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janetll's review
3.0
"THIS IS THE BEST OF THE HISTORICAL NOVELS SO FAR THIS YEAR." That is what the back cover boldly asserts, quoting Stephen Longstreet of Readers' Syndicate. The year was 1959, and I don't know what month the book came out or how many of the historical novels Mr. Longstreet read and compared it to, but it does seem like faint praise.
I would not have read this book in a million years if my daughter's name wasn't Dara. She found it in a used book store and I found it on her bookshelf. It reminds me of books I may have read as a kid because nothing else was available. Adding to my experience is the fact that I'm reading through the Bible, 72% of the way through according to my Kindle. I'm right at the part of the Bible where many of the events mentioned in Dara the Cypriot take place.
The book was very entertaining. The historical events were portrayed from the point of view of the main character, and that was different and made it a little more interesting than Bible stories might otherwise be for me. It embellished the stories and gave reasons and motives that are fictional and, once again, interesting. Or at least entertaining.
I admire the details of the book and I think it is well-researched. I don't have lots of knowledge about these times and these people, and if the details are actually wrong, they didn't register that way to me. Ultimately none of these things and not even the name of the main character would have kept me going if the book hadn't been enjoyable to read. It was that, and a bit of an education as well. I don't know if any better historical novels came out for the remainder of 1959 but this one was certainly good enough.
I would not have read this book in a million years if my daughter's name wasn't Dara. She found it in a used book store and I found it on her bookshelf. It reminds me of books I may have read as a kid because nothing else was available. Adding to my experience is the fact that I'm reading through the Bible, 72% of the way through according to my Kindle. I'm right at the part of the Bible where many of the events mentioned in Dara the Cypriot take place.
The book was very entertaining. The historical events were portrayed from the point of view of the main character, and that was different and made it a little more interesting than Bible stories might otherwise be for me. It embellished the stories and gave reasons and motives that are fictional and, once again, interesting. Or at least entertaining.
I admire the details of the book and I think it is well-researched. I don't have lots of knowledge about these times and these people, and if the details are actually wrong, they didn't register that way to me. Ultimately none of these things and not even the name of the main character would have kept me going if the book hadn't been enjoyable to read. It was that, and a bit of an education as well. I don't know if any better historical novels came out for the remainder of 1959 but this one was certainly good enough.
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