BOOK REVIEW: CLAOPATRA: A LIFE

Book Review: Cleopatra: A Life

Introduction about the book

“Cleopatra: A life” as the title of the book suggests this book deals with a historical character of a woman with the name of Cleopatra and all the ups and downs of her life. The author of the book is Stacy Schiff. The book was published last year. Although Stacy Schiff is not a specialist of history but still her attempt of portraying a historical character has earned the title of bestseller. According to New York Times:

“A cinematic portrait of a historical figure that is far more complex and compelling than any fictional creation, and a wide, panning panoramic picture of her world.”

It is not only New York Times that has praised Stacy's unique and inspiring art of describing character but various other sources also witnessed the magic of her writing. Wall Street Journal expressed views about this book in following way:

“Ms. Schiff manages to tell Cleopatra's story with a balance of the tragic and the hilarious… [and] does a rare thing: She gives us a book we'd miss if it didn't exist.”

Above remarks about the book is enough evidence of Stacy's expertise of character description. Many different authors have chosen the same subject to write but Stacy's work is quite unique from others. The book is purposefully written. While working on this book Stacy had certain goals and objectives in her mind. These goals and objectives enabled Stacy to write in a way that describes the character of Cleopatra from different facets.

About the author

Stacy Schiff was born on October, 26th in 1961. She is a Pulitzer Prize winning author. She has expertise in writing biographies. She has written many biographies that has attained the title of bestseller. The most recent biography of Schiff is “Cleopatra: A life”. This book was launched in 2010 and has obtained a position in New York Times bestseller's list. Schiff is a marvelous writer, scrupulous with the facts and generous with her imagination. She observes with a wry and acerbic eye and her asides on how history is written, and how to discover and convey the characters of those who made that history.

Review of the book

Power, love, deceit and romance are the basic themes of the book. Basically these themes are derived from the personal life of Cleopatra. In this book Schiff uncovers double layer of time and history to explore a woman who has more than one facet. In the beginning of the book Stacy first gives the description about character and appearance of Cleopatra. Her beauty and her character details are discussed in the earlier part of the book. All of us are aware of the tale of Cleopatra. This is a tale that has been told to us many a times from novels and movies. Cleopatra was considered as a lady who was full of dusky beauty. With the help of her beauty she had attempted to attract two men Julius Caesar and Mark Antony and remained successful in her ...