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Summary: At Long Last, a Real Psappha........
Review: Finally! I didn't need to dredge through innuendos, fragments and 'assumed knowledge' about the great poetess! Ms. Bell has given us all a very real and warm Woman to lend deeper meaning to Psappha's history. The historical and social detailing that obviously went into this book are truly helpful to those of us wanting a setting to try and understand the emotional and sensual growing pains of an artist so central to Art history and Womens' history in particular. Thanks to Ms. Bell, we now have it.
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Summary: WOW
Review: First let me say I have never read a book on this subjet matter. The book came to me by accident, but now that I have read it I must say it was very well written. I am an avid reader of books, and always throw a little spice in now and then. The story of Psappha makes me want th charge out to the Library and brush up on the subject. I thought the entire book was well centered, and told a compelling story. My only problem with it was the length. I felt that it should be longer as I was not ready to let go.
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Summary: Beautiful Prose
Review: I didn't know much about Psappha prior to reading this book, but I very much enjoyed reading this fictionalized version of real events in her life. Peggy Ullman Bell gives the reader some absolutely gorgeous writing in the course of this novel and there were times when I didn't know if I was reading Psappha's words or Ms. Bell's.
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Summary: A Bible of Sorts
Review: I refer to Ms.Bell's "Psappha" as a 'Bible' because it lives on my nightstand. After two readings, I still thumb through it to find favorite paragraphs of insightful beauty. As a writer myself, I am envious her apparent ease with descriptive words, so pleasant in themselves I often re-read whole sections of this book for the sheer pleasure of the visual impact.
This is a terrific book!
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Summary: A Beautiful Work of Written Art
Review: I was amazed at the the way that Ms. Bell entranced me into this beautiful work of written art. She made the life of Psappha (Sappho) come alive, and believable. I would recommend this to anyone who is interested in history, in love, or just in the story of an incredible woman, at any age or time. Thanks go to Ms. Bell for the way she portrays the characters, and the way she interweaves the written word with the story of one of the most discussed women of history.
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Summary: Immortal poet? not by this name
Review: I'm glad this character was named Psappha, not Sappho. The poet is better known under the latter name, so it's easy to distinguish the one from the other. ** If Psappha was a real person, I wouldn't exactly dislike her -- I'd just want to avoid her because I wouldn't know who I was dealing with from one moment to the next. She's that inconsistent. She's also so involved in her own (melo)drama that I find little in her to sympathize with. For example, the first scene finds her on a ship in the midst of a dangerous storm, running naked out onto deck and getting in the way of the crew's attempts to save the ship. The captain is forced for her safety to lash her to a mast. She spends the rest of the crisis meditating on how she was exiled from Lesbos, and when the ship cracks up and sinks her biggest regret is that her death means she'll never become an immortal poet. Later, when she's dipped up from the drink, she's more worried about being seen naked by the new ship's crew than she is about the other crew lost in the storm. ** Once she arrives in the gynakeon (sort of an ancient Greek version of the harem), it takes days for Psappha to discover the passageway to the roof hidden behind the silk hangings of her chamber -- she's been too busy languishing in self-pity to explore her surroundings. She doesn't discover yet another passageway, from the quarters of Kerkelos, the man who rescued her from the sea, until several days later -- when Kerkelos pops through it like a badly-designed clockwork mouse to propose to her. ** Kerkelos is another inconsistent character. His proposal is hamhanded, arrogant, and very much out-of-keeping with other characters' reports of him as a kind and compassionate man. Then there's Gongyla, the 'African,' who will become Psappha's lover. Her function in the novel seems mainly to be a figure of exoticism. The focus on the blackness of her skin seemd fetishistic. Racist? I found it so. Offensive, at the least. ** After the first few chapters, not even one of the characters felt to me like a real person. So I didn't read further. Good luck to other readers if they do.
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Summary: Psappha A nOvel Of Sappho-Review
Review: Many years ago a book was published named Sappho Was A Right On Woman. I would say this title would say the same about Psappha A Novel Of Sappho, as Psappha, which is actually pronounced suh-PHAH, was and still is, all these centuries later. I loved this book. Psappha came alive for me like never before. Peggy Ullman Bell, the author, made me see Psappha as human, and not a myth and her realness made the story for me. This book is also a love story, and a wonderful one. Psappha and her lover Gongyla made a great couple, and their story, almost more then Psappha's biography, made the book shine ever brighter, and led to the ending of the book, which really is an ending.
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Summary: Psappha - A Living Historical Novel
Review: Peggy Ullman Bell's impeccable and devoted research into the life of Sappho brings the reader directly into the presence of this universally renowned poetess and the culture of her times. This novel has been written with tenderness as well as a fiery passion that keeps the reader entranced to the very last word.
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Summary: beauty, poetry and power
Review: Sappho..... A name that for centuries has been associated with beauty, poetry and power. But what of her history? What of the real woman? Psappha?Peggy Ullman Bell's extensive research finally gives us the young Psappha we have been searching for... A mere girl, whose political power and influence caused her to be banished from her homeland of Lesbos at only 16 years of age! And to begin a journey to a life of legend.
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Summary: beauty, poetry and power
Review: Sappho..... A name that for centuries has been associated with beauty, poetry and power. But what of her history? What of the real woman? Psappha? Peggy Ullman Bell's extensive research finally gives us the young Psappha we have been searching for... A mere girl, whose political power and influence caused her to be banished from her homeland of Lesbos at only 16 years of age! And to begin a journey to a life of legend.
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