After Hannibal
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After Hannibal
by Authors:
Barry Unsworth
Released: 01 May, 1998
ISBN: 0393317706
Paperback
Sales Rank: 363836
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List price:
$13.00
Our price:
$9.75
(You save: $3.25)
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| Book > After Hannibal > Customer Reviews: |
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Average Customer Rating: 
After Hannibal >
Customer Review #1:
 A favorite author stumbles.
Barry Unsworth is one of my favorite authors, and I have read all his books. This was my least favorite. What "unites" the disparate characters are simply a road which passes by their houses and (ubiquitously) a lawyer whom they each consult. Although Unsworths use of historical context and detail is usually one of the most enjoyable and well developed aspects of his novels, here we are dealing, peripherally, with battles involving both Hannibal and the Fascists. The book just doesnt seem to have a central core. Having said all that, however, Id still rather read a lesser Unsworth book than most books on the bestseller list
After Hannibal >
Customer Review #2:
Colorful, uneven terrain
Unsworth is always a gifted writer, even with a story that seems to alternately tighten and lose its focus, as here, rather than sharpening steadily toward a climax that ties everything together, as his best novels do. Its flaws notwithstanding, this Umbrian set-piece is an entertaining read, with some well-developed characters, especially the lawyer, Mancini; the unscrupulous British contractor, Blemish; and the Chapmans, whose marital compromises are exposed during the course of the dispute with their unpleasant peasant neighbors. The other characters - the anguished German, the morose cuckolded professor, the naïve and art-mad American retirees, the gay Italian betrayed by his lover - function more as local color. As realistically detailed as their personalities are, they are not particularly relevant to the plot, such as it is. Not that they need to be, in a book like this, which is as much a collection of character sketches as an account of a specific human conflict. If you accept the novel on those terms, its easier to enjoy. Reading it, I wondered if Unsworth hadnt collated and embroidered mental notes about some of his real Umbrian neighbors into these pages. The greedy peasant family, the Checcheti, who instigate the dispute over the road they all share, are for me the one real disappointment. Seen from a distance, they never come into focus enough to be interesting. They are never in the same room with us, as it were. That may well be true to the Chapmans perspective on them, however, as the Chechetti are presented almost exclusively in relation to their British neighbors. At the end, I felt that I did understand many of the other characters. Mancini, the Perugian lawyer more interested in the art of litigation than in justice, nicely represents the "furbo" (cunning) aspect of the Italian personality. Blemish, the books buffoon, is believable as a committed cheat who is morally offended when others try to cheat him. (His loving and lusty relationship with his generously fleshed wife provides the books only comic element.) The fatuous, self-satisfied Harold Chapman is neatly described as someone who "was given to the counting of blessings, which in practice meant the listing of assets." I cheered the far more sensitive Cecilia Chapmans radical life-choice at the end of the novel. This would be a good book to read on holiday at the beach or in the mountains. But dont take it to Italy when you go. Bring your Blue Guide and your phrase book instead, and get to know the country and its inhabitants a little. I promise youll meet far friendlier people than inhabit this fictionalized Umbria.
After Hannibal >
Customer Review #3:
Umbrian Umbrage
In Umbria, Italy, various expatriates (American, English and German) try to re-establish their lives, attempting to reach the Italy of their imaginations. They do battle with rapacious locals and foreign property developers. An Italian gay couples relationship breaks down, and a professor tries to come to terms with life following his wifes desertion. Most of these people seek the assistance of the suave lawyer Mancini to help them through the vagaries of the Italian legal system.This is a relatively recent novel by Unsworth, yet it felt very much like his earlier works, though its not as good. Its really a set of short stories linked by setting and by the character Mancini. Unsworth does a gentle comic examination of the differences in Anglo-Saxon and Italian attitudes: how unrealisitc the expatriates hopes of Italy are (expecting to settle in the Italy of the Renaissance - with violence removed and electricity added of course). As this is an Unsworth novel, its very readable, but curiously inconclusive. Some of the stories (and characters) are developed better than others, but, bereft of resolution none are strong enough to be really fulfilling. Not a bad novel, but I felt it was a step back by a skilled author. Perhaps this one had in fact been written a long time ago, stored away and released at a later date. G Rodgers
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After Hannibal >
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