So good I actually cried at the end!

The story is set in Ancient Greece during the time of the Trojan War, but it is not about the war. Sirena is a mermaid who, along with her numerous sisters, sings to attract the attention and love of mortal men. As soon as a mortal loves a mermaid the mermaid becomes immortal, and that is something all mermaids want. The mermaids’ singing does attract a ship but it runs aground on the rocks and many of the sailors drown (which was not the mermaids intention). Horrified by the unintended deaths, Sirena vows to never sing to a mortal man again, and she leaves her sisters to go live in isolation near an uninhabited island. Then one day a man is marooned on the island.

What I loved about this particular mermaid story is that it is not centered around the mermaid altering her appearance in order to gain love. She does not trade in her voice, or her fins for a pair of legs. Instead the questions are do you give up immortality in order to live your life with your lover? Or do you love more deeply because you know one day it will end? One of the things that always bothered me about Hans Christian Anderson’s “Little Mermaid” was that she wasn’t good enough as she was to be loved by the prince; she had to give up two big things (her voice and fin). Plus she had to leave her world and live in his, and after all this he still didn’t love her (hope this isn’t a spoiler for anyone who hasn’t read the original fairy tale).

Sirena has no desire to be human; her desire is to be loved by a human. This is a young adult novel, but I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys a nice love story with a little bit of mythology thrown in.

I'd forgotten how fucking amazing this book is. Read it. Read it, now.

I'd forgotten how fucking amazing this book is. Read it. Read it, now.

I was interested in finding out more about Assia; the telling of her I found to be hopelessly indulgent.

I was interested in finding out more about Assia; the telling of her I found to be hopelessly indulgent.

For God's sake, Emma: appropriating poetry that will always be better than your own does not make you a good author. Your fraudulence, in fact, is even more obvious than Sylvia Plath's meglomania. Get out of my house, slash just use your own frickin' words in the future, because some of the turns of phrase that were actually yours were kind of pretty (when they weren't being gushing or intrusive, that is). I suspect I only even gave this book a two because I am so interested in its subject matter - what a myth are Ted and Sylvia.

For God's sake, Emma: appropriating poetry that will always be better than your own does not make you a good author. Your fraudulence, in fact, is even more obvious than Sylvia Plath's meglomania. Get out of my house, slash just use your own frickin' words in the future, because some of the turns of phrase that were actually yours were kind of pretty (when they weren't being gushing or intrusive, that is). I suspect I only even gave this book a two because I am so interested in its subject matter - what a myth are Ted and Sylvia.

The most interesting parts of this book for me were the parts describing the Garden, and Adam and Eve before and during the fall. The last two books, where Adam is shown what's to come for humanity, are less interesting and kind of obnoxious.
I like Milton's interpretations of the fall. They make God seem awfully petty. The Garden is described as so wonderful, and to be kicked out of it is the most horrible thing. Punishment seems way out of proportion of the crime.

Typically, I get half way through this, abandon it for months, perpetuate my inertia by assuming it'll take too much of me to get back into it, then spontaneously remove it from my shelf one morning and whack out the remaining half in less than a day. Of course it was amazing; I shouldn't need to even allude to that. I was left somewhat distraught, though: Milton's writing is so alive, so fiery, when it is about Satan, and Adam and Eve's pain, and the terror of their love and, thieving my opinion from Blake, the discrepancy between that magnificence and the flatness, the falsity, of the sections concerning heavenly beings left me feeling as though I'd been denied something yet more fantastic. I feel peevish attacking Milton for not being consistently breathtaking - it should be enough just to have written the chapters of disarming amazingness that he has done - but still, I feel the God bits were written out of obligation, and as such are unspeakably crude. They disappoint and frustrate me; they turn even beautiful language into a grey mass of ... nothing, really. It sounds a false dichotomy even to read it back to myself, even hours after feeling that disappointment, but it's true, I know it. Anyway, that's why this gets a four: for being superb only inconsistently; for causing me pain that I abhorred as well as pain that I welcomed. I will read it to my children, but not in its entirety.

Reading this book, I'm of the devil's party and I know it. I think I'm with Empson on this one... I would be more certain of it if his book, 'Milton's God', didn't cost £815.00! Yes, I felt that deserved an exclamation mark.

Typically, I get half way through this, abandon it for months, perpetuate my inertia by assuming it'll take too much of me to get back into it, then spontaneously remove it from my shelf one morning and whack out the remaining half in less than a day. Of course it was amazing; I shouldn't need to even allude to that. I was left somewhat distraught, though: Milton's writing is so alive, so fiery, when it is about Satan, and Adam and Eve's pain, and the terror of their love and, thieving my opinion from Blake, the discrepancy between that magnificence and the flatness, the falsity, of the sections concerning heavenly beings left me feeling as though I'd been denied something yet more fantastic. I feel peevish attacking Milton for not being consistently breathtaking - it should be enough just to have written the chapters of disarming amazingness that he has done - but still, I feel the God bits were written out of obligation, and as such are unspeakably crude. They disappoint and frustrate me; they turn even beautiful language into a grey mass of ... nothing, really. It sounds a false dichotomy even to read it back to myself, even hours after feeling that disappointment, but it's true, I know it. Anyway, that's why this gets a four: for being superb only inconsistently; for causing me pain that I abhorred as well as pain that I welcomed. I will read it to my children, but not in its entirety.

Lovely, lovely book. A great book on mythology and I love that the story is told from Helen's point of view.

Re-reading seems an unnecessary luxury at the moment, but this is short, and it's in my top three favourite books of all time, and I needed it. This book sets out everything imperative to my being; I can think of nothing as beautiful or as perfect in the world.

The little prince is
from another planet so
he's different from me.

Re-reading seems an unnecessary luxury at the moment, but this is short, and it's in my top three favourite books of all time, and I needed it. This book sets out everything imperative to my being; I can think of nothing as beautiful or as perfect in the world.

"It is in the heart that one can see rightly. What is essential is invicible to the eye."

This was just great. I mean, as far as damnation stories go there's not much about Vathek content-wise that truly sets it apart, but the language is so intense, so passionate, and I'd fallen in love with Beckford after about a page of the introduction. I also found his depiction of Hell especially affecting. It's the kind of thing I want to learn most of so I can trail off quotes at unsuspecting types and make myself look even more pretentious than I already do.

This was just great. I mean, as far as damnation stories go there's not much about Vathek content-wise that truly sets it apart, but the language is so intense, so passionate, and I'd fallen in love with Beckford after about a page of the introduction. I also found his depiction of Hell especially affecting. It's the kind of thing I want to learn most of so I can trail off quotes at unsuspecting types and make myself look even more pretentious than I already do.