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Loading... Laviniaby Ursula K. Le GuinLibraryThing recommendationsMember recommendationsLoading...
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will love Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. http://www.bostonbibliophile.com/2009... ( )As the daughter of a King, and an only child, it is Lavinia's duty to marry. Although presented with many suitors, there seems to be only one choice; Turnus, a neighbouring King who is both youthful and handsome. However an oracle foretells a different choice of husband for Lavinia; a choice that leads to war. When Lavinia is eighteen she travels to Albunea, a sacred place, to seek guidance. There she meets a man who will change her life. He offers her guidance, prophecy and hope. He is a man responsible for giving her life, a name, but no voice. He is a shadow, once a poet, but now a dying man, who has yet to be born. Lavinia is but a background character, a bit part in a greater story of the exploits of men and gods. She existed only as a daughter, wife and mother of great men, of Kings. But now she speaks, giving herself a voice, a life filled with myth, history, war and love. This is a book you will either love or hate. The only thing missing from Lavinia is Chapters, but how do you divide a life, section memories? Lavinia is unique, beautifully written and highly creative. A story that stays with you long after the last word is read. It was slow getting into it, but I really enjoyed it once I got there. Great writing. Set in the empty spaces between lines in Virgil's Aeneid, the story follows the life of Lavinia herself - daughter of a king, before the founding of Rome and wife of the hero Aeneas. The narrative is understated, and oddly meditative, given the war in the middle. I liked the forays into the nature of storytelling, stories, and reality. Lavinia is that unusual combination of admirable and honestly flawed heroine. For a self-titled story, the focus is often elsewhere, with Lavinia's eyes as the lens not necessarily the subject. no reviews | add a review
Amazon.com Product Description (ISBN 0151014248, Hardcover)In a richly imagined, beautiful new novel, an acclaimed writer gives an epic heroine her voice In The Aeneid, Vergil’s hero fights to claim the king’s daughter, Lavinia, with whom he is destined to found an empire. Lavinia herself never speaks a word. Now, Ursula K. Le Guin gives Lavinia a voice in a novel that takes us to the half-wild world of ancient Italy, when Rome was a muddy village near seven hills. Lavinia grows up knowing nothing but peace and freedom, until suitors come. Her mother wants her to marry handsome, ambitious Turnus. But omens and prophecies spoken by the sacred springs say she must marry a foreigner—that she will be the cause of a bitter war—and that her husband will not live long. When a fleet of Trojan ships sails up the Tiber, Lavinia decides to take her destiny into her own hands. And so she tells us what Vergil did not: the story of her life, and of the love of her life. Lavinia is a book of passion and war, generous and austerely beautiful, from a writer working at the height of her powers. (retrieved from Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:58:17 -0400) The first test round has been closed. Visit the Open Shelves Classification group for details. |
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