The Song Of Troy [Paperback]

As a student of Archaeology and Classical Studies, I am frequently hard-pressed to find accurate and intelligent variations and interpretations of ancient works by modern authors. McCullough's 'Song of Troy', while it admittedly takes several liberties with character personalities, follows the original 'Illiad' with startling accuracy of actions, but also gives insight as to different reasons WHY the characters may have taken these actions.
It must be remembered that the Illiad, while it will always be the authoritative voice, does not provide extensive insight into character development. For example, Achilles in the Iliad actually leaves the action quite early on and does not return until the later books near the end... McCullough has taken this and other events and tried to fill in the gaps, making the characters and their actions more human, and therefore better understood in the context of the original poem.
I can see how a purist might not appreciate this, but the reality is that there is no 'pure' version of the original either -- this was a poem that was handed down orally for generations before being written down, and for all we know we could have a substantially different version than was, say, being recited in Sparta or Pylos at the time. We know certain segments were altered for the audience, and it just so happens that someone somewhere finally decided to write their version down. Is it so wrong now, that a modern-day storyteller would tell the story again, altering it slightly for their audience? It doesn't break the purity of the original, it merely shows the continuation of this ancient tradition, following in the footsteps of Homer himself.
McCullough's 'Song of Troy' is entrancing and captivating, and will bring the famed story to life as you read. It will be a welcome addition to anyone's collection who understands that 'tampering' with a story such as this is not really tampering at all, but a continuation of a tradition unbroken through the ages -- "this is how things are, and Zeus himself, The thunder lord, could not make them otherwise." (Book 14, lines 50-51)

I am not exactly sure why people like this book so much. I found it boring, dragging, and filled with unsympathetic characters. Even my favourite hero, Hector, doesn't come out in the best of lights, not to mention all the others. Helen for one, is a nasty piece of work, and makes me wonder why anyone would want anything to do with her.

Another thing that bothered me was some grammatical mistakes, fragment sentences and typographical errors. These things should have been caught by the editor. As to characters' names, I found it annoying that Briseis is called Brise here. If you're going to write a book that is based on an earlier work and you use the names in the same format as in the original, then at least you should be consisten about it. All the other characters are named correctly (some with slight variations in spelling, i.e. 'k' instead of 'c' and vise versa, which is acceptable) except Briseis. Maybe I am too picky and a perfectionist, but I think as a novelist, one should pay attention even to the little details.

Lastly, I don't think you can improve on the original. This book has nothing on Homer's Illiad, and I am sorry I have wasted my time reading it.

Not recommended.

The Song of Troy is a fabulous look at the ancient tale of the Trojan War. Ms. McCullough spins a marvelous yarn about a fascinating period. I read this after reading her Masters of Rome series and I was not disappointed!!!!