Pompeii

 

Pompeii – Robert Harris

I’ve probably stated this as I’ve reviewed other novels, but I’m one of those quirky book consumers that doesn’t like to read the jacket flap or back book cover any time I begin reading a book. I want to be completely surprised. I want to know absolutely nothing about the story I’m about to read. Such a book as this one presented a challenge since, knowing history as well as the time period, I knew what the main focus of this book was going to be.  If you don’t know what happened in Pompeii in 79 AD, you may be ok if you suffer the same weird issues that I have. Fortunately, it didn’t really matter. This was a very engaging book.

The book is quite fascinating in many ways. First, there is a notion out there that people who lived 2000 years ago were somewhat ignorant, uncultured, and barbaric. This was true in many corners of the world, but Rome was far more civilized than many people realize. True, modern amenities as we know now didn’t exist, but the wealthiest of the wealthy had slaves to cater to their every need, so there was masses of free time for the wealthy few to flex their brain muscles.  The main focus of this book, as silly as it sounds, is water.

Specifically, fresh water.  This requires aqueducts which was an incredibly advanced tool. Personally, I’ve seen remnants of them in decaying parts of Rome, but it truly baffles my mind as to how glorious and well-engineered these must have been, and how incredible it must have been to have seen them in action.

The protagonist in our story, Aquillas, is the lead engineer for the community, and it’s his main job to ensure the civilized towns under Roman law continue to receive the masses of fresh water.  This is need not only for drinking, but there are many swimming pools, man-made fishing ponds, and bath houses that are needed for these communities to stay civilized.  It turns out that there’s a small problem with the water supply, but only Aquillas has the foresight to know that something is going to be seriously wrong within a matter of days unless the source of the problem can be uncovered and the issue resolved.

A lot of research must have went into this one.  Not only is the architectural and engineering details meticulous, but also the Roman life during the first century AD.  I’ve always maintained that the sign of a good historical fiction novel is one that makes you yearn to learn more about the place and the time.

Other than the well-known event that occurs in this novel, there’s actually a pretty well-told story that one could argue is somewhat related to the event.  At times I felt as though the author wanted to mainly focus on the historical event, but couldn’t quire flesh out an entire book, so it was necessary to add to the story.  It’s all done well though.

Robert Harris has never disappointed me.  After he wrote this one, he completed a trilogy that was set in Rome around a similar time.  I’m looking forward to reading that as well.