Rating: 
Summary: Poetic
Review: Roberto Calasso's retelling of the Greek myths is a work of art. If words were musical notes, Calasso's book would be a Mozart piano concerto. His chapters are not essays--they are songs
Rating:
Summary: A life-changing work of genius
Review: Roberto Calasso's retelling of the myths of antiquity is as powerful and life-changing a book as I've ever read. He illuminates these stories and brings them to life, showing us
the power they held for the ancients by infusing them with his own narrative power, writing in a style which is crisp, modern, and yet full of fantasy. We see our own lives in the
lives of the gods and the lives of the humans with whom they spoke, made love, made war. This book would be worth reading simply for the engaging way in which Calasso tells the stories. He doesn't stop there,
however. His insights and interpretations are worth a book in
themselves. Nearly every page of my copy is filled with checks and underlined passages, each representing ideas which
provoked thought or simply struck me as brilliant. This book
is not another dictionary of myths in the style of Bullfinch
and Hamilton and Graves--it is a work of literature in its own
right, and, I believe, a work of genius.
If you are interested in classical mythology, read this book.
If you are not, read this book. It is for anyone who wants
to see the world in a different, richer way.
Rating:
Summary: A life-changing work of genius
Review: Roberto Calasso's retelling of the myths of antiquity is as powerful and life-changing a book as I've ever read. He illuminates these stories and brings them to life, showing us the power they held for the ancients by infusing them with his own narrative power, writing in a style which is crisp, modern, and yet full of fantasy. We see our own lives in the lives of the gods and the lives of the humans with whom they spoke, made love, made war. This book would be worth reading simply for the engaging way in which Calasso tells the stories. He doesn't stop there, however. His insights and interpretations are worth a book in themselves. Nearly every page of my copy is filled with checks and underlined passages, each representing ideas which provoked thought or simply struck me as brilliant. This book is not another dictionary of myths in the style of Bullfinch and Hamilton and Graves--it is a work of literature in its own right, and, I believe, a work of genius. If you are interested in classical mythology, read this book. If you are not, read this book. It is for anyone who wants to see the world in a different, richer way.
Rating:
Summary: Primeval psychology
Review: Sometimes we run across a book that makes a real difference at the way we look at the world, or at least at an area of our own world. This is one of them. A poetic run through all the myths of the Greeks results in us looking for the answers to the same questions, thousands of years later. And of course to think about what is the core of human nature and how come it has not changed that much after all. The book is well written and the translation superb. The read takes time because we must stop to think, we must go back to read, we need to understand. Reading this book is truly a journey of the mind, a journey that we can at any time go back to by picking up the book later and opening it at any chapter. And for the more practically inclined, it is a beautiful romp through Greek mythology, with interesting connections to history and psychology. You can't miss with this one.
Rating:
Summary: Primeval psychology
Review: Sometimes we run across a book that makes a real difference at the way we look at the world, or at least at an area of our own world. This is one of them. A poetic run through all the myths of the Greeks results in us looking for the answers to the same questions, thousands of years later. And of course to think about what is the core of human nature and how come it has not changed that much after all. The book is well written and the translation superb. The read takes time because we must stop to think, we must go back to read, we need to understand. Reading this book is truly a journey of the mind, a journey that we can at any time go back to by picking up the book later and opening it at any chapter. And for the more practically inclined, it is a beautiful romp through Greek mythology, with interesting connections to history and psychology. You can't miss with this one.
Rating:
Summary: Calasso stitches together the stories of ancient Greece.
Review: This breathtaking analysis of the core of Western thought spans mythology and reality, interpretation and metamorphosis. We see the primary characters seen through different versions of their stories, applied to the different needs of the culture and finally pull back to see the evolution of that need dissolve into mere fascination. A glorious book, I've read it three times!However, I strongly suggest that readers should have a fair background in Greek mythology before tackling this book.
Rating:
Summary: A intense discovery of our fabulous past
Review: This is a poem camouflaged as prose. An eye opener. You don't read the book, the book reads into you and, after a few pages to find the right keys, it starts using your words, describing your feelings. I have read this book 4 or 5 times, and I will read it again. It is like listening to a piece of music that fascinates you. Every time you read it, it gives you something more, something new, something you missed and were waiting to find. Amazing. I am glad I came across this book
Rating:
Summary: An amazing book.
Review: This reweaving of all the myths we learned in that dry, rote, school way is stunning. I finished the last page and turned back to the first to begin again. And that happened twice.
Rating:
Summary: Stimulate your mind
Review: Wonderful deconstruction and analysis of Greek Mythology. A really enjoyable and thought provoking read.
Rating:
Summary: You will believe
Review: You will believe in the power of ancient gods, who shook the earth with their tridents and blasted their enemies with lightning. You will believe in the glorious power of a culture that could build such wonderous tales of fancy, and you will laugh at the antics of heroes and mortals alike. You will smile and you may even cry, but what you will not do is put this book down, for it has no equal among its type. Whether a student of the classics, a lover of myth, a worshipper of the ancient gods, or just someone looking for a wonderfull read, you cannot go wrong with this one.
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