The Persian Boy

Rating:
Summary: ... But...?
Review: I had a hard time with this novel. To warn, I am extremely Hephaestion-biased. I love him to death. It took me a long time to pick "The Persian Boy" up at all because I felt like I was cheating. (silly, no?) Bagoas has his moments too and certainly this book stays true to his point-of-view. I knew that it would, being called "The Persian Boy," but I wish it hadn't. Many things that were in my opinion very important were glossed over due to his limited POV. As another reviewer said, I wish there was a parallel from Hephaestian's POV or that the point-of-view shifted from character to character the way "Fire From Heaven" did - I found it a much more effective, well-rounded story. As for Bagoas himself, I too am fascinated by the idea of him... of what it must have been like to live his life, the ups and considerable downs of it. And I suppose that that was what so intrigued Ms. Renault into wanting to write "The Persian Boy" to begin with. So for what it is, "The Persian Boy" is very good - certainly extremely well-written and researched. But it left me wanting so much more than I knew it would be able to give me. So for people wanting to read a historical novel from a next-to-the-fly-on-the-wall POV, this would be it. And for those of you looking for a book that makes Bagoas come alive, this would definately be it, but if you've gotten that far, you probably already know that...

Rating:
Summary: I love it!
Review: I think everyone who cares about society, history and just humanity in general should read this book. It really tells of a tale about a boy who was stolen from his parents, sold on a market and made eunoch after which was trained to pleas men for the rest of his life. We also observe interesting detales of historical events and characters that the boy incountered with untill he met Alexandr.

Never to think of women, it was still hard for the boy sometimes to get over the fact that what he was doing became his fate, so he could never forget the pain from those knifes... Untill Alexandr, a great worrior, a capturer of lands and countries was his first love. A story the boy "had to share" with others. A book we all should read...

Rating:
Summary: History was never so sexy
Review: Before you see the two movies about Alexander the Great, especially the lush-looking Oliver Stone one (the exotic Angelina Jolie plays Alexander's mother), read this boo kas well as PLUTARCH'S LIVES, from which much of the good gossip about Alexander is taken.

In Mary Renault's richly woven novel with words that conjure up ancient battlefields and royal boudoirs, Alexander the Great's sandal tracks come to us by way of his eunuch lover, Bagoas, who as a Persian has to contend with Greek arrogance, Alexander's marriage to Roxane, and most of all with Al's more educated lover Hephaestion--as Nathan Lane quipped in "The Birdcage," "Talk about gays in the military!"

Bagoas, torn from his family and without a formal education, nevertheless becomes a wise observer and chronicler of Alexander's exploits, and more importantly the very human side of the man. A beautiful tender love story and retelling of history.

Rating:
Summary: Good, but lacking compared to 'Fire From Heaven'
Review: Let me just say that 'The Persian Boy' is a great book. Mary Renault is an excellent writer, and she managed to chew through the history of Alexander with excellent pacing and in such a way as to keep even war-wary reader entertained.

However, I often felt frustrated while reading this book because of the set POV. In 'Fire From Heaven', Book I in her Alexander the Great series, we have a POV which jumps from character to character throughout the novel, giving a wide view of the events and a greater understanding of how different people came to see Alexander.
In 'The Persian Boy' we get the POV of Bagoas, Alexander's eunuch lover, and after reading 'Fire From Heaven' the restricted experiences/opinions of this one character is extremely noticeable. I found myself frustrated at the "off camera" scenes in which we miss because Bagoas is not present, especially those involving Alexander and Hephaestion, his life-long best friend and lover.

Because Bagoas is competition to Hephaestion, we get a new view of the relationship between these two men, but we also get a limited one. Of course Bagoas is not going to be present during the more intimate exchanges between Alexander and Hephaestion, so the book simply doesn't go over it - Alexander and Hephaestion's relationship is relegated to "and then he spoke with Hephaestion for a time" one-liners, giving us very little beyond the affirmation that Hephaestion still exists.
I often had to put the book down and take a breath when certain pivotal moments occured within the novel that were wrongly glazed over because the character of Bagoas simply didn't care, or wasn't present.

I suppose I went in with an Hephaestion-bias - I do love him so - but besides my grumblings, the book really was well written, though I wish a parellel novel existed telling the same story from Hephaestion's angle!

Rating:
Summary: my least favorite
Review: Among all the Renault's books, The Persian Boy is my least favorite. I don't know why Renault had put Bagoas in such an important position, which seems to me, belonged to Hephaistion. Moreover, such a perspective of a favorite eunuch narrowed the depiction of Alexander the Great. In this book we see much about how Alexander behaved in chamber, but lost more about how he fighted in battles, how he made decisions with his generals, as well as how he fulfilled his ambitions step by step. In my opinion, it might have been better if Renault had chosen Hephaistion as the focus of this book.


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Rating:
Summary: Pure gold!
Review: I read Mrs. Renault's "The Persian Boy" some years ago (1991 I think) I say read, but I actually listened to a "Books-on-Tape" unabridged version of the test thanks to my local library (Thank you Alachua County Public Library). In any case I believe that it was this book that turned me on to Mary Renault. I have never been disappointed by anything that I have read from Mary Renault, on the contrary her prose make for a luscious read. I highly recommend anything by Mrs. Renault. Strangely enough, when reading "Servant of the Bones" by another highly recommended author Mrs. Rice, I was reminded of "The persian Boy".

Rating:
Summary: Renault's finest novel and a beautiful story...
Review: Wow. This is definitely Renault's greatest book. Told from the point of Alexander's lover, Bagoas, you truly get to know another side of Alexander. At first, I was angry when I began to read. By making the story from Bagoas' point of view, it made it seem as if Alexander was a distant stranger even though I felt like I knew him after reading Fire From Heaven. But as the story progressed, Renault's choice of words totally took over me. I began to feel Bagoas's hate of Roxane and of Hephaistion. I felt Alexander's disappointment that his men did not love him fully. This novel truly shows the nature of Alexander.