Review: In the Suicide Mountains

In the Suicide Mountains by John Gardner
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I told myself I would dnf any book that wasn't a 4 or 5 star this year, and I feel like I should have done so with this one. But I finished it since it was A) short, B) by John Gardner. I enjoyed Grendel a lot, but for some reason this didn't really do it for me. It seemed to be a modern twist on a fairy tale (the setting is not modern, just ambiguous, but it isn't your average fairy tale either), but maybe it was just over my head or just not my cup of tea. 

If the story sticks me with (as I see has been the case with other reviewers), I may change my rating, but there you go. 

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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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Review: The Life and Times of Chaucer

The Life and Times of Chaucer by John Gardner
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Older girls played ring-dance with boys, especially parish clerks (or so we're told in popular poetry), and had a way of dropping gloves or scarves, which had to be returned late at night through a bedroom window, much to the increase of the population."

I found this for $1.98 at the Book Rack (a local bookstore), and it sat on my shelf of a few months before I finally decided I should give it a go.

The reason I was delaying was that I know very little about Chaucer, and thought I should read some of his works before diving into his biography.

Well, it turns out there wasn't any need. The author's writing is excellent, and it seems like just as much time is spent on the general background, culture, and other people surrounding Chaucer as is spent on his life, interspersed with his verses throughout, so you can get a clear picture as to what was happening and why.

This book actually makes me very curious about the author's fiction, which I'm seeing here on Goodreads. I'll have to check it out.


4.5 Stars

Also, a line about legally-sanctioned wife-beating:
"it was legal to beat a wife into unconsciousness, but not acceptable to beat her until her inert body farted, a sign that she was in shock and might possibly be dying"

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