Where Rome Seems Terrifyingly Real

Quo Vadis by Henryk Sienkiewicz
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I expected this to be good, since I'd read a historical novel by the author before and liked it (set in 17th century Poland), and this was his most popular book by far. The people are right--this is very good.

I'll explain.

More than anything, Sienkiewicz has done an amazing job with world-building. I've read many books of many genres set in Rome, and they always gave me a claustrophobic feeling; either it's all palaces and parties or it's all poor people in the tenements. Usually there's little sense of scale, little color, little true complexity. But this has all of that. This Rome is full and complete, with all levels of society, with temples and streets and slaves and tribunes, with Greeks and Jews and Germans and Poles and Egyptians, with people at work and people at play. I now understand (intellectually) what it's like to be a slave there, what it's like to be a freedman, and what it's like to be a member of court. It is a believable world, richly imagined, and a terrifying place to live, and I can't say whether he got it right or not, but it sure gives me a lot to work with.

It tells the story of a rich young tribune who has encountered and fallen in love with a northern woman, Lygia, living in Rome as a hostage. Vinicius is no better or worse than other men of his rank, which means he's horrible, willing to punish slaves for nothing, kill men for very little, and use every ounce of his power and authority to steal a woman from her protectors to take advantage of her--all without reservations, without any trouble to his conscience. Through the course of the novel, he falls in love with her for real, gradually growing a conscience and converting to Christianity, all while trying to rescue her from Nero and the persecution and destruction of Rome's Christians.

(The least interesting aspect of the novel, and it's a significant fraction, is the religious stuff. Peter and Paul are here as minor characters, though actually pretty good characters, and there's quite a bit of elevating Christianity as a breakthrough religion, all of it clearly written for a Christian audience. Fortunately, IMO, the novel is still largely secular, telling a love story in the midst of a historical novel, and though I think most Christians over the last 100 years would feel pretty good about reading it, I think those of different persuasions as well as post-religious people will find a very interesting novel under the churchy veneer. Much of it reads like modern fantasy. I mean, there's sex and violence in here that would make Game of Thrones look mild, just f'rinstance.)

Vinicius is a great character, with a long arc that feels earned, going from being a cruel narcissist to a caring, empathetic human. It takes the whole book, and it doesn't feel forced. His uncle Petronius, who is his main ally throughout, is brilliant and fearless and so clever, constantly hatching plans to help Vinicius, constantly handling Nero at court, fending off adversaries. Some of the minor characters are really cool, like the Greek Chilo, who is a devious sort-of-philosopher they hire to track down Lygia among the Christians. He's clever and scheming but he also succeeds with every job he's given. Nero is the main villain of the novel, but Chilo becomes a secondary villain, betraying the Christians, who he has to watch die by the hundreds. He has a cool arc, too, leading [spoiler--but this is 100 years old, so....] to a change of heart and his martyrdom in the end.

Two events dominate the second half of the book. The first is the great fire, which I never understood until now. The action there, with Vinicius trying to help Lygia escape from it, is brilliant and goes on for chapters. It's a great action sequence. The second event, or group of events, is the persecution of the Christians, who they are blaming the fire on. This takes up the last quarter of the novel at least, and it's so much more complete than any other depiction I've ever seen. The author imagines these events so fully, with so much detail, with so much action and drama, that I have to tip my hat. It's impressive. It's also horrible at the same time as being absolutely compelling.

So, despite the overt religious themes of the novel, which I don't care for, this is a 5-star book. Some of the history might be wrong, but as a work of fiction, it doesn't make a wrong move. Highly recommended.

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