Gladiator

by Annette Keen (Adapter), Dewey Gram

[Penguin Readers Level 4]

General Maximus is admired by his men and by the Emperor Marcus Aurelius. But when the Emperor's son murders his way to the throne, Maximus goes into exile. He is captured by slave traders and forced to fight as a gladiator. When the Emperor arranges a gladiator spectacle, Maximus' chance for revenge has come. A spectacular epic film of courage and revenge depicting the splendours and cruelties of ancient Rome directed by Ridley Scott and starring Russell Crowe.

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction

80 pages, Paperback

Published April 3, 2001

Reviews

[하요진]

I quite like the plot of the story. It is very intriguing, and even though the ending is sad (Maximus died), I was touched. Maximus sacrificed his life to save Rome (quite literally). The thing I hate about adaptations is the flow of the book becomes choppy. I was literally clueless about (why Maximus and Lucilla suddenly kissed)?! There is no plot development for the whole romance plotline. Maybe it's because this book is supposedly for kids, so the author cut the romance? (disappointed but not surprised) Nonetheless, I think the original book/movie would be much better and I would like to read/watch them one day.

[Victor Orozco]

Great. I have been a big fan of this movie for such a long time and was happy to find this novelization. The book is almost word for word from the movie with the thoughts of the characters realized briefly than I would have liked. The book feels a little tamer than the movie, almost eliminating some profanity including some of the incestuous feelings of Commodus.

A lot of dialogue is not present, some really good stuff that brought out a lot of good acting. There are some deleted scenes that I have found in various DVD/Blu-Ray special features present in the book.

I recommend this book if you are a fan of the movie and don't have access to the movie. All in all a great story. A-

[Angel Torres]

This was a short, fun adventure 😇

[Indah Threez Lestari]

936 - 2012

Twelve years ago, I fell in love with Russell Crowe's voice in Gladiator. So, when I read this book with its audiobook companion, I was deeply disappointed with the narrator's voice of Maximus.

[Bixi]

Ich mochte den Film und wollte wissen, ob das berühmte Zitat auch in der sehr kurzen PENGUIN Ausgabe vorkommt -Ja!

[Mikeroni]

Nice little addition to read after watching the movie. It's a fairly simple book for what I suspect is used as reading material in English highschool classes.

Although short, it still had its charm. I could rewatch the movie in my head while reading, which was fun.

[Vinoy Dalal]

Wonderful adaptation of the movie

[Juan Pablo]

I think it's a good story; I believe I'm going to see the film

[Yukina Sawada]

Gladiator
Penguin readers lv 4
11/5-11/11 65minutes

7 words summary
1 Maximus 2 Wants 3 Change 4 Roma 5 Try
6 Fight 7 Sword

DQ
In this story, the main character Maximus tried to change the politics in a good way.
If you could change Japanese politics, how would you change?

MA
I would change the system of consumption tax. I wouldn't hike the rate to 8 %.

Comment
I have watched this movie once, but I have never read this. So I chose this book. I think the story is very interesting. But sometimes there are some cruel scene...

11/12-11/18
70 minutes

7 words summary
1 Comodus 2 Maximus 3 Fight 4 Stadium 5 Injured 6 Die 7 Hero

DQ
When you have some troubles between other people, how do you solve?

MA
When I have troubles, I try to solve them by talking but it depends on people.
If I have troubles with my family, I do nothing, but with my friends, I apologize and talk.

Comment
I think this story is very interesting.
There are many characters and each of them have their own stories. The end of the story is sad, but I was moved. I recommend it to you.

[Kiko Kawashima]

1. penguin readers level4
2. about 1 hour 30 minutes
3. Roma, protector, corrupt, battle, emperor
4. I like last passage because I was attracted by the scene that The citizens of Roma that has controlled long time by the occupier Commodus got free finally. But I didn't like the chapter 6-7 that Commodus does only what he wants, has his own way in Roma.
5. this book let me think about the meaning to fight to save our free by ourselves. I thought that's very gallant behavior to confront an enemy.

[Namiko]

I'm surprised by a few people reviewing this story. To die for his emperor o country is not good. Every soldier, including Maximus, have families to wait for them at home.

[Mahmoud Hady]

I just love it.