Number 26- Grendel- John Gardner

 

There are three principle reasons I chose this book- 1- that gorgeous cover, 2- the Marillion song, and 3- my cat is called Grendel. Not necessarily in that order of importance.

This book is actually the basis for the 17 minute long epic track by Marillion. If you've never heard it, I recommend it, I loved it enough to name my cat after it- my previous cat was called Balrog so I was pretty much continuing a theme. 

Grendel is the story of Beowulf told from the point of view of the monster. If you're not familiar with that, Beowulf is one of the oldest surviving written stories, an epic tale of Viking warriors getting torn to shreds by a vicious monster known as Grendel.

There's no attempt to make Grendel the hero of this story.  He is still a monster who kills for the sake of it. But the first person narration is almost enough to put me on his side.

He's a great literary creation. One of the oldest written monsters given depth and character at long last. I did find myself googling some of the human characters to see if they were invented for this book, but did all seem to be from the original story of Beowulf, although not painted quite so bravely.

It's all quite densely written and despite its brevity, still took me several days to get through.  But that's not a bad sign. it just means there's a lot to savour here. Gardner was one hell of a talent. This is poetic, brutal and quite beautiful in a weird ugly way.

If you're willing to put in the effort, this is a massively rewarding read. Highly recommended.