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Vesuvius
Vesuvius blends a present-day mystery with the tragedy of young Roman lovers caught in the first century eruption that buried Herculaneum and Pompeii in A.D. 79. Vesuvius brings the reader into the Roman history of ancient gladiators, chariot races, the rich, the poor, and the cruelty of the times. The big volcano did more than devastate, it kept secrets alive. Secrets that became evident over 19 centuries later.
212 pages, Paperback
First published September 24, 2008
About the author
Vic LeClair III
4 books1 followerVic LeClair III
About the author…
With every historical society there are good people and bad. Now, with the help of many professors that I’ve had the pleasure of meeting at Wisconsin Universities (where I am managing a university bookstore) as well as Professor Richard Talbert, author of The Romans and the expertise in ancient scrolls at the University of Michigan, I’ve put together a story that blends present day lives with Romans of the past.
Since I started writing, August 23rd 2000, I’ve had three published novels, a number of short stories and articles. I live in Wisconsin with my wife. Our three children are now grown, with one living in Southern California, one in Colorado, and the youngest finishing up at a nearby college . My wife is working toward becoming a full-time life coach, while I am attempting to make writing my only job.
In the world, such as it is, we lose the innocents that we had growing up. At times, I let that youthful purity escape, whether writing or just goofing off. My wife calls it something quite different. When her patience runs thin with me and she calls out, “What are you, twelve?” I dreamily answer, “Not nearly as often as I’d like!”
My philosophy for writing is something I call, “R.I.P.” That is…research, imagination, and patients. I hope you’ll find my story, “Vesuvius” as well as all my previous tales exciting and adventurous, with strong characters throughout. In the meantime, I will portray great patients, imagine a positive outcome for both reader and writer, and continue my research on the next project.
Sincerely,
Vic
About the author…
With every historical society there are good people and bad. Now, with the help of many professors that I’ve had the pleasure of meeting at Wisconsin Universities (where I am managing a university bookstore) as well as Professor Richard Talbert, author of The Romans and the expertise in ancient scrolls at the University of Michigan, I’ve put together a story that blends present day lives with Romans of the past.
Since I started writing, August 23rd 2000, I’ve had three published novels, a number of short stories and articles. I live in Wisconsin with my wife. Our three children are now grown, with one living in Southern California, one in Colorado, and the youngest finishing up at a nearby college . My wife is working toward becoming a full-time life coach, while I am attempting to make writing my only job.
In the world, such as it is, we lose the innocents that we had growing up. At times, I let that youthful purity escape, whether writing or just goofing off. My wife calls it something quite different. When her patience runs thin with me and she calls out, “What are you, twelve?” I dreamily answer, “Not nearly as often as I’d like!”
My philosophy for writing is something I call, “R.I.P.” That is…research, imagination, and patients. I hope you’ll find my story, “Vesuvius” as well as all my previous tales exciting and adventurous, with strong characters throughout. In the meantime, I will portray great patients, imagine a positive outcome for both reader and writer, and continue my research on the next project.
Sincerely,
Vic
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
August 1, 2009
In his novel Vesuvius, Vic LeClair III weaves a story blending Ancient and Modern Rome. He succeeds with the ancient portion; unfortunately the present-day story is somewhat lacking.
LeClair paints a vivid picture of life in Ancient Rome illustrating both the beautiful and the evil in its society. His descritions of life in Rome circa A.D. 79 are lovely and even where the words are unfamiliar, he finds a way to make the reader understand what he is talking about via the context.
The love story between Parosius and Veturia is engaging and even though their eventual end is written in history and unchangable, this reader found herself wishing somehow that their fate could have been different. If the entire story had been set in this time this would have been a thoroughly enjoyable novel, regrettably that is not the case.
The story that frames Parosius and Veturia's tale is that of Oliver, a retired History teacher, and his granddaughter Cassandra who shares Oliver's love of Ancient Rome, and their trip to the site of Veturia's father's villa in Herculaneum which was buried when Vesuvius erupted in AD 79. Oliver has been having recurring dreams about the villa and wants to know if his dreams might be true. Once they arrive in Italy they are mixed up in a robbery of some artifacts which just didn't seem to fit the rest of the story. This portion of the book lacks the eloquence and imagery of the Ancient tale and detracts from the overall feel of the novel.
It may have worked better had the present day story been maybe a couple of chapters at the beginning and end of the novel allowing the romance to be the focus for the reader as that was the more alluring tale.
Given these issue I would still be interested in reading more from this author, if the story stays within the history, where he seems to be more comfortable.
LeClair paints a vivid picture of life in Ancient Rome illustrating both the beautiful and the evil in its society. His descritions of life in Rome circa A.D. 79 are lovely and even where the words are unfamiliar, he finds a way to make the reader understand what he is talking about via the context.
The love story between Parosius and Veturia is engaging and even though their eventual end is written in history and unchangable, this reader found herself wishing somehow that their fate could have been different. If the entire story had been set in this time this would have been a thoroughly enjoyable novel, regrettably that is not the case.
The story that frames Parosius and Veturia's tale is that of Oliver, a retired History teacher, and his granddaughter Cassandra who shares Oliver's love of Ancient Rome, and their trip to the site of Veturia's father's villa in Herculaneum which was buried when Vesuvius erupted in AD 79. Oliver has been having recurring dreams about the villa and wants to know if his dreams might be true. Once they arrive in Italy they are mixed up in a robbery of some artifacts which just didn't seem to fit the rest of the story. This portion of the book lacks the eloquence and imagery of the Ancient tale and detracts from the overall feel of the novel.
It may have worked better had the present day story been maybe a couple of chapters at the beginning and end of the novel allowing the romance to be the focus for the reader as that was the more alluring tale.
Given these issue I would still be interested in reading more from this author, if the story stays within the history, where he seems to be more comfortable.
July 29, 2009
Vesuvius was an interesting book. I really liked the subject matter as I've always been fascinated by Pompeii and ancient Rome. I think the premise was nice, but I wish the author had been able to go more in to detail about what the characters were thinking. He jumped through some parts like it was a time line and if he added a little more to the characters it would have been deeper and grabbed me more by the heart. Don't get me wrong, he did a good job describing the buildings and paintings and statues, but I really wish I knew WHY Parosius and Veturia fell in love. What was going through their minds? What did they love about each other? What was Parosius thinking of doing if he was not allowed to marry Veturia? I wish I could have "seen" Cassandra and Sandro fall in love instead of it just being stated. In some ways the most rounded character was Mee Lee. Maybe if scenes were set up more, like a description of the hospital room when Oliver firsts visits Mee the setup for the scene where she escapes would be impacted further by no longer having the image in my mind of her in a room that looks like (fill in the blank) and is now empty without her. I did find Oliver's final visit to his wife touching. All in all it was a nice read that had fun moments that drug me in and had me reaching for the book when I had a few spare minutes. It captivated me enough that I'm now digging through my books and the internet looking for more on Herculaneum. Thank you very much for allowing me the pleasure of reading this book.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 29, 2009
The love between the Plebean Parosius and the Patrician Veturia is set against the background of the threatening volcano eruption of Vesuvius,and this is the heart of the book for me. Their love has a twenty- first century flair to it; these are no plaster statues, but passionate, party going young Romans. The visual of the erupting volcano sealing the fate of the young lovers and the city is vividly painted by the author. That we meet them through the journey of the aging Oliver; his own dreams and memories, his love for antiquity deepen the impact of the story.
The search for the artifacts is fast paced and urgent, in the style of Da Vinci Code and others where our hero must beat someone else to the find and keep it to himself or reveal it to the world. There are twists and subplots to keep you turning the pages, but in the end it was the young lovers in the rain of lava and ash, and the modern young lovers, somehow linked by the past, and Oliver at his wife's graveside, that other love story, that make this book memorable for me.
The search for the artifacts is fast paced and urgent, in the style of Da Vinci Code and others where our hero must beat someone else to the find and keep it to himself or reveal it to the world. There are twists and subplots to keep you turning the pages, but in the end it was the young lovers in the rain of lava and ash, and the modern young lovers, somehow linked by the past, and Oliver at his wife's graveside, that other love story, that make this book memorable for me.
August 3, 2009
Well, I liked this book & I didn't like this book.
First, what I liked. I liked that the main character was older. In truth, there aren't many books written where older people are the hero. I like the story of Veturia & Parosius. This part of the book is beautifully written, well thought out, and worth every moment of your time to read.
Unfortunately, the story of Oliver & his Granddaughter Cassandra is not done as well. It felt as though the author really cared about Veturia & Parosius, but added Oliver & Cassandra as a way to round out the story.
The story itself is a most excellent one. Oliver & Cassandra track two Roman lovers who died in the Explosion of Vesuvius. There is the Sword of Peter involved and an Antiquities thief or two.
I liked it, overall, and it's worth reading. Once.
First, what I liked. I liked that the main character was older. In truth, there aren't many books written where older people are the hero. I like the story of Veturia & Parosius. This part of the book is beautifully written, well thought out, and worth every moment of your time to read.
Unfortunately, the story of Oliver & his Granddaughter Cassandra is not done as well. It felt as though the author really cared about Veturia & Parosius, but added Oliver & Cassandra as a way to round out the story.
The story itself is a most excellent one. Oliver & Cassandra track two Roman lovers who died in the Explosion of Vesuvius. There is the Sword of Peter involved and an Antiquities thief or two.
I liked it, overall, and it's worth reading. Once.
July 30, 2013
What to say about this book? I liked it, for the most part. I think the author did a wonderful job of creating the world in which this story takes place. I absolutely LOVED the story of Veturia and Parosius but it seemed like Oliver and Cassandra's story paled greatly by comparison. LeClair is an obviously talented writer...I just wish the relationships between the characters in this story had been explored a little further. A lot of things felt like they should have been expounded on - but despite that, I still enjoyed the story and would definitely read the author's other works.
I received a copy of this book for review via a Goodreads giveaway. Thank you!
I received a copy of this book for review via a Goodreads giveaway. Thank you!
July 22, 2009
I really like the premise of this story. I wish that I could have seen more of how Veturia and Parosius fell in love what made them connect on such a level that they would chance everything for each other. The same with Sandro and Cassandra. I think Mee Lee was the best developed character in the story! The descriptions of what the places looked like were the best part of this novel for me. I felt that I was brought into this Roman history. For myself there wasn't enough dialogue, yet I found myself sucked into the book at different points... Overall I liked it.
July 28, 2009
I really liked the idea/basis of this book, I wish the characters in love could have been explored a bit more so you could have a better understanding of their relationship.
Want to Read
July 9, 2009This looks excellent! Can't wait to get my hands on this one.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews