The Mummy or Ramses the Damned

The Mummy or Ramses the Damned

REALLY ENJOYABLE!!

i really liked this story- i still think about it a lot and long for a similarly interesting egyptian read- (haven't been able to find one yet unfortunately- if anyone knows of any, let me know please in the comments section- thanks)- anyhow, i miss the characters and the setting- great descriptions- i could have done with a little less sexuality and the homosexualtity parts didn't quite make sense i thought- still i really liked this book, thought it was very well-written and can't seem to forget the characters and setting she so vividly described-

Do the chosen deserved being chosen?

A novel of love, not horror. A novel of supernatural marvel, not of fantastic gore. Anne Rice is best in her literature when she tells a love story. Here she is able to have a three or four layer love story. Deep in the past the love story is that of Ramses and Cleopatra as opposed to Antony and Cleopatra. The former should be a love story of eternal wisdom true in all times and that no one can evade, the latter a love story of mortal passion that leads to death and dies. The former becomes a passion of hatred, hateful (full of hate) love, of hate-oriented love. The latter becomes a love affair of undying passion because mortal, of undying passion because doomed. The next layers are the successive love affairs in the main two families, the Rutherfords and the Stratfords, two families that know how to cross difficulties, the rivers of life, as their names indicate. Elliott and Lawrence a long time ago. Elliott and Henry twenty years later. Alex and Julie in the present time. The genius of that is to resuscitate both Ramses and Cleopatra in those families in the 20th century. They invade this world with their old hatreds and love-affairs and invest a new layer of love affairs in this modern world. Cleopatra is the archetype of the victim of society and of history, but also of her capricious childish being that chooses to love the only man she mustn't choose, the one who is only going to be defeated by society and she will then suffer the insufferable dilemma between love and life, love and death, death and life. Ramses brings into this picture the possibility to be eternal, the detention of a power that is greater than all that mankind can imagine, the power to survive one's own mistakes and to survive in spite of one's own shortcomings, hence the necessity to become perfect in spite of the impossibility to even dream of that concept. Project such love and such power into human frail society and even frailer individuals and you have a cocktail that can only lead to a catastrophe, and it does. Then Anne Rice becomes the genius we expect her to be and she turns that human catastrophe, that human tragedy into a violent confrontation of simple material forces like a car versus a train, or the addiction to gambling and the hunger for winning in order to lose in order to re-experience the pleasure of winning leading to the exquisite pain of losing again. This absolutely masochistic dimension of human nature goes beyond human understanding and Anne Rice is the best author to express this lack of intelligibility in the intelligence of human beings. It is then a beautiful novel that deserves our attention and that should make us aware of the absolute folly of trying to go beyond our limits. Altogether Anne Rice produces a deep feeling of satisfaction with our own fate, our own lot in life. The end is surprising though because she unevenly distributes the honor of being regenerated and then we wonder why one person is left out and why the chosen two are taken out of the tragedy they deserved entirely to suffer and experience. Isn't that pure cruelty from Anne Rice, pure cruelty and undeserved advantage. Or is there another deeper pattern? Out of the three men who had had some homosexual contacts, two are killed and one is chosen. The only man in that group of four English men who had had no homosexual contact nor desire is left alive but un-chosen. It sure closes the novel on a feeling of unfairness. Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University Paris Dauphine, University Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne & University Versailles Saint Quentin en Yvelines

Anne Rice at her Best

I can't think of a more perfect book. the only flaw is that it might be nice to get a sequel, but I think it's too late now. The Mummy is a fantastic adventure story, with some romance thrown in for good measure. Ramses is found and he's not actually dead. He finds himself in early 1900's Cario, and what happens next is awesome. Even if you've never read any Anne Rice, you will not be lost, this is a stand alone novel. My husband read this book and also thought it was great, so don't be put off if you are male. Read it - you'll like it!

Not Free SF Reader

Rice takes a break from the bloodsuckers and heads for bandages. Of course, being a romance type writer, not a lot of rotting smelly staggering corpse mummies to be found here, just a charismatic, charming, dangerous version, instead. Other than that, the usual setting, noble Egyptian awakened, hangs out with a woman who can't resist him, and has a horrible secret. These mummy guys crave sun, sex and all that sort of thing. A secret potion gives the mummy his immortality and superhuman powers, and he seeks out Cleopatra, intending to revive her, but ends up creating a monster instead.

A different kind of Mummy tale.....,

This is the second time I have read this book, as the last time was years ago. The story is different then any mummy tale I have seen to date. It deals more so with immortality then raising the dead, and the emotional turmoil that accompanies being immortal. The Story moves quickly and the characters are very likeable. The reason I only gave the book four stars is because three quarters of the way through the book, I found the characters where not behaving quite like themselves and also because I find I'm left hanging at the end of the book. I feel robbed of the knowledge of what happens to certain characters like Alex? Elliot? I feel the book has been left open for a sequel but so far there has been non forthcoming. With Anne Rice I guess you just can't ever tell what she will do next. Crossing my fingers, but not holding my breath.

Keyword : mummy