What can I say? The book’s title says it all!
My wife and I have been avid fans of Greek mythology for a while now, for me it started when we listened to the entire Percy Jackson series a number of years back, while my wife’s fandom of Greek mythology goes back to her childhood, when she grew up reading her hardcover Greek mythology encyclopaedia. And to top that off, we’ve always enjoyed TV programming featuring Stephen Fry – so we were bound to enjoy his Mythos audio book!
Now when the book’s title states that it’s a retelling of Greek mythology by Stephen Fry – it literally does mean that the book is a literal retelling of the classic Greek tragedies and triumphs by Stephen Fry – but retold in his witty and sardonic style. Don’t be expecting a free-flowing epic tale of gods and monsters! But expect a 15+hour long, back-of-the-book style glossary, listing out countless titans and gods, but retold in short stories, in a style fitting for a 21st century entertainment consumer.
Let’s just say, expect to be more educated, than you’re going to be entertained (although Stephen Fry’s narration and delivery is all together entertaining). But what stood out for me after listening to Mythos, was the realisation of how much of ancient Greece has influenced our modern day English language, and how these stories have seeped into our consciousness knowingly and unknowingly through other famous pieces of art, plays and even in cartoons!
While listening to Mythos, I was reminded of the power of the human imagination; how all these characters, with unique personalities and attributes, each with highly complex relational ties with each other, were all dreamt up and then passed down through the generations to the present day. How centuries and centuries ago, they used tales to explain ‘why the sun rises every day’ or ‘how the bee got its sting’, no doubt these tales were designed to explain to pesky and inquisitive kids who keep asking why? How? Why? How?!
And we have to reemphasize that Stephen Fry has a true gift in literacy, his humorous writing style made every page of this otherwise encyclopaedic-like book amusing, and having him narrate the Audible audio recording was a perfect touch to complete this experience!
If you’re interested to check out Mythos: The Greek myths retold, click HERE!
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