Gérald Messadié (1931–2018)

I read this novel with it idea the whole thing would be a straight murder mystery set in ancient Athens. Xanthippe, Socrates' wife solves the crime early on and Alcibiades tricks the murderer into seeing the victim's "ghost"--really a double--and the man falls down the stairs and dies. Most of the novel recounts the events of the "Golden Age of Greece" and has the couple comment and shows how it affected them. We are carried through the Peloponnesian War and aftermath of turmoil in Athens to show more their deaths. A tavern owner, "Curly Locks", and customers give their opinions from time to time; I took them as some kind of comic relief. Plato, one of Socrates' students, says he plans to write down Socrates' ideas for posterity. After all, Socrates was once named by the Delphic Oracle as "The Wisest Man in Greece."

I was disappointed at first that the novel hadn't been completely what I expected. After the solution, I wondered where the novel would go. At first I would have given it two stars, but after I got rid of any misconceptions, I raised my rating to three. Socrates and Xanthippe made a good fit for each other; both were astute in their way. She was portrayed as the more practical and Socrates as an idealist. Xanthippe's supposed shrewishness was not in evidence. She had the duplicitous Alcibiades' number from early on. Either this title of the French original: [Madame Sokrates] would be suitable due to the importance of each character. There does not seem to be an English translation, as yet. show less

I expected some kitschy camp given the title, and I was totally unprepared for the full on religious studies discourse that was not so much about the history of the devil as the religious history of no devil. Not quite the cheap fun I was looking for but very interesting none the less.

I expected some kitschy camp given the title, and I was totally unprepared for the full on religious studies discourse that was not so much about the history of the devil as the religious history of no devil. Not quite the cheap fun I was looking for but very interesting none the less.

this book was in my mother's bookshelf for years before i dared to read it. i wish i had read it sooner. what a great historical fiction...... or is it fiction? lots of things make you rethink Jesus' life and how it really was. makes me want to read the relating parts of the bible to see for myself what is true and what it only "tradition" or hear-say. i even tead the appendix which i never read. so much information. great book.