Pride of Carthage
by David Anthony Durham
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Book Summary Information
Author: David Anthony DurhamEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2006-01-03
ISBN: 0385722494
Number of pages: 592
Publisher: Anchor
Book Reviews of Pride of Carthage
Book Review: 'Baal is my grace'
Summary: 4 Stars
David Anthony Durham's 'Pride of Carthage' sits on par with many other historical novels that I have read in terms of research, historical basis, and characterization. Where many similar authors fail, in my mind, is when they forget to 'humanize' their protagonists, regardless of how many battles they wage, how many towns and cities they sack and burn, and how long a trail of blood and carnage they leave behind them.
Hannibal, like so many others of his time, was indeed a warrior.....some called him murderer, some tyrant, some barbarian....but he was still a man, a father, a husband, a brother, and a son. David Anthony Durham takes great pains to show Hannibal's motivation and passion for his attempted conquest of Rome, as well as his love and duty to his family, and his passion for his wife and son. Hannibal felt a duty to honor his father and his family, as well as provide for his own family, and further the pursuits of a land he loved. The final 100 pages alone, when Hannibal questions his loyalty to his land, in response to their lack-lustre support of his efforts (despite ordering him to wage battle) and ultimately returns to his home, still marvelling at it's splendor, illustrates the depth of his commitment to his homeland, and family, and his belief in what he had done.
What amounted to the decimation of hundreds of thousands of soldiers, women, children, and the elderly along the way is told in fine detail, though never becoming too bloody or too graphic to continue reading. The battle sequences included in this novel illustrate the atrocity of war that existed at the time (and in ways still does today), when entire cities were ravaged, and all citizens either enslaved or simply killed to prevent a future uprising for revenge. But this still does not overshadow the rest of the story that is told, with Hannibal and his brothers pressing on for the greater glory of Carthage. Hannibal most of all continually motivates his men, and his brothers, as they face a long, difficult journey across he Pyranees and the Alps to march into Northern Italy.
The one main 'complaint' I can make about the book, and it is a minor one, is that in the opening it appears as though Imco Vaca (a character who appears throughout the novel) will be the 'narrator' of the tale...and it will be told from the perspective of one who fought alongside Hannibal. This was not the case, and as the book moved from character to character, telling their portion of the tale, it was a bit confusing at times with multiple characters having the same name (Hasdrubal is an example of this) to determine who you were reading about. However, this did not deter from overall enjoyment of the story.
The author himself admits to 'rearranging' certain sequences of historical events, as well as 'embellishing' on certain facts, and requests that the novel be read purely as a work of historical fiction. In this he exonorates himself from straying (albeit only slightly) from pure historical fact. At times the dialogue seemed a bit too 'modern' to be a recreation of historical conversation, but that can be forgiven in an effort to make this story more appealing to modern day audiences.
An intriguing, meticulously detailed, and well-embraced telling of Hannibal's crossing of the Alps and so much more....any lover of historical fiction centered on this character, time period, or event will find much to interest them in the pages of this book.
Well written and definitely worth the read.
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