Lavinia
107. Ursula K. Le Guin, Lavinia
This novel takes its inspiration from Virgil’s Aeneid, the epic poem recounting how Aeneas set sail after the Trojan War and eventually arrived in Italy to found what would become the Roman Empire. In the original poem, Lavinia is a character only mentioned in passing as Aeneas’ eventual wife, and she has no dialogue whatsoever. By contrast, this book is narrated by Lavinia and gives her version of the events at the end of the Aeneid, as well as telling the story of her childhood in Latium, her marriage to Aeneas, and her eventual fate.
I was intrigued by the premise of this novel, especially the idea of giving a voice to a previously voiceless character. I also took Latin in high school and had to translate a fair portion of the Aeneid for class, so it was interesting to review that material from a new perspective. My favorite parts of the book were the depictions of daily life in Italy at the time, as well as the foreshadowing of the founding of Rome. However, I don’t think the book is particularly successful as a novel; Lavinia just wasn’t a compelling character for me, and the secondary characters were even less interesting. This is not a bad book by any means, but I think I’ll be sticking to Le Guin’s sci fi and fantasy.