There’s little grand or heroic in Elliott’s clever verse version of the classical story ofthe Minotaur: its title, Bull, is topically and colloquially apt. What a pity! / It could have gone another way.” Such is the matter of the Greekmyths. Raplike wordplay, rhymes with coercive predictability,unpleasant intensity-it’s horribly effective, culminating in the god’s conclusion:“the things you mortals do: / Ridicule. But Poseidon’svoice comments on all, and Elliott characterizes him as despicable, misogynistic,and sexually prurient. The sympathetic heartof Elliott’s story is Asterion/the Minotaur: Elliott presents him as a physicallydeformed youth, suffering cruelly from his hateful father’s abuse. His profane, derisive takeon humans (“Man! / That guy’s a dick!” he says of Minos) is a spreading stain thatpermeates even the innocence of Asterion the bull-headed boy, maternal Pasiphae(who “take refuge in madness”), and valiant Ariadne. The story unrolls inthe voices of seven characters, each with his or her own poetic form (an appendedauthor’s note details them), but it’s the god Poseidon who determines the tone-as instigator, manipulator, and despiser of humankind. VERDICT Recommended for most large collections, particularly those in need of engaging interpretations of classic myths.- Hillary St.
The use of varied poetic forms and negative space on the page conveys urgent emotions, including instability and madness, anger and self-righteousness. The characters are given a sense of humanity not found in the original tales the young adults, for example, are afforded impetuousness, ignorance, easy trust, arrogance, and quick infatuation, all of which make them easily identifiable and relatable to a current teen audience. Elliott’s contemporary take on the classic myth incorporates modern slang, profanity, and a bawdy sense of humor into an accessible, highly entertaining, and original novel. Asterion’s 15-year-old sister, Ariadne, attempts to rescue him, but instead she succumbs to attractive Theseus, who has been sent to kill the Minotaur. Once Asterion reaches the age of 17, the narrative shifts to present tense, when King Minos orders that a labyrinth be built to imprison Asterion.
The story begins with Poseidon as the powerful mastermind behind the famous events that are prompted by King Minos’s hubris: Minos’s wife is impregnated by a bull and gives birth to Asterion, half-man/half-bull.
In this retelling of the Greek myth of the Minotaur, the familiar characters illustrate their viewpoints in verse.
0 kommentar(er)
