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Reviews tagging 'Murder'
Agrippina: The Most Extraordinary Woman of the Roman World by Emma Southon
7 reviews
meant2breading's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
informative
lighthearted
reflective
tense
medium-paced
3.5
Reading about Aggripina’s life and relationships was like listening to 10 hours of a soap opera, but one I wanted to and kept listening to 😆. I appreciated most of Southon’s humor along the way as well as her speculation from the gaps in historical writings, which I am sure was difficult to do! While I liked the many zingers aimed at the chauvinist men throughout, I was personally hoping for more of an acknowledgement or nod to intersectional feminism (e.g, the family’s enslavement of people, Agrippina’s access or involvement to imperial projects, etc.). I am interested in learning more of Roman history after this!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide, Violence, and Murder
Moderate: Child death and Sexual assault
Minor: Incest and Slavery
ambaright's review against another edition
funny
informative
medium-paced
3.5
Agrippina is the daughter of an Imperator, the sister, niece, wife, and mother of emperors. However, she is more than these labels. She pioneered a new role for imperial woman, an active, powerful role that stepped outside the boundaries of acceptable female behavior. Through senatorial political intrigue, assassination attempts, and exile to a small island, to the heights of imperial power, thrones, and golden cloaks and games and adoration, Agrippina scaled the absolute limits of female power in Rome. Her biography is also the story of the first Roman imperial family--the Julio-Claudians--and of the glory and corruption of the empire itself.
Emma Southon’s writing is entertaining to say the least, taking a more humorous approach to telling Roman history. She does an excellent job making the complex web of the Julio-Claudians empire as understandable and easy as she possibly can. However, I also felt that this humorous and modern view within the book came at a detriment once you hit the middle, as it slowly became tiring to constantly weave through Southon’s opinions and interpretations of the sources and trying to get to the heart of the book, which is the history of Agrippina’s life. I will say, given the limited scope of information recorded on Agrippina, Southon likely did her best with what she had to work with, hence the large amount of her own speculations. All that to say, I still highly recommend this feminist perspective book on one of the most badass women in history.
Emma Southon’s writing is entertaining to say the least, taking a more humorous approach to telling Roman history. She does an excellent job making the complex web of the Julio-Claudians empire as understandable and easy as she possibly can. However, I also felt that this humorous and modern view within the book came at a detriment once you hit the middle, as it slowly became tiring to constantly weave through Southon’s opinions and interpretations of the sources and trying to get to the heart of the book, which is the history of Agrippina’s life. I will say, given the limited scope of information recorded on Agrippina, Southon likely did her best with what she had to work with, hence the large amount of her own speculations. All that to say, I still highly recommend this feminist perspective book on one of the most badass women in history.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide and Murder
caelfind's review against another edition
challenging
dark
funny
informative
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Minor: Death, Sexism, Slavery, Violence, Death of parent, and Murder
veliana's review against another edition
dark
funny
informative
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
3.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny, Sexism, Violence, and Murder
Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Sexual assault, Slavery, Suicide, and Death of parent
Minor: Body shaming, Incest, Vomit, and War
ashhearddwrites's review against another edition
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Minor: Incest and Murder
j_squaredd's review against another edition
dark
funny
informative
medium-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Death, Physical abuse, Suicide, Death of parent, Murder, and Alcohol
derschnauzbart's review against another edition
funny
informative
lighthearted
fast-paced
5.0
Emma Southon seems like the kind of person I would love to hang out with. I imagine bottles of wine and gossiping about Roman emperors like they're our weird cousins. That's the tone this book sets. I loved the irreverent attitude toward all things Roman, including calling out every instance of patriarchal bullshit both ancient and modern, and I appreciated the candor with which Southon explains her sources. A lot of the time, she's giving what amounts to an opinion or an educated guess based on the tiny scraps of evidence available to historians; she is always unflinchingly honest about it and also very thorough and convincing in making her arguments at these points. I can't recommend this book enough! People who don't like gratuitous cursing (the exact opposite of my stance) should skip this one, though.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing
Moderate: Murder
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Death, and Incest