Grendel, by John Gardner
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(Review posted 9 Jan 2004 20:58:51)

This is a marvelous book, deep and well-crafted, a pleasure to read and at the same time dark and thick and disturbing. Gardner is writing about ultimate things and human things and wide things, but he doesn't use that as an excuse to break the narrative, to go off into self-indulgence and away from his story.

On the surface (and it's a good surface) this is the story of Beowulf (the hero) through the voice and eyes and mind of Grendel (the monster). But that's not the half of it. Read it, really. Anything more I could say would be superfluous.