Customer Reviews

A Booke of Days: A Novel of the Crusades

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

I'm rather surprised in reading some of the other reviews at the confusion some are experiencing in deciding whether or not this book is a factual account of the Crusades. Well, be assured this book is fictional. The single biggest hint is the reference in the opening page after the dedication that this is "a novel".

The next most obvious indication is that there isn't a single facsimile of the original - this would be a virtual requirement in any book purporting to be a translation of an historical record.

Finally, there are a few errors of fact. For example: Roger's reference to sacred musical polyphony that came from the St. Martial monastery at Limoges is about 50 to 100 years too early. The first records of this polyphony date from the 12th Century. In addition, he makes the mistake of assuming that this practice had become widespread. Unfortunately, the use of such practices was really quite slow to catch on.

And easily the most striking feature of the manuscript is it's conversational tone. I can't think of any book before 1600 that takes on quite such an air of familiarity with the reader. Even a casual glance at someone such as Montaigne would reveal this.

However, full marks for Rivele for trying to give us a view of the 11th Century through a 20th Century lens. I'm not sure that we shared quite so much in common with the Crusaders as he would like us to believe, but the story had its moments of poignant sentiment.

The obvious model for such books is Umberto Eco's "The Name of the Rose" which hasn't really been bettered here. For something even more fanciful readers of such books might enjoy his more recent, "The Island of the Day Before".

I can understand how someone new to the subject might be taken in by the author's introduction, but I can assure you that this book is fictional and not the publication of a hidden manuscript. Anachronisms in phrase and thought aside, I have never seen it - or mention of it - in any history text, and I am a history major. Furthermore, it's in the "Fiction and Literature" section....

That aside, buy the book! Not only is Roger's diary a vivid and unromanticized account of the Crusade itself, but it offers some interesting points on Christian theology and the early medieval view on divinely sanctioned violence. The pseudo plot-twist near the end prevents a five-star rating, but it alone doesn't undermine the rest of the book.

I was totally taken in by this book and found it an amazing page turner. Read it in a couople of days snatched reading at work and sleepless nights. I've then logged on to amazon.com only to find that it's completely fiction, with historical inaccuracies too apparently. Damn! Now I don't know what to think. I really did enjoy this book, but I think most of my enjoyment was rooted in the fact that I thought I had been reading an incredibly important historic document. Alas, it is (apparently) a Hollywood scriptwriter's version of events. At least I can be thankful that he didn't come home, get the girl, win the money, and retire to a life of product endorsements like every other Hollywood script. Hell- they even give Islam a positive report, so that can't be all bad.

Stephen Rivele's book is a rare tour de force.It is not a book about the First Crusade as much as a book passed in the years of the First Crusade , and anyone who has read James Michener's " The Source " (especifically the chapter The Fires of MaCoeur ) can tell the difference.It is the narrative of a tormented but deeply moral man , that embarks in a crazy adventure ( and some authors say that the First Crusade was the only successful Crusade precisely because it was totally crazy ) to attone for a crime that he thinks he has committed.We see all that madness through his confused and shocked eyes , eyes that in the middle of torment always search for honour, for the significance of it all , for love. However (and this is my first critic )there is nothing that indicates if the book is just a fantasy or if there was really a lost manuscript in a Provençal church (though I doubt there was).Some especifics like the real phisical appearance of Bohemond of Taranto , the complete absence of Anna Comnena in the narrative and the use of some too modern terms for an 11 th century man(like gonorrhea and persian cats ) do cause some alarm in the afficcionados , but are far from spoiling the fabulous historical research that surely went into writing this book.I strongly recomend it to all who are interested in this particular episode of History and to those who are after a good romance.

This powerful novel of a young officer's maturation in the crucible of war is most notable for the conflict it describes. Not a war most Americans might otherwise be familiar with - the American Revolution, or the Civil War, or Second World War, or Viet Nam - but rather that exercise in barbarism, treachery and brutality commenced in the name of God in the Year of Our Lord 1096 - the First Crusade.

Roger, Duke of Lunel, is a minor French noble in the army of his overlord, Raymond of Saint-Gilles, Count of Toulouse. Roger's "Booke", a diary, is a record of events as he follows Raymond across Europe, to Constantinople, and into the Middle East. Along the way, he participates in various battles and slaughters of the overt enemy, the Moslem Turks and Egyptians - most notably at Antioch and Jerusalem respectively - and witnesses and survives the treachery of Raymond's supposed Greek and European allies. Enduring the most profound hardships, Roger discovers "himself", faith, honor, love, disillusionment and, finally, loss. After four years, he returns to France in the same state as he found the Holy Sepulcher - empty.

Despite the unhappy ending, this is a truly wonderful and instructive book, especially for anybody who is generally interested in the general subject of the Crusades, but seeks a more specific knowledge. As near as I can tell, the author has recounted with reasonable accuracy the events of the First Crusade. While some license has undoubtedly been taken with the major historical characters - Raymond of Toulouse, Bohemond of Taranto, Godfrey of Bouillon, Bishop Adhémar of Puy, Pope Urban II, Baldwin of Boulogne, Robert of Normandy, Peter the Hermit, Emperor Alexius I - it does not, I think, distort the major brushstrokes of history.

More than anything, this novel describes the emptiness left in a man's soul after all of life's efforts are focused and expended on one goal, worthwhile or not, to the exclusion of all others. It is an eloquent argument for a Balanced Perspective.

Considering Americans excel in the creation of historical fiction - particularly in motion pictures - I find it astounding that they should complain of the book's inaccuracies.

It's fiction. It's a novel. But, by God, it's beautifully written. Rivele writes so keenly and convincingly the story was quite easy to visualise and I loved the journal format, being a journal writer myself as well as being a keen reader of history. I was immediately grasped by the power of his characters (how Roger wrote of his love for his wife and his faith), bound by the path of his story and was so upset when I finished that I promptly began it again.

If you're a historian looking for a gripe, then no doubt you'll hate it. However, if it's words, language and storytelling you truly love then this book is surely The Holy Grail.

I liked it very much. It puts you into the spirit of things back then. As long as you didn't take every word as Gospel. Some of it did try to stretch too much, but all in all I'm quite glad I read it and I would strongly recommend it!

I liked this book alot, and can't understand why many of the other reviewers are so surly about it. It's A NOVEL. It is not required to be precise or truthful. I liked the premise, loved the main character, who seemed to me to be very realistic, and I enjoyed reading about the sieges and hardships of the 1st Crusade. I didn't want to put it down, and neither did the several people to whom I lent this book. Read it, enjoy it, and relax: there's no history exam to follow.

This is a novel that makes you think. I am a fan of history and this story is about Roger, Duke of Lonely from Southern France. It is written to read like his diary. Because of the events his early life and marriage he believes he has sinned to such an extreme that he must join a religious army to march to Jerusalem. There to defeat the Turks and pray at Christ's tomb. On this march he joins Normans and others from Northern Europe. This quest is to become known to history as the first crusade. I love history but I am unfamiliar with this era. I learned a lot. In the story, Roger begins his march with a sense of self righteousness. As his journey progresses towards Jerusalem and he encounters the Turks he begins to fight a battle within. He sees his own men suffer disease and horrors of war. The lines are blurred as the atrocities the Turks are accused of are committed over and over by the Christian armies as they conquer cities along the way. Rape, torture, murder, and greed are rampant. Who is the enemy and who is the savior? Who is earning their place in heaven and who is going to hell? These questions haunt Roger as he begins to question his faith and the Turks become a people and not a plague. This novel may not be totally historically accurate but it sure makes a person think. I thought about faith. I am reminded that every story has two sides. Most of all I am reminded that you have to walk in those shoes before you pass judgment. A good book to challenge your mind and beliefs.

First, I have to address the "is this real?" question. Does it not state on the cover of the book that this is a NOVEL of the Crusades? By definition, a novel is: A fictional prose narrative of considerable length, typically having a plot that is unfolded by the actions, speech, and thoughts of the characters. So there's your answer, right in the title.
Anyhow, back to the book. I finished it tonight and mostly enjoyed it. I agree with others who found the couple of plot twists a little Hollywood. I did find Roger's struggle with his faith, morality, etc. realistic and disagree with those who feel that everyone from a certain age behaved and believed the same way. If that were true, we'd still be living in the middle ages. For a great non-fiction read, I recommend William Manchester's A World Lit Only By Fire; for more novels, try Cecelia Holland's Great Maria or Jerusalem.