Customer Reviews

The Golden Ass (Penguin Classics)

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4 star:		(3)
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Apuleius' great work is not read enough. As the story of an libertine who is unfortunately changed into an ass unfolds, we see a satire unfold that provides both entertainment and a biting commentary of life in the ancient Greco-Roman world. The book shows you the great distance between us moderns and the ancients, but what is likely to surprise you the most is precisely the opposite: those ways in which we are so similar.

Lucius Apuleius was one of the main representatives of North African Platonism during the second century (AD). He wrote works ranging from philosophy and medicine to poetry and rhetoric. Apuleius is best known for his remarkable collection of tales, The Golden Ass or Transformations. It is a playful satire containing the use of many different genres, much like one would find in the Mennepian satires of Petronius, Seneca, Fulgentius, or Macrobius. It is a complex and enthralling work in which interpretation is always open-ended. Apuleius' use of allegory, his exceptional talent for imagery, and his rhythmic and often poetic prose, make this text a challenge and a joy to read at the same time. The Golden Ass is definitely a masterpiece of Latin literature and can also argue of being the world's first novel.

This book is a riveting classic. I couldn't put it down. The language and style is as good today as when it was created, and the pace is well set. However the ending is somewhat anti-climactic.

Xellent history book. What I was (am) most surprised & proud about is that most of today's tv/movie & books are "doctored" fr/ this & the like. Given, thier are just enuf spins to today's stories so 1 won't know the difference. Politicians will learn a few things fr/ it too.

The Golden Ass, while set in the ancient Roman world, has a universality about it that makes it both entertaining and relevant at any time for any culture. While some of the language is antiquated, it amazes me that through the excellent translation the work flows nicely into today's language.

There were only two small reservations that I have with this book that prevented my fullest recommendation. Firstly, the formatting of the Kindle edition isn't perfect. It is rather confusing at first where the novel actually begins, as the first 12% of the book is introduction and analysis. Also, there are some errors in terms of the footnotes, as occasionally a paragraph number will appear twice, once before the paragraph (as intended) and again in the middle of a sentence. This is rather confusing as it puts an out of place number in the middle of a sentence, only for the reader to realize that it was intended to be a paragraph marker that was misplaced. As for the story itself, while largely enjoyable, I found its side stories excessive at times, and some of them were repetitive, featuring the same themes over and over. While this may appeal to some if not many people, by the umpteenth side story about adultery, I was turned off.

Despite these petty grievances, I'd recommend this book to any lover of classic literature or someone who is looking for a good Kindle edition for class.

I only bought this books for a history class. But after I read it this story offers many lessons and its humor stands the test of time. I liked it, it was cheaper than the school bookstore and i still own it.