Quo vadis?
Abstract
This is a book that took me about 50 pages or so to get completely hooked. After adjusting to the fine translation and getting accustomed to the way in which Sienkiewicz peppers his prose with latin phrases I found myself truly absorbed in the story and the characters. Nothing I've read has captured the clash of cultures that Rome and early Christianity represented as well as this book does. The decadence of Nero's Rome and court compared with the simplicity of the early Christian community in Rome that is being visited by both St. Peter and St. Paul is contrasted in such dramatic fashion that it is hard to put this down. The characters are realistically drawn and you can feel the disgust with Nero expressed in private by those near him and sense the declining civilization of Rome in all of it's aspects. No historical novel that I've read comes close in bringing the sights and sounds and smells of the ancient capitol to life as this one does. The underlying love story between a captured Princess who is a committed convert to Christ and a Roman centurian who is exposed to the Christian teaching through his obsessive love of her and consequent exposure to the teachings of the early church is a remarkably effective literary device that brings these contrasting world views into sharp relief. The burning of Rome by the deranged Emperor is so vividly described that you can smell the smoke. Truly a fabulous historical novel, Quo Vadis is a book I will read again and feel comfortable giving it my highest recommendation.
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