Customer Reviews

Great Zeus and All His Children

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After all the bowdlerized, westernized, censored, and in other ways mutilated versions of Greek mythology served up to the general reader in the English language, here at last is something approaching the real thing.

Richardson is the honest mythographer we should have been reading all along. This is emphatically THE book to read to your children (as well as to yourself), if you at all want them to have a taste of the deep and vibrant stories of the Greeks. The psychological and dramatic truth of the stories shines forth here like nowhere else, and Hamilton, Graves and Evslin are reduced (at best) to research tools in comparison to the vigorous prose and galloping pace of Donald Richardson. The Greeks approached the sacred stories that they viewed as the foundation of their existence with a great sense of propriety, so what is left after stripping away the modern translators' veil of Victorian prudery is the undistilled humanity of a long-lost people, earthy, humorous, astute, and profound, but in no way obscene or prurient. Paradoxically, the closer we come to understanding the minds of the writers of these tales, a people who lived and died thousands of years ago, the more we begin to recognize ourselves.

The only drawback is the terrible production of the book, but my copy dates back to the late nineties, so perhaps by now the print-on-demand technology has evolved to the point of putting out books that are more legible, and that survive more than one reading.

Great Zeus and All His Children is an excellent place to start the study of Greek mythology. Although it should really be stressed that this book is for ADULTS, it is interesting reading full of heroic journeys and tragic tales. A must read for anyone interested in mythology.

NOT FOR YOUNG READERS!!!!

I first came across this book at the library and thoroughly enjoyed the read. Well written. Engaging. It's great. However, this paperback edition is so poorly produced I find it impossible to read. The type is uneven -- letters vary in thickness and some parts of the page are darker then others. It's painful and frustrating. I would check your local libary for a hardback edition before buying the paperback. Truly a shame.