Doomed Love

by Virgil, W.F. Jackson Knight (Translator)

Love can be hopeless

From the fall of Troy to the deadly Harpies, Aeneas’ epic voyage is filled with tragedy, destruction and omens of danger. As he recounts his adventures to Dido, who gives him sanctuary, they fall in love. But the Gods intervene and Aeneas realizes their relationship cannot last.

Genres: Classics, Poetry, Fiction, Romance, Short Stories, Greek Mythology, Collections

130 pages, Paperback

Published August 2, 2007

About the author

born 15 October 70 BC
died 21 September 19 BC

Roman poet Virgil, also Vergil, originally Publius Vergilius Maro, composed the Aeneid , an epic telling after the sack of Troy of the wanderings of Aeneas.

Work of Virgil greatly influenced on western literature; in most notably Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri.

Reviews

[Leigh Parker · Rating 3 out of 5]

That's the longest 130 page book I've ever read.

[Vanessa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Despite this book being only an excerpt of Virgil's Aeneid, and a mere 130 pages, it took me several weeks to get through. Although I found the first chapter quite captivating, chronicling Aeneas meeting the queen Dido after escaping from the wrath of Juno, I found the following two (longest) chapters telling of the fall of Troy quite difficult to get into. I don't know if it's because of the manner in which this is written, with very long paragraphs and little to no breaks, but it took me over a week of picking this up and putting it down to get through it. I'm not sure if it was the translation, or just Virgil in general, but I struggled with this. Not the best, even though the story itself was interesting.

[Loretta · Rating 3 out of 5]

An enjoyable book that 1. Seemed a little chopped up and 2. Seemed like I've read parts of the book before. Overall, it was good, but I see having to read The Aeneid in the future.

[Pink · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was good, but I feel like I've read the same story before, but better. Maybe I've heard too many versions of it, maybe it's the translation. There were parts where my eyes glazed over and yet other parts that were so exciting. Mixed feelings. I never realised that this is the first four books from The Aeneid so I'll have to continue with the whole version later (it's long)

[Ramona Cantaragiu · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very poorly chopped story of the first four books from the Aeneid. Dreadful read, I had to pin my eyelids with staples to keep myself from falling asleep every time I picked up this book.

[Gemma]

Doomed Love is the first book in the Penguin Great Loves Collection. It is an extract from Virgil's The Aeneid, which I read years ago at university, and aims to focus on the love between Aeneas and Dido.

This is a difficult book to review, and I have avoided giving it a star rating, because The Aeneid is a brilliant classic that I would rate very highly. However, as an extract, Doomed Love didn't work for me. In just 130 pages it attempts to give context to Aeneas and Dido's connection so anyone unfamiliar with the original text can follow the story. However, in trying to condense such an epic story into 130 pages, it feels disjointed and more like a vague plot summary. It also means that the actual focus of the book is only given a few short pages so kind of defeats the point.

On the plus side, the story has inspired me to return to The Iliad and The Odyssey at some point, both of which I have only read parts of.

[Sarah u]

Books 1-4 of Virgil's The Aeneid.

Extremely powerful, emotional writing, especially in Book Four. The fate of Dido, who loves Aeneis, is haunting. I often hear that works originally written in Latin lose something in translation, but I didn't feel that with this story at all. I only read as far as Book Four because that was all that was required for my studies, but would certainly read on to the end of the epic at a later date.

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the story of Aeneas' escape from the destruction of Troy and his relationship with Dido, the queen of Carthage. I liked it a lot, though the transition from Aeneas' description of his escape and the actual love story is abrupt. I'm now interested in reading the Aeneid. My favorite part of the book was the description of Rumour. I thought it was just fantastic!

[Lu · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well what can I say. Entertaining enough.

The story is about the love between Dido and Aeneas. But also war, shipwrecks, people getting stranded all over the show and some more battles :)

But its beautifully written, even if sometimes I wasn't sure who was who.
Characters were introduced too quickly and swapped too quickly.

But still something everyone has to read at least once!

[Ana · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is technically a re-read for me, but I still liked it even if the slow pacing in the second chapter was even more annoying the second time around.

[Aino · Rating 3 out of 5]

Oli ne vaan dramaattisia. Mäki heitän itteni roviolle jos mut kehataan jättää

[shakespeareandspice · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a deceptive little book.

[Alyssa Ocampo ✮⋆˙ · Rating 3 out of 5]

I bought the Penguin Great Loves collection as a treat for myself about a month ago (the books are so pretty 🤭) and this was the first book in the slipcase! As a reference, the collection has short stories that surround themes of love from well-known novelists ranging from Leo Tolstoy to James Baldwin. Honestly, I know I should’ve just read The Aeneid since this book just showcases an excerpt surrounding Aeneas the Trojan and Dido the Queen’s tragic love story from the poem. This book just summarizes the fall of Troy and only explains Dido and Aeneas’ connection in the last few pages. Though there are parts that are choppy since it doesn’t show the whole epic poem (an example being Venus and Cupid’s plan for sabotage left incomplete) I felt like it was a decent sampler to older text and I prefer reading shorter classic works for now! I would say I understood it for the most part and that it was kind of interesting even though it was wordy (obviously it will be wordy LOL). Anyways Aeneas is highkey a teacher’s pet and Dido deserves better based on the text I’m given anyways🥲

[Kelsey · Rating 3 out of 5]

the ending was by far the best part of the book however i feel like it was slightly rushed through ??? would have preferred the last chapter to be slightly longer. very beautiful descriptions but story itself was a bit boring

[Amber · Rating 3 out of 5]

leuker in het latijn 🤓

[Micaela · Rating 2 out of 5]

The fact this is just a translated section from a book written more than 2000 years ago, is amazing. I do understand why so many people disliked this, as majority of the book is just about the tale of adventures and survival and not the 'great love' which attracted most readers to want to read it in the first place. But I do understand why this was put in the Great Loves Collection, and interesting read.

[Kit McEvoy Gould · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nice to read about the trojan horse, but not very interesting besides.

[Becky · Rating 4 out of 5]

Doomed Love is the first four books of Virgil's Aeneid, for those who are not aware the first section focuses on the flight from Troy of Aeneas and his fellow survivors. Having been attacked by the jealous gods they seek refuge in the kingdom of Dido. Dido falls in love with Aeneas and tries to beguile him into remaining with him, but he is compelled to fulfil his destiny of founding the Roman republic and rejects her. This translation is a nuanced and well conceived retelling of a well known story, I would suggest that some familiarity with the story of the fall of Troy would make this an easier read as characters and events are mentioned briefly so a little foreknowledge would go a long way. This is a nice little introduction though and enough to whet your appetite for the Aeneid proper.

[Charli · Rating 4 out of 5]

Idk why people said it boring it’s not that bad I thought it was good Elsie u should read it if u see this it’s in the library‼️‼️ and it’s sad in a good way the middle chapters are low-key irrelevant tho but that’s just Roman writing style I think which is like why Latin is cool and that.

[Ashton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nothing like star-crossed Roman lovers...

[Laurie(Time Stand Still) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not what I typically read but it was mentioned in an actors interview. I read it and I'm glad I challenged myself.

[Ana Rivera · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this book, however I did have a bit of a problem keeping up with the characters and the relationship with each.

[Shirley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Greek myth history is a pre-requiste or else a headache will be waiting

[Avid Reader · Rating 2 out of 5]

Translation v poor

[Beth Shapeero · Rating 3 out of 5]

Got good at the end

[Lori Bernard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Doomed love is a fitting title. It was a little confusing but in all, great writing! Sad but loved the story!

[Johnny B. Rempit · Rating 4 out of 5]

More war than love, I think.

[Robecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

At first I hated this book... I found it hard to follow but then read it again and it grew on me! I have read this book 4times now

[Joanna Thirkettle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not at all what I expected but a fantastic read. Passed on to my 9-year-old, think he'll love it too.

[Alex Margolies · Rating 3 out of 5]

Couldn't really get on with this - don't know if it's the translation or Virgil in general, will try some different translations.