Book Description
Thomas Bunting while neglecting his philosophy Ph.D., still unfinished after seven years, is secretly writing what he hopes will be his masterwork-a vast atheistic project to be titled The Book Against God. In despair over his failed academic career and failing marriage, Bunting is also enraged to the point of near lunacy by his parents' religiousness. When his father, a beloved parish priest, suddenly falls ill, Bunting returns to the Northern village of his childhood. Bunting's hopes that this visit might enable him to finally talk honestly with his parents and sort out his wayward life, are soon destroyed. Comic, edgy, lyrical, and indignant Bunting gives the term unreliable narrator a new twist with his irrepressible incapacity to tell the truth.
Customer Reviews:
Not For Readers Expecting A Good Story.......2007-01-16
The plot in The Book Against God seems simply an armature, on which the author has molded his ideas. The characters are also formed to fortify the primacy of ideas and witty lines. The main character, Thomas Bunting, has lost the garden of childhood and with it his innocence. He, therefore, cannot take the leap of faith that his theologian father has. Quite aptly, Tommy becomes a philosopher. Although he will never finish his Ph.D., the occupation allows him to become a "Doubting Thomas." Opposing her husband's weak skepticism, Thomas's wife Jane, a musician, insists on conducting life with a measured rationalism. Of course, Jane's father, who left his legal practice early because of nervous problems, seems to approve of Thomas. Other views are offered by Max, the pundit, and his very academic parents, and so forth. The book is really quite funny, and is about the nature of truth as much as it is about belief. Perhaps this novel should be classified as a metaphysical novel.
Not a novel of ideas but ideas trying to make a novel.......2005-08-12
The fulsome reactions to this brave attempt by a sensible critic of other's novels who tries to write his own fiction same make me wonder if some of Wood's readers have forgotten to distinguish form from content. True, this storyline has marvellously observed moments, for me especially in the observation of the narrator's friend Max's academic parents in their separate studies, waiting impatiently for human contacts to ebb so they can get back to their research.
But the arguments about atheism, agnosticism, and theology are scattershot and frankly rather disappointing, given their lack of originality. I expected more from this book, but instead of a sustained assault by a young thinker against too comfortable assumptions, instead I received a few hundred pages of a story that moved in fits and starts, with remarkably few interesting scenes, characters, or developments. I do admit that around the halfway point, the conversation between Tom and Colin does perk up the philosophical underpinnings that stay far too buried for most of the narrative. It barely earns two stars, only for attempts at insight that occasionally prove moving, if far too fleetingly. A glimpse of Wood's promise does emerge at the funeral of one of the main characters and the eulogy attempted by another (no plot spoilers) make for a finely tragicomic scene in the tradition of Waugh or Kingsley Amis.
But the whole musical realm within which Jane is shown takes up energy that would have better been spent on Tom's own musings, if they were to convince us at all. A few potshots at Kierkegaard's name and admittedly frustrating aphorisms do not make much of a case for his "book against God" project. Now, is this rather Wood's point? The open-ended denouement may support a rejection of Tom's ambitions.
If so, then these 250 pp. could have been better condensed and tightened into a fine novella. Wood gives you no real weight for his protagonist, who appears far too closely drawn on his own early experiences. This muddled semi-autobiographical portrait of a rebel academic shows only intermittent control of the fictional process. Without his previous reputation at the Guardian and New Republic, I wonder if this would have been published. Given the evidence of this debut, Wood's a better critic than creator of weighty fiction.
reminiscent of Waugh.......2005-07-25
It's a heavy comparison to be sure, but I couldn't help thinking how similar Wood's writing style is to Evelyn Waugh's. I've lost count of how many times I've been told a novel is going to be funny, or that the book is a "comic novel," and it produced a nary a snicker. But aside from Waugh and probably Kurt Vonnegut, Wood's novel is one of the funniest I've read in recent memory. Of course, this achievement is all the more remarkable since Wood's book is chiefly a thoughtful meditation on religion, belief, and, most of all, father-son relationships. How many writers can say they've written a top-notch philosophical novel that makes one laugh out loud?
The more I read this book and began to realize what an achievement it was, the more annoyed I became as I recalled the snarky reviews it received. There were many positive reviews and, sure, Wood is well known for his own occasionally mean-spirited reviews, although they are always unfailingly thoughtful and critical for good reason (at least in Wood's mind). I remember reading one review that went something like, "Wood's `The Book Against God,' is merely that, a book that tries to convince the reader there is no God." Um, no. Not even close. What this book is, more than anything, is an intelligently philosophical look at a father-son relationship where neither party is at fault, intimacy is painfully difficult to come by, and philosophical differences get in the way of familial love. It would seem to me that any review of this book by a professional reviewer that is entirely negative is the result of someone trying to dish out some kind of payback. The immaturity of such an act strikes me as an act by someone who either takes him of herself entirely too seriously or has enjoyed an extraordinarily easy life in which he or she has nothing more important to get upset about. Literary journalism and journalism in general has always been a profession where thick skin is a necessity, and if a reviewer doesn't understand this, perhaps he or she should consider another line of work.
The biggest shame of this type of attitude may be that it prevents one from learning from Wood's reviews, which never fail in this regard whether they are positive or negative. I think many fiction writers could also learn from Wood's splendid novel.
Intelligent and entertaining.......2005-03-11
An atheistic and rather seedy son and his relationship with (principally) his attractive clergyman father. Superb, inventively and wittily phrased descriptions of a large cast of characters and of places; intelligent conversations about belief and non-belief; a moving coda (not quite at the end of the book). Because the chronology is all mixed up, it really needs to be read twice.
There's not enough God-hatred, dammit.......2004-09-06
John Simon once referred to Samuel Beckett's misotheism. Which means a hatred of God. And it's too bad that Wood didn't use the word for the pedantic hell of it. Emil Cioran is my favorite misotheist. And luckily he got name-checked by Wood: "And that other chap in Paris, the Romanian, Cioran. I hear he's not too well, the Romanian genes ... Oh, and we need someone to update our Popper piece, pep it up a bit. I've heard he's a wee bit poorly."
Cut the crap, Jimbo. That's just the sort of shallow kneejerk alliteration you'd expect from Vladimir Nabokov or Martin Amis.
Bunting says: "So I abandon sleep and get up early. 'Man's first duty on rising---to blush for himself', says a favorite philosopher of mine."
Right on, daddy-o. The quoted philosopher is Cioran.
Average customer rating:
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Deicide: Rage against the gods (Decide)
Carlos Portela
Manufacturer: Humanoids Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
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ASIN: 1930652356 |
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Average customer rating:
- My favorite comic to date
- Online to on paper
- Megatokyo kicks ass
- "Manga" for beginners
- Learn About Japan and Laugh at the Same Time
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Megatokyo, Vol. 1
Fred Gallagher , and
Rodney Caston
Manufacturer: Dark Horse
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Binding: Paperback
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Inverloch Volume 1
ASIN: 1593071639 |
Book Description
This re-issue of this highly successful Megatokyo Volume 1 brings fans a new and revised version of the book with improved print quality and a larger trim size. This book will contain all the comics from Chapter 0 as well as the running editorial comments featured in the original release. Exclusive to the Dark Horse reissue will be additional drawings, historical notes, and selected rants from this first developmental year of the Megatokyo webcomic.
Customer Reviews:
My favorite comic to date.......2007-02-20
a few years ago, when Megatokyo was just starting out, I decided to start reading web comics. This was my first web comic. and to this date, has been one of my favorites. Seeing a briliant web comic in manga form is great for when the power goes out, on long trips, or if you're like me, for when you want to go back and relive the early works of Megatokyo without it loading page after page. This volume stands out because it's not overcomplicated with different intertwining storyline's. It's simply about two people stuck in Japan with no way back to America.
Online to on paper.......2006-10-01
Megatokyo is one of the first webcomics to be popular and successful. Two guys inspired by the popularity of other online comics set out to publish content on a domain name that was already purchased. While the characters in the comic may be exaggerated versions of themselves its a comic of true blending. First in comic styles of the American with four boxes in a horizontal line, and the Japanese with boxes aligned vertically and read down a page. Then the blending of Fred's (Piro) love of Japanese culture and girl manga with Rodney's (Largo) appreciation of video games, and dramatic action. While the two parted ways after approximately volume 2 in the published books, the first volume sets up the characters, and plots that hooked fans on this comic that took us were we all wanted to go through the eyes of to guys who were just like us.
Megatokyo kicks ass.......2006-08-01
One of the best manga's Ive read, comedy of two american gamers who get stranded in Japan, artwork is fantastic (to me that is), Fred has promised many volumes and good storylines, for the readers who think that the whole story is a comedy its not, because he put in good drama and action into the story along with slap happy humor. A two thumbs up recomendation
"Manga" for beginners.......2006-04-05
I stumbled upon Megatokyo a few week ago from friends who said it was very good series. I did enjoy reading the archives but somehow noticed inconsistency with the quality of the comic itself on both the story and the art. I guess "I simply do not get it" as most fan boys would say, maybe because I'm spoilt and jaded for having read so many manga I really do not understand the charm of the series. Or maybe too much hype was associated with this comic that I placed my expectation too high.
Art:
The character design is very cute though they have this tendency to look alike especially the lady characters. The pencil style is very appealing and the artist has a good sense of perspective using bold angles to display the backgrounds and such. One thing I really liked about the art was how well the author dresses his characters; the fellow has really good fashion sense.
My only complaint artwise, as I have said, the quality of his drawings is quite inconsistent. There are times he would draw well and others where the pages, especially the background are simply sketchy. And to imagine he does this for a living is quite baffling why he would not put the time to ink or even keep the consistency of his art.
Story
The first part of the story was quite entertaining. Megatokyo started as a gag/gamer comic and was very funny and well written. But it seems the focus of the comic has change as it evolved from a gag a day comic to a full blown story. Sadly, it would be interesting if only the story would actually go somewhere. Too much foreshadowing and run around seems to indicate the author is having trouble putting a plot down.
Its Charm
I do understand why this series is quite popular especially amoung Japanophiles and fanboys (or otaku as they would call them). The comic story (Being trapped in Japan, chased by cute girls, living in Tokyo) and the life of the author, Fred (Making a living as a webcomic artist drawing manga 3 pages a week) smacks of wish fullfillment. This may only be my personal interpretation but by looking at the comic itself and the community behind Megatokyo, it looks like its fans live vicariously through either Fred the author or his "Mary Sue" avatar Piro.
Final words
As I have said before, as a seasoned manga, who read manga all her life, I'm probably jaded and find the comic full of cliche's and stereotypes. Maybe the author wishes to parody series such as Love Hina or Chobits but I have seen better parody in other amature manga.
Of course, if you are a relatively new and wide eyed anime/manga fan I'm sure this series will appeal to you quite well. In fact if you are one of those people who are new to this type of comics I suggest buying Vo1.01 but be weary of the other volumes. If you are veteran manga person I suggest you look somewhere else.
Learn About Japan and Laugh at the Same Time.......2006-02-26
Megatokyo was an online web-comic by Fred Gallagher and co-creator Rodney Caston, known respectively as Piro and Largo. Megatokyo became so popular that even though it is not a manga, the characters are cosplayed at conventions.
Here is volume one of the book form. Gallagher expounds on the making of the strip and adds extras about Japan. The strip is surprisingly funny and clever. Although Piro and Largo are hard- core gamers, I am not. I picked this up because I love anime and am interested in learning about modern Japanese culture.
The story moves slowly, as Gallagher really just goes at his own pace. The level-headed Piro, who is fluent in Japanese, and his goofy friend Largo, head from the USA to Tokyo for a gaming convention. They become stranded in the foreign city, and crash at Piro's friend's apartment. There are lots of interesting characters, and plenty of cute girls in cosplay for all you fanboys.
The volume is loaded with strips and extra information. This is a great buy.
Customer Reviews:
/\/\3g4+0|
.......2004-06-05
THis is possibly one of the funniest things I've ever read. The plot is good and the is a ton of humor. SW33t.
come on it's Megatokyo.......2004-02-24
ok. Let me start of by saying this. ANY WHO ARE FANS OF ANIME/MANGA NEED THIS BOOK! Ok. The rest of you who don't know what I"m talking about need this book for two reasons.
1. It'll get you into the world that is manga/anime
2. It spoofs both rather well.
So, why are you still here. GET THIS NOW!
Chapter Zero the best.......2004-02-10
If you have read any of Fred Gallagher's recent comics, you may find them good, but slightly boring. Well, chapter zero, when Rodney Caston was still co-writing was, in my humble opinion, the best of the comics. It may be a thin book, but it's worth its weight in gold.
Megatokyo- pl-l34l_ t3l-l p0w3r.......2004-01-23
This was written as a 7th grade school project.
After being kicked out of a game convention, two college grads take a trip to Tokyo, Japan. Suddenlt stranded with no money, food, or place to live, they must find their way back from Tokyo to America. They begin to settle into their new enviroment, starting off anew in this strange place. Throughout their "adventure' they met many new friends, including a humanoid PS2 accessory, and a hamster that is supposedly one of their "consciences." In the end, however, they begin to blend into this strange new world and live in it, wondering whether or not going back home would be better than styaing in Tokyo.
I loved this book since it is, basically, a story for gamers, nerds, and artists by gamers, nerds, and artists. It has a morbid sense of humor that many people enjoy, and it shows some problems that happen in real life. The true purpose of this book, to show how life looks from the views of people that are called "geeks," is amazing, and somehow inspiring. This book still makes me want to sit down and create a novel of my own, to show the life of these two guys is like the ones other people do live. In summary, this book should be read by everyone, no matter what age, or interest.
This book is currently also a webcomic. Read it at- www.megatkyo.com
Alittle bit for Everyone.......2004-01-12
When my brother sent me the link to MT (MegaTokyo) about a year ago, I really wasn't into reading webcomics. Well, I blame him for my time online reading and the money I spend buying great books like this.
Fred began MT just to shut up a friend... well you see where its gone from there. ^_^ I think you will find a character for just about anyone, male, female, shy, outgoing or simply out-of-touch. That's why there is such a great reader following... MT isn't just for guys, girls or gamers. This is a great book written with a flavor of manga. (though not written backwards, so no worries there if you don't want to adjust)
This issue is Pre-Dark Horse publishing, that is why the cover is different and is out of print. DH is publishing Vol 1 again (possible rerelease in March) and Vol 2 is due for release this month.
For further info, read Fred's rants on www.MegaTokyo.com. He keeps us up to date. (probably out of fear) :P
I hope this helps! Maybe I'll see you on the forums. ;)
Average customer rating:
- Disappointing sequel to CLADE. 2+stars
- BioPunk and New Wave
- fascinating look at Orwellian society
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Crache
Mark Budz
Manufacturer: Spectra
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Binding: Mass Market Paperback
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Old Man's War
ASIN: 0553586599
Release Date: 2004-11-23 |
Book Description
When the ecotecture starts to degrade on the asteroid of Mymercia–killing a workgroup on the surface–Fola Hanani miraculously survives. A former missionary, she’s hacked a living out of a gengineered ecology built after the Armageddon of overheating, overpopulation, over-everything. Now she has to find out what’s causing a catastrophic biosystem failure before everyone else on Mymercia is killed. Meanwhile, onworld, in a trailer park of migrant workers, a washed-out one-hit wonder named L. Mariachi plays the guitar for a community suffering from a contagious form of soul loss. It’s a song that Fola’s implanted IA–information agent–thinks she needs to hear. Because what is happening to these lost souls is spreading at quantum speed to everyone else. Something or someone is trying to reprogram the system with the ultimate virus. And as virtuality becomes reality in this post-ecocaust world of plug-in sex components, old-world medicine women, and the cheesiest pop culture, humanity itself is about to crash....
Download Description
Deep in the Kuiper Belt, something is going horribly wrong on the Mymercia colony, and Fola—a molectrician working on the engineered plants and ecotecture of the new colonies—is caught in the middle of it. Her team destroyed, the ecotecture of Mymercia in shambles, Fola finds herself in the midst of a growing catstrophe—an attack on the engineered ecosystem by a piece of rogue code that threatens to dismantle the clades and the complex ecotecture that keeps everyone on Earth and the colonies alive. Somehow she must reach L. Mariachi, burnt out Mexitallic singer, now a bracero working the ryce vats in Colorado, and convince him to do the one thing he swore he’d never do again. For without him, the entire system—and all the lives in it—are doomed to CRACHE.
Customer Reviews:
Disappointing sequel to CLADE. 2+stars.......2005-03-30
____________________________________________
I was looking forward to this, after enjoying Budz's strong debut novel, CLADE:
"Decent hard-SF that makes a serious attempt to extrapolate the medium-term future is never in oversupply... so I was very pleased to discover CLADE." -- google for my review at infinityplus.co.uk
CRACHE is set in the same well-thought-out universe as CLADE, and there's some good stuff here, including some neat asteroid habitats. But I keep stalling out, currently (and perhaps permanently) at p. 140 (of 368).
Especially since I just read Gerald Jonas's negative NY Times review (google) :
"Unfortunately, any suspense generated by the struggle to save the solar system from a new kind of plague soon dissipates amid the torrents of verbiage necessary to explain what is happening."
Plus, there's a Really Dumb subplot: a Hispanic folksinger named L. Mariachi(!) can sing the deadly bioelectronic virus into submission....
Sigh. Hopefully, next time Budz will concentrate on the storytelling, and KISS [1]. In the meanwhile, if you're a hard-SF fan who hasn't tried his CLADE, you should. And then wait for his #3 book.
______________________
[1] Keep it simple, stupid!
Happy reading--
Pete Tillman
BioPunk and New Wave.......2005-03-29
Crache continues the fresh vision of the BioPunk future pioneered in its predecessor Clade, but beyond inspiring the naming of a new sub-genre in SF, both novels are also full blown revivals of the New Wave of the 60s and 70s. Comparisons to other authors within or outside of SF from Gibson and Orwell to Steinbeck show that Budz not only innovates within the genre of SF, but also signal that Budz seeks to emancipate SF from its self-imposed ghettoization and engage the larger world. This approach was the hallmark of New Wave writers like Delany, LeGuin or Zelazny and has been largely absent from the field for almost a quarter century. In fact, Budz work is most similar to that of Samuel Delany, in that he carefully adheres to the essential traits of the form (in this case hard SF) whlle reforming or innovating over a broad range of story elements. Since this is a feature of Budz's work that I haven't seen adequately covered in other reviews, I'll look at Crache as a New Wave novel.
One of the key features of both Crache and Clade is that the reader is immersed in the future like a castaway rather than the more touristy experience of most contemporary SF. This immediacy of experience starts with the BioPunk trope, a technology that flows from our intimate experience and knowledge of our own bodies and immune systems (like allergies for example).
Probably the first thing a reader notices is the profusion of jargon and jingle-like punning, a lot of the puns are obvious, like `tattunes' for programmable tattoos which can play music, while the technical language is rarely defined and has to be picked up largely from context. The standard SF "Tour Guide/Guidebook" provided for the benefit of early 21st century readers is almost totally absent. This is one way that Budz immerses his reader in the experience of living in the future he envisions. The language is intended to be evocative not definitive, experts in Crache use their language like experts, people use the commonplace words about their everyday life casually. Futuristic terms of our time are twisted around like `IA' for what we would call an `AI' to show that we're not in a comfortable, familiar future. Another aspect of this immediacy of experience shows up in several scenes when a character's emotionally intense or disturbing experiences and memories are described in unblinking detail, they aren't just glossed over or alluded to. There's a great example of this, where the scientist Rexx remembers a horrifying trip to a bordello with his father, the scene would be disconcerting even without the bizarre futuristic elements. Characters are also defined in social/psychological/historical dimensions, this makes them more sympatheitic or relatable and potentially closer to the reader. By building the characters in these dimensions there is an additonal benefit, Budz brings his world to life in a way that is almost impossible for much current SF which is largely populated with Ahabs, orphans and tourists.
Next, the treatment of plot and character in Crache is the result of a radical streamlining of the contemporary SF schema. So for people habituated to this format, Crache might feel a little `light' in its handling of plot and character. Now to see what's going on in Crache, I'll have to describe my impression of a typical SF novel's elements. This schema, which covers most of the recent field, is built-up from three largely independent parts. There is an event driven plot, character development beyond what the plot would require, and world building. As the form is mostly practised now, readers follow the broken spoor of the plot through vast tracts of encyclopedia like exposition (or at best a Tour Guide's spiel) and they also have to hack through much superfluous/redundant and sometimes-counterproductive elaboration of characters. In some sub-genres of SF, the elements that are normally subordinate to the story telling have experienced a fetishistic growth to ludicrous proportions similar to what we've seen with monster trucks, where a few parts have grown beyond any reasonable sense of beauty or function. The innovations in Crache have to do with the function, structure and relation of the elements. Crache's plot is a hybrid of an event driven and a character motivated plot, these have been very rare since the subsidence of the first New Wave (examples from the 70s would include `Triton' or `The Dispossessed'). By integrating character elements in the plot, it's possible to elaborate character as the form demands, but also to move the plot and as suggested above, facilitate the world building. This integration also allows Budz to pare down the event driven share of the plot. One of the key hinges of the plot is that a burnt out, maimed guitar player who has a mental block against playing the guitar has to play it again. It's not necessary to create a series of events and obstacles that keep him from playing the guitar; he can walk around with it until his internal struggle is resolved. Most SF I've seen over the last 25 years or so would do both, a condition referred to as `overdetermination' in other literature, for instance, a case where a character both wants to and is compelled to act in certain way. All this restructuring of the standard schema probably causes some people to perceive holes in Crache as a work of SF, but it's kind of like comparing the Eiffel Tower to the The Great Pyramid, the holes are a result of architectural efficiency, not a deficiency.
In closing, I'd suggest that Crache would have made a splash even at the height of the New Wave, since Budz has managed to define a new sub-genre/trope (Biopunk), apply New Wave ideals to hard SF (another example doesn't immediately come to mind) and transfuse new blood into the accepted form . I hope that this is a harbinger of a new New Wave.
fascinating look at Orwellian society.......2004-11-01
The structure on the asteroid Mymercia starts to collapse while a rogue pherion causes a virus that is making people ill. Of the workforce only Fola Hanani survives, but she is quarantined so that she can be tested to make sure she is not a carrier. The people who run the government use pherions to control what the masses feel and think so this unauthorized use worries them especially when another one is released into the atmosphere.
Fola contacts L. Mariachi of earth, a migrant worker who can stop the virus from spreading. She communicates with him through his guitar, trying to get him to sing a particular song that will render the virus harmless. Before L. Mariachi can sing, Bean agents arrest him as they believe he is part of a conspiracy to release the pherion. He must escape if he is to stop the virus and restore the AIs, who are vulnerable to the disease, to their former state.
In this future earth, people live under the rule of a repressed regime run by big business and government who keep the masses docile through drugs in a closed atmosphere. The populace is confined to specific geophysical regions and not able to leave their specific Clade zone due to varying pherions. Off planet Fola and on planet L. Mariachi are the exceptions as they illegally are able to move about more freely as the pherions do not seem to harm them. CRACHE, the sequel to the equally intriguing CLADE, is a fascinating look at Orwellian society.
Harriet Klausner
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Crache a pic (Collection Roman quebecois)
Antonine Maillet
Manufacturer: Lemeac
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Jure crache: Roman
Pierre Filion
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ASIN: 2890051374 |
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Malika Secouss, tome 3 : Crache ta joie
Téhem
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Portrait crache
Jean Marc Roberts
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Tous nuls: Portrait crache de la classe politique
Pierre Pellissier
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2 paperbacks
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Un jeu de mord et de crache: Poesie (Collection Ange-Neon)
Marie-Christine Arbour
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ASIN: 2980187720 |
Book Description
"Charlene Spretnak has succeeded extremely well in presenting pure characterizations of the Old European goddesses as they were revered for millennia, long before the Indo-European elements were imposed to create Olympian mythology." -Marija Gimbutas, author of The Language of the Goddess
Customer Reviews:
A compelling and insightful read.......2006-03-02
[...]
Lost Goddesses of Early Greece feature long lost stories of the early goddesses of Old Europe. It starts out with an interesting introduction that sheds light on how Ms. Spretnak researched these myths. This follows with chapters on Gaia, Pandora, Themis, Aphrodite, Triad of the Moon: Artemis, Selene & Hecate, Hera, Athena, Demeter and Persephone. The stories reveal the goddesses in their true forms before the coming of the Olympian gods. The last chapter tells an eye-opening story about Demeter and Persephone. Most people (myself included) are familiar with the mythic story of the rape of Persephone by the God of the Underworld. This book's message is that Goddess worship was around for at least 25,000 years--long before any other religion. These times were relatively peaceful times until invaders brought their warring "Zeus" god to Greece.
I found this book to be interesting and it makes sense to me that the Goddess would be the first religion. I have studied the Hellenic Greek myths and it is obvious to me that the classical myths degrade women. Another point is that all of the classical writers were men. I am a believer in the theories revealed in Lost Goddesses of Early Greece. I highly recommend this book to those who wish to explore an unknown road in mythology. I think every female should read this book--it may be a life changing experience for some.
a pre-Olympus revisioning...........2003-05-31
....that might have been longer. After reading the introductory material I was surprised at the brevity of the chapters: a consequence, perhaps, of how much lore has been lost down the centuries.
This book broke new ground not only by celebrating the goddesses (and by implication women and femininity) but by pointing out that "the" Greek myths known far and wide were preceded by matriarchal traditions transmuted by incoming Dorian patriarchs (see also the work of Maria Gimbutis and Riane Eisler) and centuries of his-story. The author strives to recover something of the earlier traditions in her lively, and at times lyric, reconstruction of the pre-Olympian goddesses.
The book left me with an open reflection. To some extent the story of Ulysses has followed me for years (or I have followed it), and I've come to appreciate what I perceive as the feminine warrior protectiveness of Athena, one of my favorites of the Greek pantheon. As Minerva her visage adorns the Great Seal of my homeland, California. And yet according to this book, Athena was made into a soldier by bloodthirsty male barbarians. Although there can be little doubt about the patriarchal distortions of the Greek goddesses--how many positive stories do you hear about Hera?--I'm wondering if we lose something in relegating quite so much to these distortions. Athena "feels" fiercely protective (but not soldierly) to me in dreams, in active imagination, and in fantasy: is this her quality, an archetypal aspect of her being, or does it merely derive from my being a man raised in a patriarchy? Or a man with an assertive anima? I don't know.
In any case this book remains a nice counterbalance to the usual versions of Homeric and Olympian mythology we find even now in most books dealing with Greek deities. There is also a cutting criticism of Jungian conflations of goddess, femininity, and darkness that will delight readers tired of hearing about the passive, yin-like, and shadowy "archetypal feminine," a convenient category for shoring up unjust power relations.
Pre-Transformation Goddesses.......2002-12-27
Like Robert Graves, Spretnak has merged history and myth, using both to support the other. As such, she has left herself open to accusations of presenting bad history which leaves her poetry ignored. And, like the White Goddess, it is the poetry that is this book's strength and purpose. Unlike Graves, though, her scholarship is not all bad. She gives her interpretation of evidence, which she then references for anyone to see where she got her ideas. I would have liked to see her give an explanation for her interpretations, and I would also have liked for her introductions to each myth to have been more in depth; for this only four stars. However, her interpretations are in line with other authors who have looked at the Goddesses of Greece as more than background characters for the male actors. For more scholarly works on the subject of early Greek goddesse, I would recommend The Transformation of Hera by Joan O'Brien, and Foley's translation and commentaries on The Homeric Hymn to Demeter
Previous comments misrepresent this book as touchy-feely, matriarchal, rock worship. Such is not the case. Hellenic women were married at an early age in order to `tame' them - an unmarried, post-pubescent girl was thought to be dangerous (compare with myths of male heroes taming the Amazons by sleeping with their Queen). This book, while growing out of feminist and earth-centered movements, is myth and history illuminating who these goddesses may have been before myth tamed them through marriage to gods.
Glimpses of Goddesses Before They Were Demoted.......2002-01-21
Some of the reviews of this book I believe are misleading. Yes, Ms Spretnak is a feminist; yes, she can be political about it. But I don't think she was presenting an agenda with this book. She took fragments of pre-Hellenic myths, and fleshed them out so they'd make sense. And she did so in a beautiful lyric style!
"The goal of such work [extending the knowledge of pre-Hellenic culture] is not the reinstatement of prehistoric cultural structures, but rather the transmission of possibilities" As we know, history is written by the winners, and when the gods we now are most familiar with, the "classical" myths, were brought into the culture, the older myths which were more matrifocal largely vanished. Not to devalue Homer, but there is genuine value in these much older myths, just as we hold Virgil and Homer in high regard for their telling of newer gods.
The pre-Hellenic myths give us a glimpse into a culture where Hera (for instance) was powerful in her own right, not merely a consort and sister to Zeus. How can knowing two sides of a story be a bad thing? History may be written by the winners, but those who were conquered left traces of themselves behind, too, and you can read about some of it here.
Nature Good, Man Bad.......2000-11-16
I read this book after reading Kenn Kassman's "Envisioning Ecotopia," which talked about Mystical Deep Ecology and used this author as primary source material. I wanted to get a closer look at the wacky ideas found in Kassman's book. I wasn't disappointed. I do have to say this book is kind of hard to describe. On the surface it is mostly made up of little biographies of Greek goddesses, but when one looks closer, sinister motives can be seen. The book turns out to be a mishmash of pseudo-history, pop psychology and touchy-feely leftism all rolled up into an unpleasant mixture. Spretnak has used material found in this book in some of her other works, such as "The Spiritual Dimension of Green Politics", another book I'll force myself to review here on Amazon.com.
Spretnak is one of the main theologians/theorists of the leftist Deep Ecology movement, which advocates a return to a simplier time when people regularly prayed to rocks and starved to death when the weather turned bad. Answers to problems were solved by ritualistic prayers to some goddess who could make everything well with the wave of a hand. These rituals involved a lot of hand holding, singing and other warm and fuzzy things that leftists love so much.
To be fair, Spretnak does give the reader a brief introduction that explains her cosmology. In short, Spretnak believes that the old Greek goddesses, which represented a better time when women rightfully controlled everything, were overthrown by the patriarch-dominated society that was created when Greece was invaded in antiquity. These male invaders subordinated the goddesses, who were earth based and replaced them with sky gods such as Zeus. Spretnak wants to help women regain their lost mantle by showing the reader how these goddesses were originally before male hegemony forced them into unnatural roles.
This book is miserable drivel, and as a historical work, it stinks. I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone who isn't on heavy thorazine treatments. Actually, when I think about it, maybe the author was on thorazine when she wrote this. It would certainly account for the mindlessness of the whole thing. I gave the book two stars due to the artwork of the various goddesses, which was fairly well done. Still, this book has some value in giving the reader a close look into the mind of the Deep Ecology movement.
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