Asterix and Cleopatra was published in 1965.
Well, in the past month I’ve probably read about ten Asterix books. I’m enjoying these stories very much and I’m picking up on the pattern of the books.
Wherever Asterix and Obelix go, someone has to say, “These (nationality) are crazy.”
A and O always have to meet the pirates.
Cacafonix always gets beaten up before attempting to sing a song.
There’s always a banquet at the end.
So, in Asterix and Cleopatra, Caesar and Cleopatra make a bet at the beginning of the story. Caesar believes that Egypt is a weak nation and that Egyptians are “only fit to live in semi-slavery under the Romans.” Cleopatra doesn’t think so, and to prove this she’ll have a magnificent palace built in three month, a very short time.
She hires one of the worst architects who’s at a lost as to how to go about. He decides to go to Gaul to ask for help from the druid Getafix.
Getafix agrees and Asterix and Obelix tag along for another adventure to build a palace.
I enjoyed reading this story very much. There’s a lot of resistance from the “bad guy” early on in the story. The hieroglyphs add a lot of humor to the story... I especially liked when Obelix tries to speak Egyptian and the hieroglyphs are written wobbly (meaning O’s pronunciation isn’t that great). Cleopatra has a very pretty nose.
Also, the illustrations in this story are phenomenal. Up to this point, I’ve never seen Obelix written so small. He pulls three giant boats in one drawing. He climbs the Sphinx (and knocks off the nose) in another. In both of these drawings we feel a sense of space...
For children reading this book, maybe they can learn that while some people give you incredibly hard tasks in life, it’s always best to ask for help from your friends to accomplish these tasks. Teamwork is important!
