Gaius Valerius Catullus (approx. 86-54 B.C.) was one of the greatest poets of the Roman Republic. His works are anything but but easy to access and they are full of riddles. Julia Haig Gaisser is skillfully isolating the contradictions in the life and poetry of Catullus. On the one hand, Catullus is a disrespectful cynic from a wealthy family, who in his poems, covers important contemporaries such as Caesar and Cicero with biting sarcasm. On the other hand, we see him as a sensitive lover and admirer of the greek poet Sappho. With this introduction to his multifaceted personality the author created a concise and clearly legible representation of life, work and impact of Catullus.