Pan, both goat and god, is a curious being who roams nature searching, wondering, and frolicking with maenads and satyrs. He plays melodies on his reed flute, wooing animals to listen. He is a creature of mystery and delight. One day in his travels, Pan meets Iphigenia, a human raised as the daughter of King Agamemnon and Queen Clytemnestra. Pan is captivated by the young princess. Set against a landscape of myth and legend, Napoli’s latest tale is a love story wrought with sincere emotion and all that is great about the Gods.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From School Library Journal
Grade 8-10-Meet Pan: half-god/half-goat, full of life, frolicking in the woods with maenads, playing his pipes, and creating pan-ic. In Napoli's version of the story, he meets Iphigenia by chance and falls in love with her. Innocence disappears, and the curse placed upon him at birth-that he will never be loved-seems destined to come true, for his life revolves around finding her again. And he does find her, just as she is about to be sacrificed by her own father. Pan devises a trick to save Iphigenia's life at the expense of his own, his love for the woman outweighing his lust for life. Napoli has written a fine story-it is fast paced, the characters and setting are well realized, and it even has intrigue and randy scenes of woodland romps tailored for teens. However, scholars of Greek mythology will find a strange dichotomy in this story: many bits of the known tales of both Pan and Iphigenia are here, but there is also a fabricated story that connects the two characters. Napoli has included many details from ancient texts, providing needed background for mythology novices. However, she has also created a story that fills in the "gaps" in each tale, rewriting myth for modern readers. Purists may find fault with this, but teens who enjoyed books such as Caroline Cooney's Goddess of Yesterday (Delacorte, 2002) will simply find a good story.
Angela J. Reynolds, Washington County Cooperative Library Services, Hillsboro, OR
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Angela J. Reynolds, Washington County Cooperative Library Services, Hillsboro, OR
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
Gr. 7-10. As she did with Zel (1996) and Sirena (1998), Napoli reweaves an ancient story. Using first person, she boldly tells the tale of the god Pan, half man and half goat, and makes it a wrenchingly tender epic. Pan, the source of the word panic and of the pan pipes, is unsure of his parentage and of his place in the universe. Where does he belong? Whom can he count on? Who will love him? Napoli offers a beautiful metaphor of adolescence in Pan's dual journey of human and animal, god and mortal. When Pan falls in love with the princess Iphigenia, for whom a terrible fate awaits, he finds a way, at last, of saving her. Filling in gaps that appear in other myths about Pan and Iphigenia, Napoli creates a novel filled with breathtaking language about nature, music, and desire. Teen readers will swoon. GraceAnne DeCandido
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
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More About the Author
For all information about Donna Jo Napoli (books, events, biography, awards, contact information), please go to http://www.donnajonapoli.com
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Not her best, but sparkling with rich detail and new love!,
A Kid's Review
This review is from: The Great God Pan (Hardcover)
If you have read anything by Donna Jo Napoli, you would already know how she takes old legends and faerie tales and makes them sparking with new life and love. This is definitely an example of her ability to do so, although not one of my most favorite works by her, it is a very absorbing tale, rich with detail, lust, and the suspicion of unrequited love. Here, the heart-breaking tale of the half-goat, half-god, Pan is brought to life. Pan has always been happy. He is loved by both the gods and the goddesses, satisfied with frolicking about with the myaids of the wood which he lives in. His father is Hermes, of the winged slippers, Hermes, who guides the dead to Hades, his mother, a nymph whom he has never met, who abandoned him with his father at birth. Pan is joy. Pan is playful. "Perfect Pan" say the maiyads. "Pan of panic" says his father. Pan is happy, yes. Until he meets Igphenia. Igphenia is daughter of a king and queen, only she is really the daughter of Helen, of Troy. Igphenia, who knows as much about herbs and plants, if not more, than Pan himself. Igphenia, who is a mortal. "Never fall in love with a mortal," the goddesses tell him. "There is too much pain." Yes, Pan's story is one of pain. He meets her in a field, where they talk about herbs, sharing new remedies with each other. And then she goes, back to her mother and father, and he cannot stop thinking about her. And later, after another accidental meeting, he is even more infuatuated with her. In his mind he denies that he is in love with her, in his mind and his mouth, yet he is. Pan of Pain. In the end, he proves his love, his deep love, more than a simple infuatuation, when he makes his ultimate sacrifice for her. This is a lovely book with a horribly sad ending, an ending that will stay with you long after you read the last words.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
"Never Fall in Love with a Mortal...",
By
This review is from: The Great God Pan (Mass Market Paperback)
Donna Jo Napoli is famous for her retellings of fairytales; from Rapunzel ("Zel"), Rumplestiltskin ("Spinners") and Hansel and Gretel ("The Magic Circle"), but she's also done a couple of Greek myths as well: "Sirena", and this, "The Great God Pan". Taking inspiration from two mythological mysteries: the fate of Iphigenia (the king's daughter sacrificed in order to ensure safe passage to Troy) and the goat-legged god Pan (of whom Plutarch wrote: "the great god Pan is dead!") Napoli attempts to fill in the gaps in the stories.
Here Pan is presented as an innocent and carefree young god, who adores his father Hermes but whose mother is a mystery. He is happy roaming the countryside and sporadically spending time with the gods, till his life changes forever. He meets the young princess Iphigenia and cannot seem to get her out of his mind - especially when he begins to hear foreboding prophesies about her. Napoli weaves in other myths, giving them her own personal touch: the story of the nymph Syrinx and the origins of the syrinx instrument, the death of the healer Asclepius and of Orion, and the musical tournament between Pan and Apollo. Told in rich descriptive language, Napoli tells a bittersweet tale about these two individuals, which fits in well with her established canon of retold tales. To be honest, it's a little forgettable, and quite nearly as good as some of her other books, but is an interesting enough read for a rainy day and a particularly good book for those wanting to read up on their Greek mythology. Napoli tells a sympathetic story without taking away the inherent darkness and mischievousness found in many of the tales (something that other authors often do), and - as was her goal - fleshes out the lives of both Pan and Iphigenia.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Pan falls in love,
By silver elves "silver elves" (honolulu, hi.) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Great God Pan (Mass Market Paperback)
this is a tale of love between the Great God Pan...
dear lovers of mythology, ... and Iphigenia, who was sacrificed by the Greeks to appease the gods so that they would bring up the winds needed to sail to Troy. We've only read two of Donna Jo Napoli's books so far, this one and Sirena, but they were both wonderful retellings of ancient myths (in this case both greek myths). She is definitely worth reading. kyela, the silver elves
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