Grendel (original 1971; edition 1989)

Someone else's review says:
"But Grendel didn't really do what I expect novels to do: it didn't make me care about anything."

That's pretty much how I feel about this. I'm one for characters, really, and the lack of real character in this book is disconcerting for me. I enjoyed reading it, and it was a quick and easy read, but I failed to really get invested in the story. There's also a limited amount someone can do with this story, if they're sticking to the original text of Beowulf. I did like that it wasn't one of those that twists the story too hard -- we weren't expected to believe that Grendel should be an object of sympathy, etc.

Still, I didn't enjoy this book all that much. I'm at a loss to say what could have interested me more about it, however. It's worth a read to get some different perspectives on Beowulf, especially if you're studying it. ( )

*note to self.copy from Al.

A very good, though rather odd story.

Grendel is a bit more introspective than I had imagined he would be, but it does make sense given the context. Being a monster who can understand humans but cannot be understood in return largely eliminates the possibility of any conversation. Even Grendel's mother is speechless and cannot communicate with him in any meaningful way. Grendel's philosophy is shaped by his single real conversation with a dragon, and his habit of eavesdropping on the inhabitants of the meadhall. ( )

My senior year in high school I worked as a student assistant to my English teacher, Mrs. Pratt. On a high shelf on one side of her long, narrow office she kept various books she tried to get used in various classes. When I didn't have anything better to do, I'd climb up on the long work desk and explore these various books. Among them, I found Grendel and read it, sitting there on the worktable, reading right through my lunch period.

I had run into Beowulf my junior year during the half-year spent in Brit Lit -- we were required to memorize the opening lines in the original language and recite them in front of the class for a grade. However, even this didn't put me off reading the book.

I'd never run into anything like it. The bad guy, the villain, the evil one speaking in his own defense, explaining himself, showing the other side of the story! The idea had never occurred to me before and it shook up my world. I started hunting down such stories, looking at things from the other side, realizing that maybe everything wasn't quite the way I thought it was. I'd had a lot of events happen in that last year and a half of high school. This was just another of them. ( )

I love this book. I don't know if I can put into words just how much I love it. Gardner has done more than just spin a story in this novel. He's taken an ancient myth, and recreated a philosophy within it. The mythic beasts in Grendel, serve as the philosophers of the story. They reveal all the ugliness, and hypocrisy that lies within the human world, but also all the beauty. There is a great sadness to this book, and I'm sure that every time I read it, my eyes will be opened to new meanings in the work. This book is absolutely excellent, and flawless. ( )