Just as Waltari gave the females in this novel a sameness which is bothersome, Griffin does not render the female characters as fluidly as he does the males. Well, that is except for the female characters. He imbues his characters with such distinctiveness. A word about the narrator, Charlton Griffin. Now, this is not great writing but it is compelling writing. And he has adventures and love affairs along the way. And, he meets people who represent different classes and trends in the society. We follow Sinue from his childhood all the way to his old age. The Egyptian is, I believe, the first of his historical novels (the Etruscan, and the Roman his most well-known other works).
Take a figure from the past and let him (always a him unfortunately) make his way. I have loved the historical novels of Mika Waltari since I was a kid. Follow along on a journey down the ancient Nile to a time of mysterious religions, beautiful palaces, and squalid urban life - to a time of spiritual and political passions that threatened to overwhelm an entire kingdom. Based on actual historical events, Sinuhe encounters many of the real-life characters who are familiar to many: Pharaoh Akhnaton, Queen Nefertiti, Tutankhamon, and the ruthless Horemheb - all real people whose lives, images, and stories are known to us from stone engravings, sculpture, and papyrus chronicles brought to light by modern archaeology. But Sinuhe is a tortured soul, a man who has been in love many times, and always to his sorrow. When Sinuhe is sent as envoy to various foreign courts, including Babylon, Syria, and Crete, he encounters strange people with even stranger customs and beliefs. Waltari brilliantly captures the life and rhythms of the ancient world as it was 3,400 years ago. From his exalted position, Sinuhe was able to observe and participate in some of the most intimate and important decisions that affected the powerful Egyptian kingdom of the 18th Dynasty during a very troubled period of its history.
Told from the first-person point of view, it is the story of Sinuhe, physician to the royal court of Pharaoh Amenhotep III and his successors in the middle of the tumultuous 14th century B.C. The world of ancient Egypt springs magnificently to life in this astonishing historical novel of love, war, political intrigue, and religious revolution.
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