my opinion. There are doubtless a million others.
Rating:
Summary: Well Researched, Poorly Written
Review: Bad Bad Bad. I am somewhat stunned this book got the high reviews that it did, and can only assume that this is because of people's love of history, Caesar and Rome rather than McCullough's writing. I'm fairly certain she included every single Roman name ever found in any ancient document anywhere, and since this is Rome, they're all pretty much the same. You're constantly having to either turn back the page to try to remember who the ten dozen people mentioned on this page are, or simply skimming over it, assuming (usually correctly) that they are utterly irrelevant to the basic story. Where Margaret George brings history alive in everything she writes, weaving tight and compelling tales with historical accuracy, Colleen McCullough's work is dead on arrival. If you can wade through the endless details presented with artless prose, you will find that the book only covers a small part of Caesar's life and ends in such anti-climactic fashion that you think she just put down the pen and said, "Oh well, that's enough for today." Moreover, her afterward seems to indicate just that, with her explaining that she was under word count restraints. So here we have a novel about Caesar that brings up many important threads in history, and never resolves them. We never get to see, in this book, whether he keeps his promises to his legions, nor do we see his foe Vercingatorix meet his end. Sure, as a student of history, I _know_ what happened, but the book is supposed to tell me anyhow. Far from portraying Caesar as perfect, as some people indicate, her portrayal is a study in frigidity. McCullough's Caesar never radiates any genuine warmth, keeps his emotions and thoughts to himself, and instead of explaining the very human reasons behind some of the atrocious things that he does, she glances by them with Roman stoicism. Because her Caesar never seems to make a genuine connection with anyone except in the abstract, due to their vast inequality to him one can only assume, we care less about his successes. Maybe that an American reader would want some human warmth from the hero of the story is a more modern ideal than ancient. Too bad. She's writing to a modern audience, and if she can't fake it, then she ought at least spend more time explaining the pressures of Roman ideals.
Rating:
Summary: Superman meets the Senate of Rome.....
Review: Caesar: A Novel, by Colleen McCullough, is nothing if not compelling. It is a page turner from the very first chapter. If there is a downside to her effort, it exists in the flawless caricature she paints of the man. Gaius Julius Caesar is not only the wisest, smartest, manliest, most stoic and resourceful man in the Roman world, he is the epitome of each of these virtues. Indeed, McCullough has imbued him with comic book super hero status that certainly detracts from the story. It is widely accepted that Caesar's crossing of the Rubicon was done for largely selfish reasons. The Senate of Rome, uncomfortable with his predilection towards power, was desperately trying to strip him of his place and position in Roman society. To save himself, his "dignitas", he committed 9 Roman legions and brought civil war into Italy, Macedonia, and Greece. His megalomania, certainly a factor in the historic decision to ford the famous river and confront Pompey, isn't even hinted at. Instead, Caesar is portrayed as a demigod; faultless, flawless, unable to harbor anything but the most altruistic motives, indeed unable to possess anything but the pinnacle of manly virtue. This view simply doesn't adhere to history and renders her title character lacking in both depth and breadth. Still, Caesar: A Novel is an exciting read. The pace is consistently urgent. Though a weighty tome at 752 pages, I regularly ripped through 150+ pages at a time. All things considered, I recommend the book to anyone preferring the imaginative side of historical fiction. In this sense, it is one of the better books of it's class. Her version of events is fairly accurate. Her version of the man is worship.
Rating:
Summary: Tres Bien
Review: I think it is not only her best book in the seris, but that I've ever read. I'm not saying it is perfect though. The Basics of the book are, Gual was gbeing thretened by the Germans, Caesar took advantge, and after solving the despuite, defeated every tribe that acted hostily to him. While a govener of a Provience you are Rome's sole atourity, and that will carry on in his thinking latter on. The Boni get Pompey in their camp, and try to bring Caesar down. Curio holds them off for a while, but Atnony and little Cassius, aren't in Curio or Lepidus's class. The boni's patience which is never very good colapses, and they assualt little Cassius and Antony. Who go runing to Caesar, as he crosses a little river called the Rubicon. The Consuls flee along with the boni, and most of the senete, leving the one person who can't leave Rome for very long Marcu Amellius Lepidus. Wo gives Caesar Rome and the tresury. Caesar then takes Massila and Spain getting ready for the final showdown with the people dumb enoguh to fight him. Lepidus gives a great speach making Caesar dictator. So Caesar takes Antony and his legions, fights a draw then his great victory. Pompey flees, gets killed by Cleopatra's enemies which play in to he seductive hands. leaving two griving sons, one of which is made of more steel then his fater... I think she could had spent more time on some of the cahrcters like Couts, Quntius Cierco, Deciumus Brutus, Pollio, Lepidus, both the Cassius, Caesar's illegit doughter by Servillia, Octivian, Octivia, Stextus Pompeius, and many others. The book is to short, more time should be spent on what happened earrlier in Gual, and I hope the book countinues right off, for I hate the big breeks in the books...
Rating:
Summary: You can't put it away!!!
Review: I've never had any interest (didn't know a thing about it either) in the ancien Rome before I read the first book of The Masters of Rome. And I must say it must be one of the best, most accurate historic novels I've ever read. You simply can't put it away. Since the Masters of Rome, I've read an extreme amount of books, magazines etc. about Rome but my favourite readings are still the wonderful books of Colleen McCullough. No one has succeeded at bringing back people, that have been dead for 2000 years now, back to life so succesfully. Makes you want to move back in time!
It is true that the fith book is concentrated on Cesar (it's also named Cesar, so no wonder), but since I find him one of the most interesting characters in ancien Rome it's a pleasure to read how Ms.McCullough interprates this man. I love every page! Most of the books I've read about him are so dry, simple facts nothing more, but here he becomes a real man, a one in a million man, but still just a man, with his own demons. Ms.McCullough goes into Cesar's head so succesfully, that one should think it's Cesar him self writing. I recomend this book 100%. All of my friends were forced to read it, and didn't regret! I simply can't wait for the 6th book to come out! I hope it will be some time soon.
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