Grendel

Rating:
Summary: surprisingly meaningful
Review: Grendel is the retelling of Beowulf from the monster's point of view. This allows the reader to observe Hrothgar and his kingdom from a more objective point of view. The story of Grendel is seamlessly woven into the version of Beowulf we already know and the author makes connections that allow us to see the original story in a new light. The author does an excellent job of taking us inside the mind of the monster and we become aware of his intense, human-like emotions and thoughts. We, along with Grendel, also try to comprehend the motives and values of the humans being observed. Grendel is different from Beowulf in the sense that it goes a lot deeper and searches for an answer to some of life's timeless questions regarding faith and one's effect on the world.
Grendel is not difficult to get through, but it takes some effort to really understand. This book is artfully written and requires a good amount of examination in order to fully appreciate it. The author drops many subtle images and metaphors, which add additional meaning to the overall picture. This is really a marvelous book and it provides insight into a broad range of such timeless ideas that I would recommend it to nearly anyone.


Rating:
Summary: Grendal's Point of View
Review: When the book first starts off, it is a bit confusing and also in the middle of the things, Then the story goes back to when Grendal was a child and how began to hate humanity and what, Grendal constantly watches the people never really getting close to them until he decides to kill them.
Physically Grendal has people and animals around him but he still is lonely and says that tedium this the worst pain, Grendal knew that he was different from the humans and just to be a parts of the humans and that type of happiness Grendal was willing to take on the role of being the monster. Is Grendal really talking to the dragon or did he make it up it his own imaginary so that he would have some to talk to. Grendal was never able to communicate with others, which is probably the reasons that he allowed himself to be left out.
Although John Gardner gets his point across and as you get it to the story it flows really well. If I had to choose between Grendal and Beowulf I would have chosen Beowulf.


Rating:
Summary: WOW
Review: Grendel is a wonderful novel written by John Gardner. It takes on a point of view of the monster Grendel from the Beowulf epic. It starts before Grendel meets man and tells the relationship between Grendel, men, and nature. There is a lot of symbolism of our flaws in our everyday lives, religion, and communication. This is a good novel for anyone who is ever having questions about life and what we represent in life.