Sirena: Amazon.ca: Donna Jo Napoli: Books

Product Description

From Amazon

Donna Jo Napoli thoughtfully and poetically reexamined the story of Hansel and Gretel from the witch's point of view in The Magic Circle. Here, she retells the Greek myth of the Sirens, whose sweet, beckoning singing caused countless shipwrecks. But did the Sirens (who Napoli imagines as mermaids) really mean for the sailors to perish? Or were these sultry singers cursed themselves? In Napoli's tale, because they are half-human, the 10 Sirens are doomed to lead short mortal lives--unless they can convince men to become their mates. But after witnessing a shipwreck in which the survivors kill one of her sisters, 17-year-old Sirena decides she would rather lose her chance at eternal life than trick a human into loving her. She vows to live alone on "an island where the first rays of sun bring sight to blind eyes.... I am going there to find new sight. I will wipe from my brain the sights I have seen and start over." Little does she know that due to a jealous goddess, a sea-serpent bite, and a dead hero, a man will come to her island and love her for herself, not just her song. Sirena is the perfect teenage heroine--questioning authority and falling in love no matter what the consequences. In creating this beautiful story, Napoli brings mythology alive for today's young adults. (Ages 12 to 15) --Jennifer Hubert --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

Like its mermaid heroine, this uneven novel is something of a hybrid: a romantic fantasy imposed atop a classical legend. A lengthy, even laborious set-up invents a genealogy for mermaids within Greek mythology (at least, this appears invented; there are no source notes). Offered immortality if they can win a man's love, Sirena's mermaid sisters use their silvery voices to lure sailors to them even though it will cause the sailors certain death. Sirena, however, exiles herself from this grim mating game and winds up on the island of Lemnos. There she meets the Greek warrior Philoctetes (the subject of a famous play by Sophocles). True to the legend, this Philoctetes has been abandoned by his crew mates because of a snake bite?but instead of spending the next 10 years letting his wounds fester, per the Sophoclean model, this hero falls in love with an equally adoring Sirena. She becomes immortal, a gift that she does not want in light of her lover's inability to share it, and then she must yield him up when fate calls upon him to reenter the Trojan War. Napoli (Song of the Magdalene) is at her best when she compares Philoctetes's and Sirena's points of view about subjects like honor, but the bulky apparatus she constructs overwhelms the writing. The atmosphere is surprisingly arid, and the language slides dangerously between the stuff of high drama and pulp romance. There are better romantic YA novels built on Greek myth (e.g., Doris Orgel's The Princess and the God); for mermaid lore see Mary Pope Osborne's Mermaid Stories from Around the World. Ages 12-up.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Customer Reviews

98 Reviews

5 star:		(55)
4 star:		(29)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(5)
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Average Customer Review

4.3 out of 5 stars (98 customer reviews)

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4.0 out of 5 stars Help, Sep 13 2006

By

Kayla G. "Kayla" (East Providence, Rhode Island) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sirena (Paperback)

This book was great, I read it for my summer reading and I really enjoyed it. I liked how it raised the question of whether or not Philoctetes loved her for who she was or if he only fell in love with her because he heard her Siren's song. I have to do a poster on the book and I can't seem to remember what the fish were that Sirena was surrounded by before she reached the island and met Philoctetes. Could anyone help me with the name of the fish? I can't get the book out of the library because it's a summer reading book and someone else took it out. Thanks in advance!,

Kayla

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2.0 out of 5 stars Strange story, May 22 2004

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Victory Silvers - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sirena (Paperback)

Napoli has written numerous enjoyable retellings of folk and fairy tales for the young adult audience. In this book, I felt she faltered. She tells the story of the Greek Sirens (which are pictured to be mermaids).Sirena, the main character, knows that she is cursed, being half-human. The only way to lift the curse is to convince a man to mate with them. Then, she will become immortal. Sirena decides to separate from the other Sirens and finds a castaway alone on an island. They are initially afraid of each other, but begin to fall in love. Will Sirena want to be immortal after falling in love with a human man? I found the story dragging a lot, and perhaps because the story of the Sirens isn't as well known as some of Napoli's other retellings, it seemed a bit boring to me as well. I think she has written better.

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2.0 out of 5 stars Strange story, May 22 2004

By

Victory Silvers - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sirena (Paperback)

Napoli has written numerous enjoyable retellings of folk and fairy tales for the young adult audience. In this book, I felt she faltered. She tells the story of the Greek Sirens (which are pictured to be mermaids).Sirena, the main character, knows that she is cursed, being half-human. The only way to lift the curse is to convince a man to mate with them. Then, she will become immortal. Sirena decides to separate from the other Sirens and finds a castaway alone on an island. They are initially afraid of each other, but begin to fall in love. Will Sirena want to be immortal after falling in love with a human man? I found the story dragging a lot, and perhaps because the story of the Sirens isn't as well known as some of Napoli's other retellings, it seemed a bit boring to me as well. I think she has written better.

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Most recent customer reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Best Read
I got this book from my school library. At first it took me a while to get into it, but it was wonderful nonetheless. Read more

Published on May 18 2004 by Gail Kenyon

4.0 out of 5 stars Sirena, Sirena
I have read several of Napoli's books, and she has a writing style I've come to appreciate. She sticks with this style in "Sirena", and although I had a bit of a hard time getting... Read more

Published on Mar 2 2004 by J