From the author of the international bestseller Life of Pi, a brilliant retelling of the Trojan War from two commoners: an ancient soldier and a modern scholar. Homer's Iliad and Odyssey were not the only ancient tales of the Trojan War. In Son of Nobody, Yann Martel composes a new legend: the Psoad, an epic in free verse that follows a goatherd's son, Psoas of Midea, who leaves his wife and family to fight at Troy. Psoas meets his doom and the poem of his life is lost—until a Canadian academic studying at Oxford, Harlow Donne, discovers its relics thirty centuries later. As Harlow assembles and comments on the fragments in footnotes, he retrieves memories of his wife and daughter and grapples with questions of ambition, family, and responsibility in both the ancient and modern worlds. Son of Nobody upends the regal perspective of traditional epics and shows that "the past is never done with, that always there are parallels and returns and repetitions, always the song continues." Readers of Madeline Miller's The Song of Achilles and Emily Wilson's The Iliad will revel in this breathtaking feat of the imagination.
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Son of nobody
By Yann Martel
From the author of the international bestseller Life of Pi, a brilliant retelling of the Trojan War from two commoners: an ancient soldier and a modern scholar. Homer's Iliad and Odyssey were not the only ancient tales of the Trojan War. In Son of Nobody, Yann Martel composes a new legend: the Psoad, an epic in free verse that follows a goatherd's son, Psoas of Midea, who leaves his wife and family to fight at Troy. Psoas meets his doom and the poem of his life is lost—until a Canadian academic studying at Oxford, Harlow Donne, discovers its relics thirty centuries later. As Harlow assembles and comments on the fragments in footnotes, he retrieves memories of his wife and daughter and grapples with questions of ambition, family, and responsibility in both the ancient and modern worlds. Son of Nobody upends the regal perspective of traditional epics and shows that "the past is never done with, that always there are parallels and returns and repetitions, always the song continues." Readers of Madeline Miller's The Song of Achilles and Emily Wilson's The Iliad will revel in this breathtaking feat of the imagination.
Popular Reviews(1)
Reviewed by VerenaThe concept of this book was really interesting, and the writing good. I also really liked the way Yann Martel told the story. But somehow, I never found an emotional connection to it. I found the story captivating and I could appreciate what Martel was doing, but I never really connected with the characters or felt emotionally invested in the story. Still, definitely an interesting and unusual read. -> When we die and we come to drink from the river that makes us forget, know that I will not drink the drop that makes me forget you. And while I live, I shall not forget you in some other way.” -> What is one to do with the sadness of mortals? -> Love is a purpose, a plan, an execution. Love is loud, love is quiet, a two-person symphony orchestra. Love is taking two unfinished puzzles, pouring the remaining pieces into the same box, and completing a single picture. Love is picking a sofa. Love is having the same address. Love is two toothbrushes standing side by side. Love is choosing a baby’s name. Love is alchemical, the great transmogrifier. -> A small embryo of warmth in a vastness of cold. The spark in her eyes, the kindle in my heart, the fire in the night. -> Love never walks—it strides, it leaps, it flies.