The Bull From the Sea [Paperback]

Mary Renault (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Vintage Books; First Edition edition (1975)
• Language: English
• ASIN: B000HFJDH4
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,893,838 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Another find in Renault's Attic, December 20, 2003

By 

JLind555 - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Bull from the Sea (Paperback)

"The Bull from the Sea" picks up from the moment "The King Must Die" ended, when Theseus returns from the destruction of Minoan Crete to learn that his father has committed suicide in his despair over his son's fate, and he is now king of Athens. The first chapters in the book seem fairly tame in comparison with the non-stop action of its predecessor, but the action picks up considerably with Theseus' invasion of Scythia and his battle with the Amazons and their queen Hippolyta, who turns out to be his soulmate and the one love of his life. When Hippolyta is killed in battle, Theseus is left with the legacy of their love, their son Hippolytos, and his other son, Akamas, by his wife Phaedra who he married strictly for policy, the sister of his first love Ariadne whom he abandoned at the end of "The King Must Die". Theseus's disillusionment in his sons and his betrayal by Phaedra reflect the growing cynicism of an aging king and shows us a sharply different Theseus than the intrepid young man of the first book. As usual, Renault's scrupulous research and her skill as a writer make her a joy to read; what makes me give this book four stars instead of five is its ending, which seems to be not so much an ending as a train wreck. It's as if somewhere in the last third of "The Bull from the Sea", Renault lost interest in her subject and just wanted to wrap the whole thing up and dispense with it. Perhaps the Theseus legend proved to be too much for one book, but not enough for two. Of all her historical novels, this one is probably her weakest; but when Renault is good, she is very, very good, and this book, while not her best, is very good indeed.

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The other side of myth in "Bull", December 30, 2002

By 

Kris Dotto "Bookworm Extraordinaire" (Phoenix, AZ USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Bull from the Sea (Paperback)

Mary Renault's "The King Must Die" presented the mythological hero Theseus as a cocky young man who leads a revolt, frees his fellow Athenian slaves, and becomes a king. In "The Bull From The Sea," Theseus confronts the rest of his life and the strange destiny foretold to him on his homecoming from Crete.

Theseus's homecoming is marked by tragedy. His father Aigeus dies on seeing his ship come in with a black sail, thinking Theseus is lost. An old crone warns him, "Loose not the Bull from the Sea!" and, thanks to an encounter with a fearsome white bull imported from Crete, Theseus believes he's met the curse and dispelled any danger to himself or his reign. He attempts to settle down, eventually betrothing himself to young Phaedra, daughter of the dead king Minos of Crete.

Unfortunately for Phaedra, Theseus's friend Pirithous (a wonderful scoundrel) leads him off on an adventure to the Black Sea. There, Theseus encounters Amazons--notably, their young leader Hippolyta, with whom he falls in love. And his life takes a strange turn, for better and for worse.

Theseus continues to be cocky, but as the story goes along his tone changes; he becomes wearier, more cynical, with the passage of time and grief. Hippolyta is vividly portrayed, a grave young woman full of honor and bravery, who helps Theseus create a life in Athens that keeps his restlessness contained. When the Amazons come to reclaim their queen, Theseus and Hippolyta make a believable pair; the depiction of the battles are Homeric, thrilling and poetic. But when Theseus wins the war and loses Hippolyta, he loses a vital part of himself as well--the king is swiftly replaced by the adventurer.

All the elements of the myth are accounted for. Pirithous's wedding feast and the battle of the Centaurs is like a train-wreck; we see it coming and can't look away for all the pain. So is the end of Oedipus at Kolonos. This is the most beautiful chapter in the book, and it foreshadows Theseus's end without giving anything away. Oedipus, the man who tried to outrun a curse, is the adventurer who also found a kingdom and lost everything in the end; Theseus, still young and powerful, is too horrified by what he must do for Oedipus to read anything into his fate for himself. But the episode of Hippolytus and Phaedra is the grimmest of all, a tangle of misunderstandings and lies that drives Theseus to curse his own son. That he justifies it to himself at the moment makes his epiphany later a bitter experience.

The epilogue, if it can be called that, is Theseus's reclamation from that act, and his atonement. The final paragraphs, melancholy yet wistful, are a fitting end to this story of a man who longed to be a legend and became one, only to be tripped up by his pride in the end.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of my favorite books, October 19, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Bull from the Sea (Mass Market Paperback)

They really must have people who review these books declare their age. This is without a doubt one of the greatest books I have ever read. I highly recommend it for anyone with an IQ over 120, or five years out of puberty. It is not a book that should be force fed to students in High School. It is such a shame they force feed books to us, isn't it? I remember having Huckleberry Finn shoved down my throat. I hated it. Later, around the age of 20 or so. I went back and read it again and was able to understand the depth of the novel. This book is much the same way. Children forced to read it in High School should really not be reviewing it.