∎ Libro Gratis Ransom David Malouf 9781741668377 Books

Ransom David Malouf 9781741668377 Books

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Ransom David Malouf 9781741668377 Books

Ransom is based on a small part of the Iliad saga. Piam the King of Troy travels to the Greek camp to retrieve the body of his son Hector who was killed by the great warrior Achilles.

Beautifully written, the story supports what James Campbell describes as the Power Of Myth. The characters in the novel are larger than life figures but with human characteristics. So in that sense the novel is about all of us even in the 21st Century at least 3000 years after the Trojan War.

It's a story about loss and grief, fathers and sons, youth and old age, love and duty. It's relived in some way, every day, everywhere.

It's about brotherly love, living in the moment, understanding your mortality and joy. It's also very sad, describing ultimate and devastating loss.

Piam as King is remote from everyday life. His guide Samos brings him back to earth. Piam decides however to do something himself beyond the role and life the Gods and his position has designated for him. This something is to retrieve his son’s body. Achilles also is trapped in a situation where his love for Patroclus has driven him. The ransom provides a way out for both of them. Both will die soon but al least they had lived. It raises the question of how far we are free to choose the path that our lives take. Both Achilles and Piam are creating stories about themselves that will allow themselves to live on in the minds of men. Piam know he will die soon and his fate will be for his naked body to be dragged into the streets where dogs will tear him apart. Rather than his death being the story he has created a better story of his life. These issues we all can ponder upon.

The Gods or fate or chance, whatever you call it, can affect the world but they don’t change human nature.

That this tender novel lingers so long and hauntingly in the mind is a testament both to Malouf’s poetry and to his reverence for the endless power of myth.


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Ransom David Malouf 9781741668377 Books Reviews

David Malouf's "Ransom" is a gem, a lovely 5-part little 219-page novel, starring Achilles, his friend Patroclus (briefly), the King of Troy Priam, Priam's wife and son Hector (briefly) and Somax, a day laborer. It is a perfect novel, parsimonious, absorbing, and filled with an extensive, thoughtful philosophy describing what it means to be a human being. In some ways, it is a parable.

Malouf's other sensational novel, "An Imaginary Life" (see my review), touched on what it means to be civilized. Taken together, these marvelously told stories should be on everyone's reading list because they epitomize how great modern (though historical) novels are constructed.

The primary chacater is the old man Priam, who devises a radical, risky, creative plan to retrieve Hector's body from the avenging and unforgiving Achilles.

In some ways the story is a bit gory and violent, but these features are alleviated by Australian Malouf's lyrical prose. He is simply a great story teller, a touch better (perhaps) than Canada's Alastair MacLeod("No
Great Mischief" -- see my review). While MacLeods' story telling genius charms you, Malouf goes farther and makes you think, reflect and remember (not unlike Anabel Lyon's "The Golden Mean" -- see my review).

There are flashes of humor, little examples of the Trojan War, often revealing the vast ignorance about the world they had back then -- brought to life in the character of Somax, a plain but philosophical, rough day laborer, who doubles as Priam's teacher and cart driver on their expedition to retrieve Hector.

What's the book about? It's about having sons -- children, raising them, nourishing them, loving them, watching them become adults. It's about brotherly love (and perhaps further, normal love between some men), living in the moment, understanding your mortality and joy. It's also very sad, describing ultimate and devastating loss. Achilles builds a funeral pyre for Patroclus on a scale equal only to the pyre built by Alexander the Great -- after the death of his life-long lover, Hephaestion.

I read it essentially in one "sitting," on long flights from San Francisco to Europe. Read it and enjoy. It's a winner and a clear 5 on 's rating scale.
As one might expect, there are few surprises here in terms of the narrative arc - however, what makes this book worth reading, and at times, an absolute joy, is the writing. I adore the Iliad (and Homer more generally) and am always curious to see what modern authors do with, or how they re-shape, such rich material. Here, Malouf focuses on Hector's death and the ensuing meeting between Priam and Achilles - the ensuing "ransom" for Hector's body. This is certainly one of the great moments in world literature - a profoundly poignant scene that speaks to the Iliad's most basic theme(s) and Malouf does a masterful job of driving that poignancy home.

Here's an example of a passage that, in my opinion, fills the book with force and literary brightness Priam is explaining to his family why he wants to meet Achilles, despite its dangers and their natural protestations - he wants to undertake,

`An act, in these terrible days, that even an old man can perform, that only an old man dare perform, of whom nothing now can be expected of noise and youthful swagger. Who can go humbly, as a father and as a man, to his son's killer, and ask in the gods' name, and in their sight, to be given back the body of his dead son. Lest the honour of all men be trampled in the dust.'

This is just one example (and not by any means the best) of what helps make this book such a joy to open and just...enter.
Ransom is based on a small part of the Iliad saga. Piam the King of Troy travels to the Greek camp to retrieve the body of his son Hector who was killed by the great warrior Achilles.

Beautifully written, the story supports what James Campbell describes as the Power Of Myth. The characters in the novel are larger than life figures but with human characteristics. So in that sense the novel is about all of us even in the 21st Century at least 3000 years after the Trojan War.

It's a story about loss and grief, fathers and sons, youth and old age, love and duty. It's relived in some way, every day, everywhere.

It's about brotherly love, living in the moment, understanding your mortality and joy. It's also very sad, describing ultimate and devastating loss.

Piam as King is remote from everyday life. His guide Samos brings him back to earth. Piam decides however to do something himself beyond the role and life the Gods and his position has designated for him. This something is to retrieve his son’s body. Achilles also is trapped in a situation where his love for Patroclus has driven him. The ransom provides a way out for both of them. Both will die soon but al least they had lived. It raises the question of how far we are free to choose the path that our lives take. Both Achilles and Piam are creating stories about themselves that will allow themselves to live on in the minds of men. Piam know he will die soon and his fate will be for his naked body to be dragged into the streets where dogs will tear him apart. Rather than his death being the story he has created a better story of his life. These issues we all can ponder upon.

The Gods or fate or chance, whatever you call it, can affect the world but they don’t change human nature.

That this tender novel lingers so long and hauntingly in the mind is a testament both to Malouf’s poetry and to his reverence for the endless power of myth.