20th century woman to Roman frontier 170 AD meets M Aurelius

This was a very good book. Well written, well done. I didn't care for the protagonist but I did like the story. ( )

This was way too long but otherwise a fun read about time travel back to ancient Rome. Things really weren't better in the olden days, in case you are wondering. ( )

A very good, readable book that explores the dysfunction in both late 20th century Los Angeles and 6th Century BCE Roman Empire. The narrator, Nicole, is really rather quite annoying (I agree with another reviewer on that score) who is a successful lawyer passed over for a promotion, divorced and needing those child support checks, and two kids who vie for her attention. All well and normal and a life that many can relate to. When she decides that the sexism she encountered after her non-promotion, the headaches of driving through LA's traffic and smog are too much for her, and her life is just unmanageable, she prays to a small stone plaque with a bas-relief sculpture of Liber and Liberia and finds herself in the Roman outpost of Carnuntum on the Danube. Her perceptions change forever.

Both Tarr and Turtledove put some great research into the day-to-day life of a Roman citizen: the public baths, using olive oil instead of soap, the stench, the endless work that a tavern keeper must go through, the sadness of plague, the terror of invasion and rape, and finally the order that is restored. Nicole is in the body of one of her ancestors and must confront a slave who is owned by the tavern, family whom she does not even know who have bullied her her entire life long, and a dyer across the street who is her lover in her widowhood. Good plot, great details, and a good resolution at the end.

While I haven't read anything by Tarr, I have found Turtledove's tendency to belabor a point in a character's thoughts mind-numbingly unnecessary. In this book we hear all about Nicole's problems with her ex a whole lot less than I would have expected, and the repetitions are limited to when Nicole learns the point her experiences have taught her. For example, she was brought up in an alcoholic household, so drinking wine freaks her out. She switches the household to water, once, and learns why ancient cultures drank alcohol on a daily basis after they spend a night over the chamber pot. Her kids come down with the runs, too. Once she resolves herself to drinking alcohol, her long-winded ruminations are kept to a slight plot-point, no more.

A very good book, recommended for readers who enjoy these authors and readers who want to learn more details about everyday Roman citizens. ( )

Nicole Gunther-Perrin, a California lawyer and divorced mother of two, thinks her life is rough, what with on-the-job sexual harassment, an ex- who's late with his child support, and bratty kids.
Somehow, she gets the pea-brained idea that life would have been better in the Roman Empire. Ah, for those simple, bucolic times!
With the help of an ancient plaque of a god & goddess that she picked up on her honeymoon, the teetotalling, prissy, christian, politically correct Nicole is zapped back to the 2nd century AD, into the body of a widowed tavern-keeper.

It doesn't take her long to learn that Roman times were not the haven of equality and justice that she imagined. Gradually, as she comes to adjust to the shock, filth, licentiousness, lack of health care, violence & etc... of ancient times, she also learns a lot about life, love, friendship and coping with difficulties.

It's a bit hard to believe how ignorant a well-educated modern character like Nicole is about the realities of life during Roman times, and I do disagree with a few of the authors "messages" - such as that children need corporal punishment to be disciplined (Kids aren't stupid. Explanations of WHY they shouldn't do something are liable to go a lot further than a smack.) But overall I found this to be a really entertaining read ( )