Ratings9
Average rating4
"The hero-narrator, Cyrus Spitama, grandson of the prophet Zoroaster, is brought up in a fifth-century B.C. Persian court and educated with his closest friend, Xerxes, who is destined to become master of the empire that stretches from India to the Mediterranean. As an ambassador for Xerxes, Cyrus embarks on journeys far beyond the boundaries of the known world, seeking wealth and trade routes.".
"Creation witnesses a blind and aged Cyrus relating to his grandson the tales of his astonishing travels and encounters. On his extensive missions to Cathay and India, Cyrus seeks not only riches and political gains for his monarch but also the answers to the questions that dominate his life: How was the universe created, and why was evil created along with good?
His quest brings him to the park in India to which the Buddha has retreated, to the riverbank in Cathay where he fished with Confucius, and finally to the shaded courtyard in Athens where a young stonemason named Socrates comes to repair his wall, and where Cyrus will live the last days of his life.
And in this restored edition of Creation readers will find material, left out of the original edition, that further elaborates on the lineages of the major figures in the book - most notably the kings Cyrus, Darius, and Xerxes - and the conspiracy, duplicity, and intrigue that surround their ascent to power, as well as an expanded account of the Battle of Sardis."--BOOK JACKET.
Reviews with the most likes.
For me Creation did not live up to its exciting premise. In fact, by the end there had been far too little Creation and far too much recounting of the petty intrigues of a bunch of obscure despots and kings in India and Cathay. There were moments of brilliance, like sparks bursting from the slumbering embers of Vidal's talent, but much of the book dragged, sometimes interminably. Cyrus Spitama barely rose off the paper, nor did any of the remarkable figures Vidal placed before him. The book only sputters into life at the court of Darius, and Atossa was to me the only character to show any depth and vitality. The narrative is loose, the dialogue is pedestrian, and the prose ordinary. Creation is a lost opportunity. It might have been brilliant.
Defeated! DNF. This book defeated me, and I assumed that was my problem. But it defeated even my (usually very diligent) book club! And, even though I read through this at a sluggish, slogging pace, I did genuinely enjoy it! Ah, what to do.