Ancient Evenings

Rating:
Summary: All sound and no fury
Review: This book is a dud, and a long and painful one at that. I've been reading Mailer my entire life. He's written masterpieces (Armies of the Night, Executioner's Song) and there are the great collections of journalism (Advertisements for Myself, Existential Errands, etc), but let's face it, he's never written even a good novel, and this one doesn't even come close. There's a lot of huffing and puffing and certainly some interesting recreations of the Ancient Egypt, but the book goes nowhere and adds up to nothing. Norman Mailer needs an enema -- and fast!

Rating:
Summary: Well worth the considerable effort!
Review: This is a tough book to read, no doubt about it. I put it down twice before reading it through the third time. This is a deeply insightful text, and the plot is mystical to the point of surreal. The story is set in various timelines, as the central character has been reborn several times. In his rendition of his lives Menenhetet paints a picture of ancient Egypt, one that has little if any correlation to our times. So in that sense the book does indeed suck the reader into the time of ancient Egypt. After I read this book I felt much like I did after seeing "Saving Private Ryan" - not particularly entertained, but very moved. I recommend it.