Chimera

Rating:
Summary: A three-headed Barth breathes literary fire!
Review: Barth's award-winner that involves the re-tellings of three great myths, from the Arabian nights to Perseus in his later days and another hero not usually one of much note,this book shows Barth at the top of his form. In it, we see a sincere love for the traditions of story telling, mixed in with the modern theories of Barth and expression. Kudos to any book that throws in its own author as one of its primary characters

Rating:
Summary: Not a book for everyone
Review: I read this book for a High School project and enjoyed most of it. Considering that I have been a fan of ancient mythology for several years I can really appreciate the different perspectives of this book and how Barth takes into account the different circumstances of each myth.

It was fun and intriguing most of the time, but I found it also very confusing at parts. Barth had a tendency to go off on a tangent at certain parts of the novel and I was found trying to decipher several passages. Though I enjoyed his unique view of how things happened and I enjoyed how he made the myths playout much like a modern day screenplay I was also lost in the verbose detours that he took in the midst of these ebjoyable portions.

So like I said, and enjoyable book, but not for everyone. Especially if you get lost easily in twisted

Rating:
Summary: A great read!
Review: It's interesting. It's fun. It's "literary," for those of you who care. It makes you think. It's worth reading more than once.

Rating:
Summary: The myth that lives down your street
Review: Now, I'm not nearly as erudite as John Barth is (or thinks he is) and thus missed about a million references to our Greek literary forebears in his novel here and I like to think that I know Greek mythology fairly well. However, I really enjoyed this book and if one isn't bothered by the simple fact that unless one teaches mythology at the local college, one probably will not "get" pieces of this book. Oh well. Basically the book is some sort of post-modern look at myths and how they conform to reality, told through three interconnected novellas. The first has to do with the lady from Arabian Nights, retelling the story from the point of view of her younger sister. The second has to do with Perseus, who is remembering his life after he slew the hideous Medusa and how it seemed to go downhill and that all the best moments of his life passed him by. The last part has to do with the guy who flew the Pegaseus who feels that he's never really done anything important with his life and he's just wondering what it all means. And that's basically the theme for all three of the stories, Barth seems to be trying to strip away the myth and act like these were people and give human faces and emotions to these heroes. And it's funny. Really funny. Maybe the shorter form works better or maybe he's actually being funny in a subject that I actually know something about but this was funnier than Giles Goat Boy, which has its merits, but this made me laugh outloud several times and if you're paying attention, it'll make you laugh too. Sometimes it gets a bit too pretentious for its own good, Barth writes himself in at several moments (I won't say when) and I'm not sure what that's supposed to be implying. But his writing is as good as it ever was and if any of his books deserved the National Book Award, this one is it. And while the three novels each have their own good points and great moments, if the end of the third novella doesn't take some part of your breath away, well . . . you're not me at any rate. Excellent stuff, maybe more accessible because of the length (though everyone says that about the short novels by authors like this) but packed with enough "thinking stuff" to make your head hurt, this shows Barth as a master of the form.

Rating:
Summary: The myth that lives down your street
Review: Now, I'm not nearly as erudite as John Barth is (or thinks he is) and thus missed about a million references to our Greek literary forebears in his novel here and I like to think that I know Greek mythology fairly well. However, I really enjoyed this book and if one isn't bothered by the simple fact that unless one teaches mythology at the local college, one probably will not "get" pieces of this book. Oh well. Basically the book is some sort of post-modern look at myths and how they conform to reality, told through three interconnected novellas. The first has to do with the lady from Arabian Nights, retelling the story from the point of view of her younger sister. The second has to do with Perseus, who is remembering his life after he slew the hideous Medusa and how it seemed to go downhill and that all the best moments of his life passed him by. The last part has to do with the guy who flew the Pegaseus who feels that he's never really done anything important with his life and he's just wondering what it all means. And that's basically the theme for all three of the stories, Barth seems to be trying to strip away the myth and act like these were people and give human faces and emotions to these heroes. And it's funny. Really funny. Maybe the shorter form works better or maybe he's actually being funny in a subject that I actually know something about but this was funnier than Giles Goat Boy, which has its merits, but this made me laugh outloud several times and if you're paying attention, it'll make you laugh too. Sometimes it gets a bit too pretentious for its own good, Barth writes himself in at several moments (I won't say when) and I'm not sure what that's supposed to be implying. But his writing is as good as it ever was and if any of his books deserved the National Book Award, this one is it. And while the three novels each have their own good points and great moments, if the end of the third novella doesn't take some part of your breath away, well . . . you're not me at any rate. Excellent stuff, maybe more accessible because of the length (though everyone says that about the short novels by authors like this) but packed with enough "thinking stuff" to make your head hurt, this shows Barth as a master of the form.

Rating:
Summary: Gripping, thought-provoking, humorous, generally excellent
Review: This is one of the finest works by a fine author. Several scenes and lines from it have entered my personal mythos.

Each of the three novellas is a gem in its own way, and the trio work beautifully together. In each, the basic idea is to show a legendary figure as a real human being. We see Perseus after his glory days have passed, for example, and also meet Bellerophon who secretly feels that he has been a faker all along. But it's much more than yet another retelling of old legends.

It will make you think. It will probably also make you laugh in places and move you in others.

The wrapup is unexpected. Some will love it; some will hate it.

Do yourself a favor and read this. It's well worth the price of the paperback.

Rating:
Summary: Gripping, thought-provoking, humorous, generally excellent
Review: This is one of the finest works by a fine author. Several scenes and lines from it have entered my personal mythos.

Each of the three novellas is a gem in its own way, and the trio work beautifully together. In each, the basic idea is to show a legendary figure as a real human being. We see Perseus after his glory days have passed, for example, and also meet Bellerophon who secretly feels that he has been a faker all along. But it's much more than yet another retelling of old legends.

It will make you think. It will probably also make you laugh in places and move you in others.

The wrapup is unexpected. Some will love it; some will hate it.

Do yourself a favor and read this. It's well worth the price of the paperback.