61 of 64 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Haunting and beautiful, March 13, 2005
This review is from: Remembering Hypatia: A Novel of Ancient Egypt (Paperback)
I've just finished reading this book for the second time through and I recommend it without reservation. Hypatia is a woman forgotten by history. She was the leading intellectual of Egypt under Roman rule, in the waning days of empire.
The author's descriptive powers and wordcraft are magical. This time period came alive for me, the eccentric city of Alexandria and all the many cultures living there. Often historical novels can read dryly, but Remembering Hypatia painlessly injected a lot of historical detail into the story without being overbearing. It reads as easily as a beautiful poem. Entire scenes are permanently burned on my imagination...and the characters, even the minor ones like servants or city officials, feel like parts of my life now. They are alive on the page.
The story itself does not let go of the reader. This is an amazing window on a time period that's hardly ever been written about, and it is so completely convincing in its execution. Everything feels entirely real; I've never seen the ancient world painted with such ease and strength of detail. And the emotional impact lingers for days.
Remembering Hypatia is a must-read beyond doubt, absolutely haunting and beautiful.
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31 of 32 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Woman and a Story to Remember, May 13, 2005
This review is from: Remembering Hypatia: A Novel of Ancient Egypt (Paperback)
A long forgotten woman named Hypatia lived in Egypt, not at the time of the pharaohs, but much later, under Roman occupation, when education and learning were at a high point, and the "cultured" city of Alexandria was as much a melting pot as the major cities in America today. The story of Hypatia is as heart breaking as it is informative. Brian Trent's beautifully woven tapestry of events, based on the TRUE story, is one that will certainly be remembered.
Remembering Hypatia is an exciting and shocking piece of historical fiction. Comprehensively researched, this novel tells the story of Hypatia, the woman astronomer, mathematician and philosopher who was head of the Great Library in Alexandria, Egypt in 414 A.D.. It tells of her passion and her assassination. It contains polarities in religious and political/educational thinking, which are hauntingly similar to what we see in the United States and the world today.
Insightfully written, the book is captivating, moving from scene to scene like a motion picture. It excites the reader about education and knowledge, edifies with various historical facts, challenges belief systems, (steams up the room in a few unexpected brief scenes), and completely startles one with the similarity to today's society and its growing schism between differing political and religious views. One side breathes total intolerance, while the other side struggles to tolerate those who would have them killed.
Among the many events that run concurrently are the treatment of women and the persecution of the Jews. Hypatia rose through the ranks in a "man's world" and became highly esteemed during a time when most women still had only domestic roles. That she lost her life to the religious prejudices of the day, through political brainwashing, is a heart-wrenching tragedy.
A charismatic young male character, named Thasos, makes the story as appealing to high school and college students, as it does to adults. The novel may excite students about the prospect of learning, (if it doesn't make them fear one could be killed for it). The reader becomes poignantly aware of the challenges of governing a society where there are conflicting views. If rating it like a movie, I would give it an "R" for a few, if only brief, steamy sexual scenes and violence that, unfortunately, is historically accurate.
If you want to take a book on an airplane or to the beach (or mountains, or to an air-conditioned "anywhere") this summer, this book is highly recommended.
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39 of 43 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
a more than satisfying experience, April 6, 2006
This review is from: Remembering Hypatia: A Novel of Ancient Egypt (Paperback)
I read this book last fall with "Hypatia of Alexandria" by Maria Dzielska
and have been recommending it ever since not just because of the author's
power as a story-teller, or its attention to details but because of the
skill in bringing these characters to life. Thasos, Orestes, Hypatia, Cyril,
and the whole cast are skillfully portrayed and believable. This is a
magnificent debut with a message as strong as its delivery and is in the top
three books I read last year.
I want to thank the below reviewer for inspiring me to finally post an
amazon review. Not only were chariots in use in this time period, but in
Dzielska's excellent study of Hypatia's life she writes: "Hypatia was
returning home... she was pulled out of the chariot and dragged to the
church Caesarion." (Page 93) Its also worth saying that the Nile river
breaks into many fingers and canals before connecting to the sea and some of
these are visible from Alexandria's west, south, and east. And the
necropolis scene when Thasos' mother visits her husband's tomb is powerfully
portrayed with a lyrical beauty and insight into the personality of a broken
woman, and the little details, like the Burial houses where the dead sleep,
the incense hangers, the iron key for the many gates. There was a special
History/Discover show on a recent dig into a necropolis in Alexandria, and
maybe the author saw it or maybe he's visited excavation sites, but his
description was perfect and put me into her sandals as she went deeper into
this unique burial site.
In fact its all the attention to the particulars of Hypatia's time that I
cherished and makes Remembering Hypatia a book to read and re-read. The
water-clocks, the Egyptian highbacked chairs, the Greek vases, the Persian
rugs with winged gods in the house of one official, but mostly the humanity
of the cast. Everyone is complex and has reasons for their actions. There's
a mature and seamless way that the author moves into each character, whether
theyre young or old, and this in particular elevates this book to a special
level that puts it far above the majority of books I read last year or even
this year.
Hypatia, her library, and her circle are worth remembering and Remembering
Hypatia makes them impossible to forget.
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