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Pompeii

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Pompeii

By: Robert Harris
Narrated by: Steven Pacey
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About this listen

A sweltering week in late August. Where better to enjoy the last days of summer than on the beautiful Bay of Naples? All along the coast, the Roman Empire's richest citizens are relaxing in their luxurious villas. The world's largest navy lies peacefully at anchor in Misenum. The tourists are spending their money in the seaside resorts of Baiae, Herculaneum and Pompeii. Only one man is worried.

The engineer Marcus Attilius Primus has just taken charge of the Aqua Augusta, the enormous aqueduct which brings fresh water to a quarter of a million people in nine towns around the Bay. Springs are failing for the first time in generations. His predecessor has disappeared. And now there is a crisis on the Augusta's sixty-mile main line - somewhere to the north of Pompeii, on the slopes of Mount Vesuvius.

Attilius - decent, practical, incorruptible - promises Pliny, the famous scholar who commands the navy, that he can repair the aqueduct before the reservoir runs dry. But as he heads out towards Vesuvius he is about to discover there are forces which even the world's only superpower can't control. Pompeii recreates in spellbinding detail one of the most famous natural disasters of all time. And by focusing on the characters of an engineer and a scientist, it offers an entirely original perspective on the Roman world.

©2003 Robert Harris (P)2014 AudioGo Ltd. Published by Random House Audiobooks
Historical Fiction Fiction Scary
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What listeners say about Pompeii

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Great book, well worth a read

Great book, well worth a read.
You feel like you are in the streets of pompeii

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Great book

Really enjoyed it. Great story, easy to listen to.
Highly recommend, what more can I say

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Boom

Great story, doesn't get to the eruption for a while but I'm fine with it because it a very fun and interesting storey which gives the while thing some depth. It does lack narrative a bit but it's not a very long book.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

A worthy listen

An fascinating account of this ancient disaster from an alternative point of view.
Nicely read and kept me interested throughout

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Great story, expert narration

Harris is a fine writer of historical fiction and this is superb. The building of tension to the eruption is expertly done, and the narration with the different voices is excellent. 5*

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Pompeii

just visited and brings the area to life. great listen. and this is to make it fifteen words on the review!

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Well below his best

I have mixed views on this. The description of the geology and engineering, is first rate. The day to day life comes across as authentic and well researched down to tiny details. Unfortunately this on its own doesn't make an interesting book and to fill the gap he has spliced in a bit of romance, a bit of detective work, and a bit of good versus evil. All of these are somewhat corny and degrade the overall experience. It just scrapes 4 stars overall for me, for which Steven Pacey gets a lot of the credit. If you aren't familiar with Robert Harris, I would recommend An Officer and a Spy and the whole of the Cicero trilogy first, followed by Conclave and Ghost.

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1 person found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Fantastic book

I really enjoyed this book. Beautifully written. Great characters and a very good story, with a satisfying ending.

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Great book with wonderful narration....

...But definitely worked just a bit better as a paperback, the audio failed to build up the same feeling of disaster, or the feeling towards the characters.
similarly, the end of the book, as an audio, just presented too much of an anticlimax.
But that was only my opinion.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Decent read

It was good till the volcano ruined it. Decent if you like stuff and Rome.

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