I was really looking forward to this book, firstly as Martel is an award winning author and secondly because the premise of the book was so up my street it sounded like it had been written just for me – I love Greek literature, specifically the Iliad, I love retellings / reimagining of myth and I love a tender family relationship explored in fiction. The book started out great. Intertwining the poetry with the protagonists' thoughts and experiences was a refreshing format.
However, it soon started falling flat. The constant comparisons between Greek heroes and Jesus / Greek mythology and the gospels with no real substantial explanations was frankly mind boggling to me, especially at the end when Psoas is straight up compared directly to Jesus as practically a peer in the realm of mythology/theology. I'm not religious but read a lot around mythology and theology as it's a big interest of mine and do draw my own comparisons – I see this comparison as completely unfounded and it was disappointing the way Martel didn't really explain why the protagonist had come to the conclusion that Psoas and Jesus were the same.
I also felt that the protagonists storyline of the broken family and missing his daughter was rushed in favour of the poem. I know this was partially done to show how the protagonist was neglecting his family in favour of the poem but I felt like this was an element built up quite significantly in the blurb and first few chapters then essentially forgotten about until the very end. It promised "the universal song of homesickness and regret, of ambition, love, and grief", but we didn't really see the homesickness or the love come through in the present day element.
Anyone else have any thoughts?
by buginarugsnug