Negative Positive
Title: Written on Napkins
Review: This is a very disappointing work. Even given the paucity of biographical data on Catullus, a good "life and times" work could have been written about this poet at the nexus of some of the most intense political and sexual intrigue ever.This is not that book. It reads like it was written one paragraph a day: it's repetitive, meandering, unstructured, and riddled with generalities, unsubstantiated "everybody knows" opinions in lieu of scholarship and a few outright whoppers of historical errors.I've never gone to the trouble of posting a bad review before, but this book is so dreadful that I feel obligated to post a warning to others.The author's approach to the sexuality at the heart of Catullus's work is equally muddled, occasionally viewing sexuality from the Roman perspective but often veering off into the perjorative language of a bookish, sexist erotophobia.
Is the review positive or negative? 