Dominic
Kathleen Robinson
eReads
412 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781585860852
Summary
A beautifully written and stunningly evocative debut novel, Dominic follows the title character's adventures through the collapse of the ancient Roman Empire, depicting a society rife with reckless abandon and chaos, a world of display and caprice.
Into this milieu arrives Dominic, an orphaned dwarf child from Gaul. Left to fend for himself, his travels bring him into contact with many lively personalities, such as a caravan of gypsies and the inmates of a dungeon. His adventures eventually land him in the company of a friend, the gigantic Danish bard Kevin Dunskaldir, who helps him to defeat an evil as sinister as any force threatening the empire.
Creating two unique heroes, acting against the mighty backdrop of a society in transition, Robinson successfully brings together all of the elements of a literary masterpiece in this classic tale of friendship, fate and adversity. Dominic is exhilarating historical fiction, featuring characters you won't easily forget. (From the publisher.)
About the Author
Dominic is Kathleen Robinson's first novel. She lives in Texas, USA.
Book Reviews
Robinson begins her episodic debut novel with the birth of the dwarf, Dominic, in Gaul in A.D. 375. As Dominic travels through the provinces to Rome, Constantinople and the borders of the Roman empire, the daily lives of Gauls, Greeks, Goths, pagans, Christians, peasants and aristocrats are portrayed in detail. Orphaned as a child, Dominic is sold to the owner of an itinerant Greek circus troupe, becomes an accomplished acrobat and learns to enjoy the vagabond life. After escaping the wrath of a Roman senator, he is betrayed and sold to an Arab trader who in turn sells him to an enlightened master in Constantinople. The death of this master leads into a drawn-out account of Dominic's subsequent torture and degradation at the hands of the bestial commander of a Roman garrison on the Rhine. Pagan, Greek, Roman and Viking myths color this lively but overlong chronicle.
Publishers Weekly
A picaresque first novel about a sharp-witted dwarf growing up in ancient Rome, Dominic is a study of contrasts: personal, emotional, geographical, religious, and philosophical. Dominic, a Christian child, is orphaned in Gaul, sold into slavery, and trained as an acrobat in a circus troupe of pagan vagabonds. The slave's changing fortunes include higher education and travels throughout the ancient world. His incredible journeys bring cruelty and unmitigated misery to this engaging dwarf, who also finally experiences the joys of friendship and caring. Thoroughly good reading, Dominic makes an unfamiliar era live. This is well recommended. —Ellen R. Cohen, Rockville, Md.
Library Journal
A fourth-century A.D. young dwarf narrates his adventures—some fairly hideous—here and there within the disintegrating Roman Empire. Dominic, the son of a poor Gallic goatherder, is raised with love and tenderness. Both parents dead (the father is killed by Roman troops), the boy is taken in by an uncle, who after two years sells him into slavery. Then through extraordinary luck Dominic is bought by the leader of a band of vagabond performers, learns their skills, is introduced to a new religion (worship of the Egyptian Isis), and becomes part of a devoted family. Off to Rome for revels—and terrible tragedy. Twice again Dominic will be sold into slavery—some experiences will net him learning, travels to exotic places, and even affection. But later he'll return to the Gallic provinces—and hell itself—in the castle of a sadistic noble. There'll be, happily, a miraculous rescue. Among the lands Dominic travels: Rome, Athens, Constantinople, Alexandria, and some lovely, scenic wild places. An earnest narration unfolds elementary characters, relentless adventures, and views of ancient urban splendors. It all moves along at a lively clip.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
Use our LitLovers Book Club Resources; they can help with discussions for any book:
• How to Discuss a Book (helpful discussion tips)
• Generic Discussion Questions—Fiction and Nonfiction
• Read-Think-Talk (a guided reading chart)
Also consider these LitLovers talking points to help get a discussion started for Dominic:
1. Talk about the exchange between young Dominic and his mother, in which he wonders why stories can't always have happy endings.
Mama says, Life is like that—true tales don't always have happy endings.... Sad things happen and wonderful things happen and they all mix up together...and the end is a little of both.... so you cry and laugh at the same time. Living is like that.
How does that passage foreshadow the events in the novel? And how does it reflect life in general? It's a wise observation, but when hardships come, can any of us be that wise and philosophical?
2. What is Dominic's full name, and what does it mean?
3. His parents tell Dominic that being a dwarf was "God's choice..... He must have some purpose of His own for you, Lad." At first Dominic doesn't accept that explanation for his dwarfism. Does he eventually come to do so?
4. Were you able to keep separate the different Germanic tribes: Goths, Visigoths, Huns and Burgundians? What was the nature of their threat to the Roman Empire? Today, some European nations still refer to Germany as Allemagne (French) or Alemania (Spanish). According to the account in Dominc, what is the derivation of that name?
5. Talk about the life and work of the circus. Why did Dominic take such pleasure in being part of the troupe?
6. What about the tension between the new Christian and the old Pagan religions. Why is it important to Dominic, upon first joinning the circus troupe, that he maintain his Christian faith? What is the bargain that he strikes with Ronaldo with regards to the Pagan festivals? Talk about why Domnic eventually decides to become a follower of Isis?
7. The novel is filled with allusions and references to mythology...Norse, Egyptian and Roman. It might be fun to a research those myths and trace their presence within this novel. Gerrick, for instance, alludes to the mountian Dwarves and he, himself, wears the headgear of the Forest King—both of which are significant mythological figures. Or perhaps look into the festival of Saturnalia.
8. Dominic travels the world, achieving a degree of enlightened wisdom. One could even retitle this book "The Education of Dominic." What does Dominic come to learn, both worldly and spiritually? (Dominic, like Pi in The Life of Pi, is a quester, and so this question lies at the heart of the book.)
9. Are the torture scenes too realistic, too long, too drawn-out for you? Or do you feel they are necessary to the plot?
10. Traveling alone through the Alps in Gaul, Dominic contemplates the universe and his role in it. Read this passage and comment on its significance to you, to all humans who hold faith, of one kind or another:
Lucretius may have been right, that there exist no gods to toy with our lives, that the universe is one magnificent galaxy of suns—thousands of suns shining on thousands of worlds like this one.... In such moments I am visited with a strange sense of aloneness, a feeling that I and my joys and sorrows and yearnings are meaningless, and I am hopelessly lost in the enormity of a universe I cannot even begin to comprehend.... I did not even know what life was for or what I was supposed to do with it. A tumult of philosophies clamored in my brain.... The Alps, even at their most turbulent, were peace. Their solitude was all the peace I had—or needed.
11. Toward the end of the novel, as Dominic and Kevin make their way to Lausanna, they come across a statue of Mary and the infant Jesus. Dominic sees that it had formerly been a statue of Isis and Horus. What does this suggest about the co-mingling of the different faiths in the 4th century?
12. In the same episode, Dominic says that he has made his "peace with Isis." What does he mean?
13. What character in this novel do you particularly like? And what episodes do you like? How, in particular, do you feel about the character of Dominic? In what ways does he emerge as a full human being?
(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online or off, with attribution. Thanks.)
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