Grendel

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Summary: Grendel
Review: I thought that this was a very well-done book. The premise is ingenious: the classic epic Beowulf told through the villain's (Grendel) eyes. We fully understand the angst and suffering that Grendel has endured, and come to sympathize with him by the time he eventually is killed by Beowulf (interestingly enough, the name "Beowulf" is never mentioned in the book). It is very well done, but some chapters (specifically the chapters in which the dragon muses about the nature of space and time, and when Grendel views his life as a movie script)are very confusing, to say the least. On the whole, however, this is a very good book. I recommend it.

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Summary: nihilism be damn'd- life is the only thing worth living for
Review: those who find this a depressing or negative book should remember who is telling the tale- an alienated, whining, confused, monster. the reader must not confuse gardner with grendel (though i admit, i did the first time reading it). this is beatiful, life-affirming work of art. and it's damn funny too. i first read it with only the tiniest bit of knowledge regarding that old english tome- beowulf. this is a book of marvelous imagery, a prose-poem really. it's unfortunate that all of gardner's other books are out of print, but this one is the best. check it out.

Rating:
Summary: disappointed
Review: Maybe I went into this expecting more but I found this novel to be quite short and disappointing. The story has no direction and basically just follows Grendel through various scenes. Obviously Gardner had to follow the story of Beowulf but the ending is so fast that it leaves you wondering what the point of the whole book was. Grendel was interesting and exciting at times, but when you see that the excitement leads to nothing, it leaves you a bit questionable of what the overall story is. Overall Im glad I read this to see what the hype was about, just wish there was more to it.

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Summary: Inventive, intelligent and convincing
Review: Alternating between the sublime Orwellian double-talk of the minstrel Shaper and the cold, condescendingly bleak philosophy of the Dragon, Grendel struggles for meaning. Told that his life and energies exist only for man to define himself against, he finds small consolation. Still, Grendel throws himself on the mercy of the men in a Frankenstein's monster effort to be accepted... to no avail, deciding after that 'why should I not' destroy them . At times darkly humourous, and touching, the creature muses on the beauty of Hrothgar's placid, sacrificing wife before attempting to kill her, and plays with the fallen hero Unferth before Beowulf's arrival. As those familiar with the epic know, Beowulf in the original poem arrives from across the sea to save Hrothgar's hall by doing battle with Grendel, his mother, and eventually the Dragon. Grendel senses Beowulf's arrival and marvels at the concept of fear. Familiarity with the story makes the inevitability of the conflict all the more delicious when Grendel finally realizes his purpose and observes 'I cannot believe such monstrous energy of grief would lead to nothing' the reader is left to answer that it did not lead to nothing, it was a necessary component in an incredible story, told from the historical antagonist's point of view.

Another great read is The Price of Immortality, I highly recommend it.

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Summary: Existentialist musings of a monster; retells an ancient tale
Review: Having read Seamus Heaney's translation (which I have reviewed) of the original Beowulf, I came across Gardner's "Grendel" as a new spin on the same story. In the classic version, Beowulf is a strong warrior that arrives at a suffering realm of Hrothgar, an old Dane, who is being constantly assaulted by a strange monster called Grendel. The majority of the epic poem tells of battle, family history and how warriors celebrate (e.g. singing and drinking mead).

The first major difference in Gardner's novel when compared to the original poem is the starting point. Gardner starts with Grendel as a being cured with isolation, with only his mother for company. This fact is probably what makes the reader the most sympathetic with Grendel. Grendel's mother is incapable of speech or language, so she cannot truly be a companion for her son. Like the original poem, there is no physical description ever given for Grendel's race and few clues about their origin. There is some suggestion that that they are the spawn of Cain; a cursed version of humanity. The cover illustration provides the reader with some idea but something more specific in terms of Grendel's origin would definitely have been appreciated.

The depiction of Grendel reminds the reader of the way Shelley depicted the Creature Frankenstein in her 19th century novel, "Frankenstein." He is rejected by humanity when he tries to join them, he is unique (as mentioned above, Grendel's mother cannot really provide a real relationship) and eventually he turns to violence. The thing about Grendel that prevents the reader from being truly sympathetic is his casual killing. Initially, he kills for food and generally stays away from man. Then, as he starts to learn more about men and find out how they treat him, he starts to attack Hrothgar's meadhall every night, murdering a few men and then withdrawing.

Aside from the nearly continuous violence in the novel, there are many passages where Grendel and other characters reflect on life and reality. There is one memorable scene where a warrior manages to get into Grendel's lair but he is injured and weakened by the process of getting in. He then asks Grendel to kill him, so that he will have fulfilled his heroic duties. The discussion of what makes a hero worthy provides some insight into the culture that originally produced, "Beowulf" over a thousand years ago. Unfortunately for the hero, Grendel does not kill him and to add insult to injury, takes him back to Hrothgar's meadhall to live out his days.

There is also a strange encounter between a dragon and Grendel (this is a not in the original poem anywhere) where they discuss time, metaphysics and reality. The dragon is shown to be a quasi-divine in his knowledge and is almost omniscient. He struggles to impart any knowledge to Grendel as he finds it difficult to communicate at a level that Grendel could comprehend.

The main events of the poem, Beowulf's battles, have a comparatively minor part in the novel. In fact, only about the last 10-15 pages even include Beowulf in any way at all. Indeed, Beowulf is such a minor role that he is not even named. Only readers of the original tale will recognize him.

My overall impression of the novel is not favorable. It is excellent as far as exploring the psyche of a monster and what contributes to making a monster, a monster. Its philosophical speculations are vague and depressing. For those in search of a novel comparable in many ways to Frankenstein, this is probably one of your best bets. I would strongly recommend Seamus Heaney's translation of Beowulf for the causal reader, not interested in a scholarly accurate translation, who only wants to experience one of the first major pieces of English literature.

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Summary: Yawn...this thing is a bust
Review: I am a huge fan of John Gardner and was ready to give this one a great review...but the book was awful.

Whiney, petulant, boring, this has none of the verve and excitement of the original.

It was a bit like reading a two year old Rosencrantz's version of Hamlet. He doesn't understand what's going on, can't articulate anything more than a whiny pout, and is such pitiful substitute for the original that you wonder why he was in the original at all.

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Summary: Suprisingly Lovely
Review: I bought this book thinking it was going to be kind of goofy and funny. When I started reading it, it suprised me with it's beauty. It's a lyrical, interesting story as near to poetry as a novel can get. Don't get me wrong, there are several hilarious parts to it that are just so engaging and clever. I loved it--and I highly recommend it.

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Summary: The unbearable absurdity of being
Review: Grendel isn't a monster, Grendel is, above all, a defenseless creature, more human indeed than human beings, what a paradox!
The creature seeks from the beginning a meaning of life, but all his efforts are futile. He seeks affection and love from the Scyldings and finds none, nothing but hatred. Then he turns his rage against humankind, but he even realizes that he can't hate, because hatred is equally absurd. When he meets the dragon, who's the keeper of wisdom, understands that there is nothing to understand, life is nothing but a labyrinth with no exits. There is no possible redemption; everything is dominated by fate. Whether one lives or dies, it doesn't matter and nobody cares either. There is a powerful growth of nihilism throughout the tale. "Nihil ex nihilo, as I always say", says Grendel. The history of humankind, a history since the beginning full of blood, wars, lust and greed, is a series of lies. Everybody lies to make life bearable, but lies they speak after all: kings, nobility, armies, glorious feats of brave warriors, hymns and songs, the religion of the druids with their rotten empty non existent gods, everything is such a hideous trick. Everybody is tricked, everything is nothing but a poor shadow, an illusion. Life is a game led by chance.

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Summary: Every man is Cain
Review: This book has something to say to anyone who has ever spent any amount of time contemplating the darker facets of man's existence. Far beyond a simple story about Grendel's twelve year war with Hrothgar, kind of the Thanes, this is a story about the starting point of all civilizations: language and its ability to create. It is, in particular, a battle between two grandmasters of rhetoric: the Shaper (great poetic historian of Hrothgar's meadhall) and the dragon (Grendel's timeless guide).
Not even Grendel himself knows exactly how he learned to speak. Perhaps he was born with language. But within a short time of leaving his underground cave and encountering man for the first time, Grendel finds himself drawn to the Shaper and his enchanting myth of how things came to be. Shortly thereafter, he encounters the dragon, and is just as enchanted by his quite different, aesthetically bereft visions of certainty. Eventually, Grendel himself will play out one small battle of the war between Shaper and Dragon.
It is not clear that either of these positions represents humanity, perhaps they both do, perhaps neither. Both are, however, extremely influential and extremely dangerous. It's just as hard to say which side has the greater influence over Grendel. But one thing is certain. No simiple distinction can be made here between man and Grendel, Shaper and dragon. The beasts lie elsewhere, in Grendel's mother and the slew of animals that Grendel encounters: the ram, the ox, the goat. Man, Grendel, Shaper, and dragon are not animals, though they might all be beasts. All share, all are burdened by, the same language, the same needs and desires, and they are all shaped by the circumstances that surround them. Man, unlike Grendel, never had to face the dragon, but this may be as much of an advantage as it is a disadvantage.
Filled with chapter after chapter of brilliance, this book will have you laughing so hard it scares you, and so scared at times that you just have to laugh, or face the consequences. Each time you read it, you'll find something new. Each time you put it down, you'll feel the urge to read it again. Grendel gives you no answers. If it's answers you want, read the Bible. If you want something real, perhaps this is the book. But probably not.

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Summary: John Gardner's Grendel
Review: This novel is a retelling of Beowulf from the monster Grendel's point of view. In the epic poem Beowulf, Grendel is seen only as the evil monster and not the feeling and sensitive individual that he really is. We learn from John Gardner's novel that Grendel starts out as a relatively innocent being who just wants to fit in with the humans. He makes many attempts to do this, but he gets rejected every time. The humans do not even think of allowing Grendel a chance to explain himself. Grendel starts to become depressed by all these fruitless efforts and begins to believe life is pointless. Grendel doesn't want to be the monster and doesn't understand why the humans are afraid of him. He wants meaning and purpose to his life. However, he begins to feel hatred towards the humans because of all these negative emotions they are causing him to feel. This is when Grendel takes a trip to the evil dragon's lair where he receives some advice that sends him even farther in the wrong direction. The dragon tells Grendel that he should be the humans' representative of evil because he says if Grendel wasn't, then someone else would be. At this point, Grendel is very vulnerable and therefore believes the dragon's wayward advice. The dragon also puts a charm on Grendel, without Grendels knowing, that protects him from weapons. Grendel begins attacking the humans' mead halls more frequently and soon discovers the charm. He begins to feel invincible and powerful, which in turn cause his death. Gredel begins to feel as though he is better than the humans and is not afraid to take on any of them in battle. So when the legendary Beowulf crosses the sea to help defend the Danes, Grendel thinks nothing of fighting him...However, Grendel then discovers a flaw in the dragon's charm, which is that he is only invincible against weapons and not in hand to hand combat. Grendel discovers this flaw too late and is completely overpowered by the potent soldier. Grendel's death is a sad and gruesome one, and it seems as though Grendel too has mixed feelings on his departure from the world. This last scene of the book also sums up the whole novel, which is full of uncertainties on Grendel's behalf. He is never quite sure of his role or what he wants his role to be.

The main reason I liked this novel is because of the way the character Grendel relates to people in today's society. He is very life-like and because of his compassionate views, he is easy to relate to. There is a well-developed theme that is implied to show us how powerful human emotions can be and what they can cause individuals to do. Grendel is a very original novel, and I highly recommend it.