book data
2721 ratings, 3.87 average rating, 316 reviews
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published
May 14th 1989
(first published 1972)
by Vintage
binding
Paperback, 192 pages
isbn
0679723110
(isbn13: 9780679723110)
description
Grendel is a beautiful and heartbreaking modern retelling of the Beowulf epic from the point of view of the monster, Grendel, the villain of th...more
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avg 3.87
Read in December, 2007
recommends it for:
mythophiles/philosophers/lit nerds
When I picked this up, I expected a standard villain's point-of-view story wherein the villain is portrayed as a victim for comic effect. But Gardner, much to his credit, avoids this. Instead, Gardner makes Grendel fully aware of his monstrosity and cruelty and examines the ways he justifies his own existence and actions as a logical, thinking being. The book becomes almost like the monster's story in Frankenstein but set against a background of heroes and legends. And it is all rendered in ...more
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Read in December, 2007
recommends it for:
lit nerds
I feel a little ambivalent about this book. It was definitely intellectually appealing, and the conversation that Grendel had with the dragon was very well done. But Grendel didn't really do what I expect novels to do: it didn't make me care about anything. Part of that may be because it's only a meager 174 pages - probably technically a novella - but I think even in 174 pages Gardner could have engaged the reader more.
While I was able to scrape away a few enjoyable bits from this ...more
While I was able to scrape away a few enjoyable bits from this ...more
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5 comments
Read in April, 2008
Marvelous. Everyone but me, it seemed, who was around in the early 70's, read "Grendel." I don't think I really even knew what Beowulf was all about back then, so wasn't interested. So now I'm glad to come to "Grendel" after many connections to the source. I work with someone who is getting her masters in English Lit, and she complained about reading Beowulf papers as a T.A. that were all about how Grendel felt. She was at first confused about the reason for this--not ha...more
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2 comments
(my thanks to Rich for the Christmas gift)
It's sort of weird that I've never read this book before. Having grown up with an English teacher for a father, I've known the story of Beowulf ever since I watched an 8mm film project one of his students made, the chief special effect of which involved flushing a yearbook photo of the boy who played Beowulf down the toilet in order to simulate the hero's diving into the haunted mere. I've known about John Gardner's retelling of the story from the mo...more
It's sort of weird that I've never read this book before. Having grown up with an English teacher for a father, I've known the story of Beowulf ever since I watched an 8mm film project one of his students made, the chief special effect of which involved flushing a yearbook photo of the boy who played Beowulf down the toilet in order to simulate the hero's diving into the haunted mere. I've known about John Gardner's retelling of the story from the mo...more
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4 comments
Read in May, 2008
"My advice to you, my violent friend, is to seek out gold and sit on it."
This is one of those books that you can pretty much devour -- I am tempted to say, like a tasty thane, drunkenly asleep on a warm summer's night.
Strange to say, I liked the middle of the book the best. (When does that ever happen?) That is the point where the pathos reached its pitch and where, interestingly enough, the book is least laced into the structure set by Beowulf.
Gr...more
This is one of those books that you can pretty much devour -- I am tempted to say, like a tasty thane, drunkenly asleep on a warm summer's night.
Strange to say, I liked the middle of the book the best. (When does that ever happen?) That is the point where the pathos reached its pitch and where, interestingly enough, the book is least laced into the structure set by Beowulf.
Gr...more
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6 comments
Read in January, 2007
I'm not sure of what to think of this book. The style shifts a lot, and clearly Gardner put a lot of work and thought both to its narrative construction and to the themes he was covering in the book. That being said, I was more aware of how the book was written rather than why. The words and the construction of the narrative got very much in the way; I was too aware of them. It seemed very skeletal, not a whole lot of flesh or life to it. There is a lot of philosophy, and its introduction seems ...more
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Read in January, 2003
I've just started this book because the students in my classes are reading this for pleasure, so I imagine it's wonderful. I'm a big Beowulf fan as it is, and I'm intrigued by the premise of such a book as well as by the fact that teenagers are asking to read it! So far I'm on page 11 and I have read, and reread, and underlined, and tossed the words around in my mind and on the tip of my tongue....sprawled out on the grass at the park in the warm May sun. I LOVE IT!!! I think this is the best pr...more
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Read in May, 2008
recommends it for:
Rob
Every once in a while a book comes along that is so beautifully written it shames me to think I should ever consider putting verse to paper. This is one such book.
-m
-m
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Read in August, 2008
The monster has a name (Grendel) and a mother (no name given). Grendel, who has an artist's soul, is corrupted by the dragon (his name is Lucifer, it's kind of implied). This is the story, then, of one of Cain's outcast progeny, a monster, a demon, Grendel, the monster with a name.
Grendel comes to no good end (Beowulf rips off his arm and he bleeds to death). The really interesting story is how he comes to end up there, which is Professor Gardner's real imaginative triumph. Unferth the wanna...more
Grendel comes to no good end (Beowulf rips off his arm and he bleeds to death). The really interesting story is how he comes to end up there, which is Professor Gardner's real imaginative triumph. Unferth the wanna...more
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It's easy to find oneself in the thrall of hanks of blond hair and mead-fueled heroism, but it is a more difficult task to regard, with care, the heart of a monster. The monster (but is he?) in question is Grendel, an introspective animal who loves his mother and also has a taste for Danes. Gardner's novel is an accounting of the tale of Beowulf from Grendel's perspective; it's a story of a monster's hunger, love, and grief, and also those of men. Consider the original poem Beowulf: How i...more
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Read in August, 2008
I actually "read" the downloadable audio version. Narrated by the incomparable George Guidell, this is the Beowulf story told from the point of view of Grendel, the monster. While it is, indeed, ‘just a story,’ it’s also a commentary on the basic nature of humankind, about the darkness (and the light) that resides within each of us. I listened to this on the heels of reading The Book Thief, so it was a very contemplative week at my house. ::grin::
Guidell does a stellar job w...more
Guidell does a stellar job w...more
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Read in September, 2008
Wonderful. Grendel is a tormented monster. This we know. But why is Grendel tormented?
As I read, his anguish began to seem familiar, and - horror of horrors - I began to identify with him.
Eliot's plea in "Ash Wednesday" - one of my favorite poems - applies:
"Will the veiled sister between the slender
yew trees pray for those who offend her
are terrified and cannot surrender"
Grendel is tormented by his own nature: he longs for faith, goodness, and virt...more
As I read, his anguish began to seem familiar, and - horror of horrors - I began to identify with him.
Eliot's plea in "Ash Wednesday" - one of my favorite poems - applies:
"Will the veiled sister between the slender
yew trees pray for those who offend her
are terrified and cannot surrender"
Grendel is tormented by his own nature: he longs for faith, goodness, and virt...more
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Read in January, 2003
Everyone should read this book. It's like a musical composition. The chapters correspond to the astrological signs, like in the beginning when Grendel observes the ram on the side of the mountain. Besides that, it is an extremely visual experience and it stimulated my imagination to a height I never expected.
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Read in December, 2008
"Tedium is the worst pain. The mind lays out the world in blocks, and the hushed blood waits for revenge. All order, I've come to understand, is theoretical, unreal--a harmless, sensible, smiling mask men slide between the two great dark realities, the self and the world--two snake-pits. The watchful mind lies, cunning and swift, about the dark blood's lust, lies and lies and lies until, weary of talk, the watchman sleeps. Then sudden and swift the enemy strikes from nowhere, the cavernous heart. Violence is truth, as the crazy old peasant told Hrothulf. But the old fool only half grasped what he said. He had never conversed with a dragon. And the stranger?"
...more
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2 comments
It's easy to find oneself in the thrall of hanks of blond hair and mead-fueled heroism, but it is a more difficult task to regard, with care, the heart of a monster. The monster (but is he?) in question is Grendel, an introspective animal who loves his mother and also has a taste for Danes. Gardner's novel is an accounting of the tale of Beowulf from Grendel's perspective; it's a story of a monster's hunger, love, and grief, and also those of men. Consider the original poem Beowulf: How is it th...more
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Read in May, 2006
I've always heard really wonderful things about this book. So much so that I was ready to assign it to my class before I had even read it myself. I'm so glad that I decided to read it first! I did not like this book at all. I don't feel that it treated Grendel very sympathetically; in fact, I think he was even more monstrous than in the poem. There were parts that just didn't really make much sense. The only bit I liked was Grendel's interaction with Unferth. That was pretty funny and could have...more
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Read in October, 2002
recommended to Mari by:
DennisThis review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
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Read in January, 2008
It was okay. I liked Grendel's character a lot. He was intriguing and very funny at times. I enjoyed the writing and narrative voice. But my interest waned as I realized this book was just a mechanism for Gardner to put forth a bunch of his philosophical ideas. The scenes with the dragon were the most obvious examples of this--they were as didactic as Sophie's World. And, being so stuffed with machismo as I am, I was just reading this book for the Beowulf scenes anyway, which of course di...more
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Although I am not in the habit of re-reading books (there seem to be far too many places I want to explore to invest the time in returning somewhere I've already been), this book has come up in conversations of late, and I am beginning to rethink my habits. I have been considering re-reading a number of books, and this one is perhaps at the top of my list.
I remember Grendel blowing me away when I read it a few years ago. At the time I was well-ingrained in medieval studies, particular...more
I remember Grendel blowing me away when I read it a few years ago. At the time I was well-ingrained in medieval studies, particular...more
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Read in August, 2008
recommends it for:
Nobody that liked the Beowulf: The Blockbuster Spectacular
Finished this baby up on the train this morning. I have to admit straight off the bat that I haven't read Beowulf, and probably should have before reading this (though I did touch up on the Spark Notes beforehand for the general gist). That being said, I think I still got a lot out of this book. I pretty much hated the beginning. Grendel is basically insane with boredom/loneliness/lack of purpose, and I was legitimately starting to fear that I might be joining him in looneyville by the time ...more
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