“A Book We’d Miss,” Cleopatra Review

“A Book We’d Miss,” Cleopatra Review

Amber Furnée

January 12th

        Cleopatra: A Life is the phenomenal, extensive biography of Cleopatra herself, and “a book we’d miss if it didn’t exist” (Wall Street Journal). Within its pages Stacy Schiff covers the female legend’s family history, bureaucratic duties, representation as a goddess, and affairs with the two most powerful men of her time. Schiff covered everything she could about Cleopatra’s life and death, and succeeds in exposing and breaking down the biased image modern society has come to accept of her.

Stacy Schiff, the author of Cleopatra: A Life, has written three other biographies and has been presented with 15 honors and awards for writing, including the Pulitzer Prize for Vera, her book about Vera Nabokov, wife and muse of Lolita author Vladimir Nabokov. She earned her bachelor’s degree from Williams College in 1982, was a senior editor at Simon & Schuster for 8 years, and has regularly had articles and essays featured in The New Yorker, The New York Times and The Times Literary Supplement. One contribution to The Times was a whimsical and informative article called “Cleopatra’s Guide to Good Governance” including tips such as “obliterate your rivals”, “appearances count”, and “go big or go home”. This similar type of writing pervades throughout Schiff's book and helps the history she describes to flow off the page. This humor comes in handy when pointing out the shortcomings and biases of past historians.

In Cleopatra, Schiff tries to shed more light on an infamous historical figure whose real life, motives, and even appearance has remained shrouded in mystery. Her interaction with the other 'characters' in the book are thoroughly described and analyzed. Several of these times were Cleopatra’s meeting with Caesar and Mark Antony. Schiff does so in a way that includes each party's relevant past, personalities, and motives for each possible decision. When Cleopatra appears in a “sack of hemp” in front of Caesar, Schiff goes into his background of arriving before “the messengers sent to announce him" and having a “firm...grasp on human nature,” both ways to surprise his adversaries, as a way of showing why this move would surprise and impress him. However, Schiff often digressed on mostly unrelated tangents while trying to provide all relevant information. While still interesting, valuable information, it seems like there should be a better way or place to discuss a family’s incestual past or the scenery of the Nile than with 10 pages in the middle of a war. Apart from these tangential passages the book read very smoothly and like an adventure novel in the second half despite the several thousand year old ‘spoiler’..

I’ve never been a big ‘history buff’, but this biography gave me a rich taste of ancient civilization and the fascinating people who have made their mark on this world; a taste that pleasantly lingers on my tongue and makes me crave more. This is a book I would enjoy reading multiple times, and even has me interested in other historical biographies, so I would highly suggest it to anyone who doesn’t mind stumbling over highbrow vocabulary or lavish descriptions.