Customer Reviews

Valperga: Or, the Life and Adventures of Castruccio, Prince of Lucca (Oxford World's Classics)

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Valperga is Shelley's 1823 historical and fictional account of the life of Castruccio Castracani who lived in the 14th century. You don't need to know anything about Italian history to become immersed and interested in this political novel. Shelley's story is exciting, and the Oxford edition provides numerous notes to clarify the historical figures and situations that are a part of the story. The novel follows the life of Castruccio, from his birth and the exiling of his Ghibelline family by the Guelphs to his rise as a commanding, powerful and tyrannical prince. Shelley writes about Castruccio's political and social endeavors which intertwine with the prince's relationships with two women, the devout, loyal, and powerful Guelph, Euthanasia, and the eccentric and heretical Beatrice. This novel of loyalty, love, war, religion, politics, and the desire for power is a novel that anyone seeking out more work by Mary Shelley should read.

I was disappointed with the beginning of the book. It made me think that the whole story would revolve around the struggles of an exiled prince that sought to reclaim his "rightful" seat of power in his native town. Pretty worn out material.

The book got more interesting as Euthanasia and Beatrice were added to the plot. It seemed though that the women of the story were too much influenced by Castruccio throughout their lives. He lied to and scorned both of them, and seemed to never put them ahead of his addiction to power, yet they were enthusiastically driven mad by the memory of him.

Being that the book was written by a revolutionary female English author who grew up in the early and mid 19th century, I thought the women characters in the novel would reflect a sense of triumphant independence. Maybe back then her characters were exceedingly strong, but not very by today's standards.

I can say that Shelley's writing was enjoyable, and her descriptions were wonderful. I also like the references throughout to Dante and various other historical personalities.

I was very excited to read this novel as both a great lover of Italy history and of Shelley's Frankenstein. However, this book really lost my interest about half way through. Shelley's writing is not up to par with her more famous work and the novel is hardly about the "Life and Adventures of Castruccio" and much more about two female characters. Oh well, it was worth a try.

I thought this novel was very interesting. It was an Italian tale written by an English authoress, who did a very fine job of it. Unfortunately, this book is not as recognized as some of Mary Shelley's other work, but hopefully it will be soon.