Grendel

Rating:
Summary: beauty
Review: Gardner's portrayal of the monster, Grendel, is beautiful and touches the heart in so many ways. From his relationship with humans, animals, to even his own mother is pure and honest. This is a fabulous novel and deserves high praise.

Rating:
Summary: Bootiful
Review: Boring, empty, nothing here hasn't been said before, and better. Which isn't even to mention the fact that the author has totally failed to create an origional premise; he instead chooses to rip off a true classic. Avoid like the plague. And at least you don't have to pay to get that.

Rating:
Summary: Unforgettable
Review: I read this book over a year ago and haven't stopped thinking about it. It just gets inside your head as some kind of hard earned insight into a different world. You don't really want to watch the lives unfold in the book like some bad car accident but you can't help but be intruigued by how the accident happened. The words of torment and love and wonder are beautifully painted. There are some bloody scenes but they are far from gratuitous and this is a book about a monster, after all. This book is a worthy read for the strongest critic and certainly deserves more than 5 stars.

Rating:
Summary: Old, new, disturbing, great...
Review: Finished my fifth or sixth reading of this book. Sharp stuff. How do you make the lives of ancient people and the monster that torments them interesting?-if you're John Gardner, you just do. The monster's nihilism, the thanes' insistence on life and meaning in the face of death, decay...you're drawn in. Even the viewpoints of characters I don't agree w/ are drawn in so seductive a manner that you can't help but listen and know who it is that they are...Read this if you like to think, if monster stories entertain you, if philosophy interests you. The alienatedness of Grendel is not so removed from that of Meursault of Camus' the Stranger. Anyway, read, read, read this.

Rating:
Summary: great book.
Review: this book is awesome! i have read it more than 4 times and each time it gets a little bit better and i understand more and more. Grendel is a violent, sadistic character who has occasional outbursts of insanity. i fell in love with Grendel at first read. this book is graphic, bloody, and funny. i recommend it to anyone, in fact im doing a book report on it. if anyone likes gory novels, this is for you.

Rating:
Summary: Completely Overrated
Review: This book, like others before it (such as Ishmael) has attempted to use modern literature as a guise to pass on its author's nihilistic and/or otherwise incoherent religious beliefs. I cannot stand that. It does earn points, however, for its completely original style of writing. It also has some pretty gory scenes (such as people's arms getting ripped off) which, in my book, gets a star or two. Other than these two things, the book is completely worthless. Not even the plot is original. It is a twist on a medieval folk tale.

Rating:
Summary: I dont understand it
Review: I read this book for my 12th grade English class and all I have to say about the book is it made as much sence as a 3 dollar hooker charging 2 dollars. It's all about different ways of thinking such as idealism and reaalism ect. I just don't think it was a good book because it just wasn't holding my attention; I guess because I didn't understand it. I would recomend this book for a rocket scientist or poet, but not for a regular, average guy like myself.

Rating:
Summary: A wonderful book
Review: Most of the reviews seem to have focused on the subject matter. It's certainly an intriguing look at another side of a famous story. But anyone could write that. What is really impressive about this book is its beautiful language. You really have to read it to understand. It's very captivating visually. The book is also rich in literary and philosophical allusions. Take this paragraph: "The trees are dead, and only the deepest religion can break through time and believe they'll revive. Against the snow, black cuts on a white, white hand." Does this remind anyone else of Ezra Pound? The book is full of vivid images. You are confronted with Grendel's way of perceiving the world, and so you immediately empathize with him. Grendel is a brilliant, powerful book.

Rating:
Summary: Grendel is very well written novel. I enjoyed reading it.
Review: Grendel, the most terrifying beast in English literature, now has the chance to tell what really happened when he terrorized the land, when really only trying to make some friends. John Gardner's Grendel is a very well written novel. He does an excellent of making the reader see what happens through Grendel's point of view. The novel portrays what makes the people/ animals in the ancient story Beowulf who they are. It also shows insight into why people do what they do and how they act. By telling the story from Grendel's perceptive, we the readers are allowed to see human nature in a different light from the one we are used to. I really enjoyed this novel and could relate to what Grendel was feeling even though he was not human. I would recommend this novel to anyone looking for a book with action, fighting, scheming, and misunderstanding. The diction is not hard to read but it does deal with some universal topics.

Rating:
Summary: An Amazing tale... Its as simple as that
Review: After sitting here at my computer for a half of an hour trying to think of the way that I can properly articulate my feelings about this great book, I have decided that no words that I can say would do GRENDEL justice. From the moment that I picked this book up, I did not want to put it down. Gardner does an incredible job of bringing to life characters that have been in rest for centuries. Gadner is equally successful at forcing me to feel compassion for one of history's greatest monsters, Grendel. Each paragraph makes the reader feel more and more for the beast who is just, like all of us, looking for a friend, and our place in the world. However, unlike the rest of us, Grendel has been doomed to have no place in this world, except for that of a monster. This book has everything a reader needs and wants from a story. Everyone should read GRENDEL, by John Gardner.