30 of 35 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Very enjoyable, March 12, 1999
By A Customer
This arrangement and translation of the classic Græco-Roman myths is enjoyable, absorbing, and unique. The translator has the rare gift of preserving the poetryof the original but still making the translation adapt to English vernacular. Also, the book is written in the style of a verbal storyteller, and reflects on the riseof Christianity and the subsequent death of the Olympians.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
GODS, HEROES AND MEN OF ANCIENT GREECE by W. H. D. Rouse, March 27, 2009
This review is from: Gods, Heroes and Men of Ancient Greece: Mythology's Great Tales of Valor and Romance (Paperback)
Gods, Heroes and Men of Ancient Greece: Mythology's Great Tales of Valor and Romance is a 1934 book of Greek mythology by W. H. D. Rouse, who was known for pioneering the Direct Method of teaching Greek and Latin in Britain. This book contains the Greek creation myths, the tales of Heracles, Jason, Theseus, and Perseus, and miscellaneous smaller stories. It is geared to a young adult audience.
Gods, Heroes and Men of Ancient Greece has been heavily edited for content and length. The book is only 200 pages, which isn't enough space for half of these stories. Some of the tales are completely butchered; there's so much left out of Odysseus's story, for example, that one wonders why Rouse bothered with it in the first place. At times, Rouse rushes through stories and recounts events in a dry, history book way that completely robs these tales of their charm and appeal.
Rouse doesn't tell the stories in the most coherent fashion - not that the reader can't follow what is going on, but Rouse often leaves out characters' motivations for doing things. He will trudge through a pedestrian narrative only to omit some of the most interesting parts of many of these stories, as well as explanations for why or how things happened. Frequently the reader will reach the part of a story where he expects the payoff, only for Rouse to say, as he often does, "I can't tell you about that now."
This book includes commentary from the author in the text (example: "You see, Achilles and King Agamemnon had both lost their temper. I do not make any excuse for either of them; I am just telling the story."). Few of his observations are particularly astute or clever, and almost none of them would be necessary if he had done a better job telling the story.
In the best books of mythology, a writer breathes life into the ancient stories. Rouse, conversely, has made them dry and tedious. There's no real need to be lenient here because there are a million books on Greek mythology, for every target audience, and it shouldn't be difficult to find a better one than Gods, Heroes and Men of Ancient Greece, which is frustratingly poor.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
good introduction to greek mythology, October 5, 2009
I think this is a good starting book to engage people, like myself that are just beginning to get interested in mythology. Obviously some stories are severely shortened in order to include many stories, but this was a good read and movtivated me to go further--I am re-reading the Power of Myth by Joseph Campbell now.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
