Review: Grendel

Grendel by John Gardner
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I generally enjoy stories told from the point of view of the so-called villain, from Wicked, to Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister, to the Joker (and possibly Circe?). However, there is always the feeling that the anti-hero becomes the hero. You can't really justify what they do, but you're told why they do it and so you relate to them. This is what makes the story work, in general.

So I was very impressed that John Gardner was able to do away with that, and instead make Grendel quite unrelatable (he seems to be part neanderthal, part animal, or something), and moreover he is able to do so by having us delve deep into his mind; the mind of an extremely self-aware being.

This is the first work of fiction I've read by Gardner, but I look forward to reading others.

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