This book was very hard to read!!I made it to page 72!Full blown biography and difficult to follow!

The book is not an easy read, as every sentence is so knowledge-rich that you have to seriously concentrate while reading. It does, however, bring to light the truth about a woman we have all heard of, but actually know little about. I felt inspired by Cleopatra's skills, innovation, courage, devotion and leadership ability.

I had high hopes for this book at the outset but very quickly realized that the writing style was not to my liking. More of a historical account than a revealing look at the life of Cleopatra, this book was more of a recounting of the political upheavals of the period than a personal glimpse of the life of this queen. It never seemed to bring her vibrant character to life and frankly I was relieved to find myself at the end of the book. Maybe of interest for Roman history buffs but I didn't like it.

Too slow moving...many bookclub members lost interest and time before finishing. The bookclub discussion meeting was good, considering the events in Egypt today.

I was fascinated and couldn't put it down, but it is certainly not an "easy read". Find a quiet place and forget anything you thought you knew about Cleopatra. It's worth the time it takes to read.

This was a good book but a hard read! Her style of writing takes some getting use to in the beginning! It has a ton of information and gives a very interesting look at Cleopatra and the women that she was!

This book opens the reader up to the world of Cleopatra. The story is packed to the brim full of information that is sometimes hard to keep track of, but, interesting nonetheless. From reading this book, you will notice that you, and countless others, really did not know Cleopatra. Today she is still a mystery, but Stacy Schiff managed to get as many facts/lore as she could to provide the reader with a sense of what it was to live in the time of Cleopatra's reign. Well worth the read, and I recommend this book!

Interesting book. I did learn a lot I didn't know about that time in history. But can be confusing with all the names and the wars.

Way to much information and extremely difficult to read. Of our 8 members, only 1 actually finished the book.

My book club just finished this book. It was suggested by one of the members. We have 11 members and 5 of us have finished it, and at least 2 are planning on finishing it. We all felt it was a difficult read, more scholarly in scope than we usually pick. However, it was a fascinating story and kept me reading it even when I found her writing style hard. This book gives you a whole different view of ancient Egypt and the myths surrounding Cleopatra. We had a very lively discussion about women's roles, history's perception of women, and some of the historical events. It was well worth the effort to read. Even if you can't finish it, you will learn a lot!

Out of our 10 members no one finished the book. It read like a text book. I got about halfway through and had to give up. There were some interesting facts but it was a lot of work to get to them. I dreaded picking it up each day to try to finish it. This was my least favorite book of all the books in our 10-year-old book club history. I'm glad I borrowed it from a friend and didn't pay for it.

reads like a history book. if you like reading historical accounts, you will like it

I was one of the few in my book club that did not enjoy this book. The others liked the view of Roman life and the glamour of Alexandria. To me, the author tried so hard to tell us what was not known about her, I was irritated that after plodding through the book, I still knew nothing. Very scholarly, but I guess I just like a little more speculative fiction with my history.

Although I enjoyed the historical knowledge I gained from the book, I'm not sure this would be a good thought provocking, conversational stimulating read for a book club.

Though the historically accurate portrait of Cleopatra was fascinating to learn. Too often this felt like required coarse work, not a pleasurable read. She was an astounding woman in a time and place where women were not considered the "weaker sex" and religion had yet to relegate them to the position of obedient servants to their male masters. I only wish the writing had been as fluid and colorful as some other historians (David McCullough, Antonia Fraser, etc.)

The writing style was diffuclt to follow and was sleep inducing.

I thought Stacy Schiff did a good job placing Cleopatra within the time frame of history, and also within the context of her times. What I thought could have been improved was the linear flow of the book. There was a lot of hopping about, which was distracting. Eventually, I saw where she was going, but it made reading go a lot more slowly. Three of our group admitted they nodded off while reading, even thought they found it interesting! I attribute that to the choppiness.