Keep You Vestal On

After accidentally touching a Vestal Virgin in Yellow Rome, Vergil prudently and discreetly flees, launching himself on an epic journey around the Tideless Sea, having many strange sojourns and encounters. Though there are many threads woven through it, this is mainly a book about A Journey as Vergil - and I cribbed this from the afterword, but it is helpful - is alchemically tempered by his adventures. I could listen to this all day - in fact, I did - but you do have to listen, the attention wanders for a few lines and suddenly the the narrator is talking about someone or other doing something strange, arcane or are themselves discoursing on some other subject and it's impossible to tell if it's the next bit of the story, a digression, or a memory. But it's wonderfully written in gracile flowing prose that often interrupts itself or repeats itself or diagress with itself, giving the whole thing a rich rhythmic feel that the narrator embodies with verve and relaxed naturalness that is, yes, deceptive because you have to pay attention or you'll be skipping back to work out how or why he's suddenly talking about camel dung or the serving order at a royal feast or the properties of the lotus.

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