Customer Reviews

Paradise Lost: The Novel: Based Upon The Epic Poem By John Milton

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I was very interested in reading Paradise Lost but the language of the original version is simply too complex. I couldn't find a good abridged version so I found this. It is one of my favorite books.

The Good

It allows people to read Paradise Lost without having to have a 17th century translator. It is dramatic, tragic, and even has a little action.

The Bad

It is not written in modern English. It is in a semi-Shakespearian prose that can be hard to get through at times. If classics aren't exactly your thing then don't read this. Its also pretty hard to get a hold of.

Trying to decide between this Novel and its competitor, the Parallel Prose version? This may help.

If you are a student seeking an accurate, detailed, line by line paraphrase of Milton's language, the Parallel version does it as well as anything probably ever will. Use it as a research tool for specific assignments.

For enjoyable reading, however, the Novel is recommended. You can read this novel cover to cover in one afternoon. While it boldly changes elements of Milton's narrative in ways that would not be sanctioned by academia, the result is a remarkable work of literature in its own right.

I have read Paradise Lost and I will probably read it again. But this version is the one I will return to again and again, I suspect. It loses none of its power in the retelling.

The altering of a great classic for popular consumption is a controversial project, to say the least. The question of whether or not it should be done aside, let's consider how it was done in this case. As in any adaptation of material from one medium to another, accommodations, sometimes drastic ones, must be made. (God only knows what they will do when they turn this into a movie.) The author handles these delicate transitions as well as can be expected. First, he transforms the poem's several flashbacks into a simple, linear storyline. Despite the re-edited chronology of our introduction to Adam and Eve and to Satan and his development, there is no loss of dramatic effect. The author's other choices are equally competent. For example, Milton's long soliloquies are turned into the characters' thinking processes, making them more palatable to the modern reader. As for the de-poetization, you might expect the power of Milton's style to be simplified to death, but much of it does survive, this despite the fact that the author almost never quotes Milton exactly. His mimicry of the master's phrasing is so seamless that it's difficult to spot those sequences which are entirely new and original, and there are quite a few. In short, I was skeptical, but (Milton forgive me) I must admit I enjoyed the effortlessness of this read. Let's face it, for better or worse, books will be turned into plays, and plays will be turned into films, and cartoons will be turned into Broadway musicals, so why not an epic poem into a novel? Does this novel match the masterwork status of the original? Hardly. Is it more engrossing and more beautifully written than 90% of the novels on store and library shelves today? Easily.

Had problems with the original ? this version reads like a 'normal' book and makes reading the original a possibility.

This is the most inspiring book I have ever read. As a Christian, I never fully understood the "ways of God" This book clearly shows God's purpose for mankind in a very dramatic way. I highly recommend this beautiful book to persons of all faiths who seek enlightenment on our own beginnings and the roll Jesus Christ played at the very beginning.