!st Edn signed

This slim book is a lyrically written story that zooms in on one small portion of The Iliad. It focuses on the episode in which Achilles kills Hector in battle after Hector has killed Achilles’ beloved friend Patroclus. Malouf has constructed a detailed story around King Priam’s journey from Troy to Achilles’ camp to retrieve Hector’s body, which is only mentioned in a few lines of The Iliad. It illuminates storytelling – the way stories are told, repeated, and linger in memory. I particularly enjoyed the characterization of the carter and his mules. It emphasizes our common humanity no matter our differences. To fully appreciate it, the reader may want to be at least familiar with the story of Achilles. I found it a beautiful story of grief and redemption, and will be checking out Malouf’s catalogue. ( )

Very interesting reworking of The Iliad. ( )

Beautiful as always, Malouf. Underappreciated. ( )

An incredible book. David Malouf has built a thing of beauty, from the sentence up. ( )