Graves has created an unlikely hero in his chosen narrator of the Emperor Claudius. Born of the Claudio-Julian line, he is both handicapped and has a severe speech impediment making him the whipping boy of his family tree. While deceit, murder, and cruelty plague his family, friends, and the Roman Senate Claudius manages to survive and record the lives of three emperors until his own ascension into power. His keen eye and detached tone serve him well as he watches the tumultous history of his family play out before him; none suspect that "poor Claudius" will ever amount to anything. Graves re-makes the autobiography of the actual Claudius into an enthralling as well as realistic landscape, breathing life into ancient Rome.
Michael Babus
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