Book Review

I started reading Skellig, not knowing what to expect. I bought a used book at the bookstore, and there was a big black label in the back of the book that kept me from the back cover tid-bits. I think this was a good thing. I entered Michael’s world as I read the book, with no predisposed mind. To tell you the truth, I thought Michael was older. It wasn’t until after more than half the book that I looked at the back and found out he was 10. Another confession I must make, I thought that the book was going to be more mysterious and scary. What I mean is that I never expected it to be so touching and loving and tender and truth be told, I didn’t expect to cry reading a book named Skellig. After all, what does Skellig mean? I looked it up. Skell is a homeless person who lives on the streets and sleeps in doorways. What a wonderful name for the character!

I must say that I was surprised at the fact that Skellig could have been and angel and had wings. In my last reaction journal I talked about Ikarus and Wings and The people Could Fly. All dealt with people with wings. I even talked about James Patterson’s Maximum Ride series. What a coincidence.

I loved meeting this fantastic creature named Skellig. As seen through the eyes of two children, this creature was wonderful and beautiful and loved. If the adults had found him, he would have died right there in the garage. The mother’s reaction when she “dreamt” about him was a typical adult reaction. I guess children see things in people that adults don’t. Michael and Mina saw the tenderness in his eyes, loved him right away and took care of him until he was strong. They could see him beyond his dirty clothes, tangled hair, dry pale skin and bad smell. They saw what really mattered, who he really was.
Michael was a boy who needed to believe in something. At the time, his life was complicated. They had just moved and his baby sister was very sick. He needed an escape, something to believe in.
Mina, on the other hand, was so special. She was a sensitive caring girl. She was different from other children her age. She read and liked William Blake (By the way one of my favorite English poets). She could have seen Skellig even if he didn’t exist.
Reading Skellig reminded me of Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein (my favorite book of all times-and the first one to make me cry). Skellig was not created by any of the characters like the creature in Shelly’s book, yet I believe it’s the creature’s tenderness that’s so alike to Skellig. They were both bizarre, ugly to the eye creatures that no one understood, but they had love in their hearts and just needed love in return.

Troy was another nice surprise for me. To be honest, I’ve never been quite fond of the story of Troy and Paris and Helena. But, it being told through the eyes of the servants, of common people, it was a whole different story. I guess it makes the reader identify more with the characters when they are normal people, than when they are kings and queens and gods. I loved the way that the chapters were divided by the names of the places the action takes place in (the Blood Room, Priam’s Castle, etc.) I could picture these characters so well in my mind, even though I could not help picturing Paris and seeing Orlando Bloom’s face [blame Hollywood for that one].
The fact that the story of Troy was told by servants and common people, made it more appealing to me. It was like their gossip and their daily lives, rather than the [to my opinion] dry and rather complicated versions of mythology.
I laughed at the fact that nobody dared say they saw the gods for fear of being treated as lunatics, like poor Cassandra. Although, if almost everyone saw them, why couldn’t they believe her? I counted the people who saw these gods, and almost all the characters saw a god one time or another. And I loved the way that they would immediately forget the incident, or remember it as a dream. When Poseidon came to the market and kissed the servant girl and later the fish disappeared. I thought it was witty of the god and very funny too.
I believe that the author presents the story of Troy in a feminist way. She mentions several times that the talk is that Helena is to blame for the war, yet she oftentimes says that it’s because of men. She blames greed and power and money and other things rather than it being all about Helena. Even the singer will tell his grand daughter Polyxema, that Helena’s version makes a better story than the truth.
She also mentions how men fear to appear feminine or womanish. They are afraid to show their true feelings as if being girlish was bad. And other times, the book is filled with Xanthe’s vision of herself as only a girl, and she even says that women are worth nothing several times in the book. I believe that this is dome with a purpose. To make girl readers snicker at this and react. Men are presented as powerful beings, yet in a physical rude way. Women are presented as wise, smart and powerful in other ways.
I was surprised at the abortion topic being presented so openly and honestly. Poor Marpessa, I actually felt bad for her, even more than Xanthe.
And I loved the way she would incorporate modern language into the story, like when insulting people sing words as ‘bitch’. I’m sure the people of the time would have used other words, perhaps ‘whore’ but bitch is such a modern way it helps the reader identify more with the characters was well.
Religion was another aspect that I found similar to our. I mean, there are so many things about these people’s relationships with the gods and I could relate them to Christianity and I bet other religions we practice as well.
I believe that this book is a great LOVE story. There is love all around the story if the Trojan War, and maybe that’s what made it more appealing to me this time. I loved the fact that Polyxema and Iason ended up together at the end. I mean, finally the servants get a happy ending. Marpessa and Xanthe were servants, but not quite as Iason and Polyxema, for they lived inside the castles with the lords. So having these two other servants find love and happiness at the end, made alit of sense. After all, the story is told through their eyes. Marpessa suffered for what she deserved. Yet, she would end up with Alastor too. Poor Xanthe could not end up with anyone, for she did not believe in Aphrodite. Very clever!
I know that the professor said this is a great book of transition for when discussing Folklore and then going into Fantasy. I believe it is so. It is a great way of introducing those students who are not very fond of mythology into this wonderful story [as I see it now]. If it worked for me, I believe it can work for anyone else.

The third book I read was Spinners. I enjoyed it very much. And like Troy, it is the retelling of a folklore story, Rumpelstiltskin. There’s another story I could never quite identify with. I found it dry and hard to digest. This version was much more interesting. The characters were more human. The story is still quite the same yet, Saskia having her best friend, Dagmar to talk to, made the character more appealing to my taste. It was an easy read and I enjoyed the relationship that the spinner had with Elke. I found that the Miller was quite a bad father, and that Saske had to work like a slave to survive and support the drunk bastard that was plain wrong. I understand that these folktales were crude and cruel, but I’m just saying how it made me feel. I felt sorry for the spinner, though. He was never happy after spinning the hay into gold. Why? What was his sin? What had he done wrong other than lie to the father of the woman he loved? And she didn’t even love him back! Poor thing. Others were bad in the story, the king for example, and Saskia herself was selfish and mean to the spinner too. And her father the Miller, he was awful, yet these people don’t get to suffer half of what the spinner did. And why? Because he lied? Because he loved?
And the ending, gosh! I was very surprised, for I thought they would end up together and happy at last. Yet, I didn’t quiet understand the end. Did the spinner die? Did Saskia die? Did the baby die? What happened? It was horrifying and confusing and entrancing all at the same time.