Book Review: The Memoirs of Cleopatra by Margaret George

Title: The Memoirs of Cleopatra
Author: Margaret George
Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin
ISBN: 978-0312187453
PP: 976 pages
Genre: Historical Fiction
Price: $18.99
Source: Author
Rating: 4/5

I was excited to read about Cleopatra from the author of such a wonderful historical novel as “Autobiography of Henry VIII”. I was also glad that she reverted to using the first person narrative after the less successful re-telling of the story of Mary, Queen of Scotts. I have to say that I enjoyed “The Memoirs of Cleopatra”, but it still fell short of my expectations.

The biggest problem I had when reading this book is to tune out “Masters of Rome” series of books by Colleen McCullough. After reading the series, I could only look at the history of Ancient Rome through McCullough’s eyes and any departure from her story-telling did not sit well with me, even though Margaret George could have been more accurate with her description.

The first disparity was the identity of Cleopatra’s mother. In “Memoirs of Cleopatra”, she is described as Ptolemy VII’s half-sister. In “Fortune’s Favorites” and “Caesar’s Women” by Colleen McCullough, she is described as a daughter of King Mithradates of Pontus. This little detail is probably insignificant but McCullough’s version makes Cleopatra’s connection to Rome’s enemies poignant. Also, McCullough describes an affair between Caesar and Mithradates Nysa, who is in her version Cleopatra’s mother’s sister or Cleopatra’s aunt. It would have been an interesting connection to explore if Margaret George decided to follow this version of Cleopatra’s story as well. Although she did not explore any of these possibilities, I kept thinking about all of these connections and that hindered my enjoyment of the novel.

The most interesting paradox between the two treatments of Cleopatra’s story is the character of Caesar. McCullough devotes all of her books in the series so far to him and he comes out to be a completely different person than Margaret George makes him out to be in “The Memoirs of Cleopatra”. I have to agree with George’s depiction of Caesar. He is shown as an almost infallible person that he undoubtedly was (almost being the imperative word here since McCullough makes him god on earth). However, by this time, I have already bought into McCullough’s legend of Caesar so it was a bit disappointing to read about this human version.

Other characters that appear in both places confused me. I liked Marc Antony in George’s version better because he appeared as more complex individual than in McCullough’s version. In her books, he is just a beast in human clothing. Octavian is shown with more potential for later brilliance in McCullough’s version, so that is why I like him better in her novels. George makes his emergence unexpected although she writes from Cleopatra’s point of view and that might be how she perceived him. Fulvia is too one-dimensional in George’s version — she’s just some shameless hussy who can’t live without a man by her side. I think Fulvia was too unique and interesting (after all she captured the imaginations of Claudius, Curio, and Antony — very different and strong individuals) for her time to have so little said about her. But again Cleopatra’s perception of her might have been different.

The characters that appear only in George’s version are extremely well realized. Olympus and Mardian were fascinating and the author really let us get to know them. Ptolemy Caesar appears as such a wonderful and brilliant boy that his fate is truly tragic. The Kandake was also an unusual strong female role-model that is hardly, if ever, heard of in the story of Cleopatra.

Cleopatra herself is a wonderful character. George did a wonderful job getting inside her psyche. She was certainly brilliant and a good politician who, alas, followed her heart more often than her reason. I like the way George makes a distinction between Cleopatra’s love for Caesar and her love for Antony. The best scene in the whole book is the plan and description of Cleopatra’s death. It is amazing that the author can make the readers feel triumphant that this woman is killing herself.

The biggest problems with this novel are that it is too long and there are inconsistencies in the description. Cleopatra’s stay in Rome is hard to reconcile with history because of so many inconsistencies. For example, how could she cross the pomerium into the city of Rome if no anointed ruler can do that? The length is really felt here because some key moments in time are summarized while superfluous details are elaborated to the point of boredom. All in all, this is a great epic on Cleopatra’s life.