Rating: 
Summary: a fantastic four-footed fable.
Review: I thought only cats were supposed to have nine lives, but this donkey has at least that many. This book is great fun, I couldn't put it down for too long, and it is incredible that something written so long ago (18 centuries?) can be so accessible, captivating, and hilarious to a modern reader. The events in The Golden Ass resemble the ribald, bawdy exuberance of the Decameron, and no doubt Boccaccio was somewhat inspired by the writings of Apuleius. According to the introduction, the adjective "golden" in the title implies "the ass par excellence" or "the best of all stories about an ass." The story follows the misadventures of Lucius, an enterprising young man who gets far too close to the world of magic, is transformed into a donkey and is constantly thwarted in his attempt to procure the antidote to his assness. It's human mind trapped in donkey bawdy! Totally imaginative, classically written, hilarious fun. As a writer, Apuleius was MILLENNIUMS ahead of his time! (Note: my review is based on the Robert Graves translation, rather than the William Adlington).
Rating: 
Summary: the greater metamorphosis
Review: i was rather hesitant about writing a review for the Golden Ass, being simply curious about what other readers might say. but after i read several, i realised that they have missed a distinctive aspect of the story. ostensibly, the racy story tells the bizarre, hilarious and frequently violent tale of a young, highborn and intelligent man who gets turned into an ass. but it is really much more than that: it is an allegory.
the young protagonist who is full of curiosity for everything but especially magic, goes through a passionate love affair with a girl. perhaps like many a young man with a daring imagination he expects his love to turn him into a bird, but instead she turns him into an ass. the antidote is simple; eating a rose will do. but they don't let asses eat roses. no matter how hard he tries, and how many times, he can never attain the rose on his own. and although his adventures might be humorous for the reader, they are harsh and humiliating for the protagonist. at the end he understands that he by his own efforts cannot transform himself. only through faith in the supreme deity can he once again become a man. through faith his quest for freedom is fulfilled.
thus, the initial physical transformation only prepares the way for and signals the more important spiritual metamorphosis. the place at which the tone of the writing changes confirms this. there is no change in the tone after Lucius turns into an ass. gradually, the voice becomes sadder. only at the very end of the book when the spiritual metamorphosis takes place, does the voice of the author change drastically. the racy style ends, and the voice is sober, humble, pious and grateful. it is as if the author is a different man rather than a man anew. the Golden Ass might be read as a captivating classic full of humour and sexuality, but the reader should be sensitive to its deeper message.
Rating:
Summary: The best translation--quite humorous
Review: I've read another translation which gives no sense of the
humor in this most amusing, and sometimes ribald tale of a
man's transformation (literally and figuratively) from man
to animal.
Dabbling in occult matters, the young man is tranformed into
an ass. He recounts the many adventures that he has while in
this state, from circus performer to beast of burden where
he hears the story of Cupid and Psyche (the most extant
version we have.) Eventually our hero is returned to a manly
state (I don't want to give too much away) with the help of
a mysterious female figure.
Rating:
Summary: Funny story of a man transformed into donkey.
Review: Silliness when a man is transformed into an Ass and how
his owners mistread him-- in a circus, on a farm, by bandits.
Writen 2,000 years ago and no less funny now. For some
reason it is an obscure title today. Graves translation
is simple, modern and not all prudish-- which may be why
it was not promoted during victorian times
Rating:
Summary: the first novel?
Review: The most shocking thing about this book is how un-unusual it is. All the cliches, jokes, etc., which one takes for granted, are here centuries ago and unchanged by time. Reading it is stepping back in time and realizing that 2000 years is nothing--for there has been little or no change in our collective sensibilities and desires. Beyond its offer of the eternal human, if that were not enough, here is the only printed evidence of initiation into a Mystery Cult--very important in itself, for scholars anyway. But what is most enlightening is the revelation that all that you read you have heard before. These stories are somehow part of Western tradition, or perhaps all human traditions. Eg., the hen-pecked husband, the cuckhold, etc. Like the film Citizen Cain, one is often un-struck by it because all of its techniques have been adopted, and so it is rather dull; there is nothing in it we have not seen as we have adopted all its devices (or what it was, is now what is). Try as some of us might, this book is evidence that we have not changed--and this is not fodder for conservatives, nor for liberals (nor for radicals); all can be disheartened and gladdened, and all can learn what human stuff is made of through its perusal.
Rating:
Summary: Something to read waiting for the roses to bloom
Review: This is a highly readable, fun and nonpedantic translation of a novel that deserves to be better known. Although there is a religious journey underlying the story, the story itself is always front and center -- this is no sermon. As do many of its successors, this book uses the story-within-a-story format to shift narrators and to expand the plot possibilities. In addition to stories of banditry, barratry and bestiality, because the fantasy world of the stories is set in the real world of Romanized Greece, reading this story will take you to strange places indeed.
Rating:
Summary: Great Read
Review: This is an extremely fun read. It flows beautifully, and will keep you turning the pages. It also is valuable historically because it offers some insight into the lives of the lower classes, which tended to be ignored by Roman historians such as Tacitus or Dio Cassius.However, one word of warning - while the Graves translation is very enjoyable and easy to read, my Roman History prof said that it was not a particularly loyal translation. So, if that matters to you, you may want to look elsewhere - but I doubt any other translation will read as well as this one.
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