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15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The price of leadership, May 15, 2004
This review is from: The Songs of the Kings: A Novel (Paperback)
Barry Unsworth is clever. He tells the story of the sacrifice of Iphigeneia but his commentary is relevant to all times, especially our own. His insertion of contemporary expressions added wry humor. Agamemnon, however, remained a puzzle, motivated by greed and power, determined to unite the Greeks and destroy the Trojans, he is manipulated into a cul de sac by his chief scribe, Odysseus, and the priests of Zeus. He must sacrifice his beloved daughter to appease Zeus and thus change the winds in favor of the Greek fleet. Odysseus, the scribe, and the priests continue to support this course of action openly to build consensus among hte Greeks and maintain the unity of the Greek troops. The one false note here is that when a powerful leader is forced into making such a sacrifice by his counselors, his resentment later erupts to destroy those who manipulated him into a corner. Odysseus was too clever not to recognize that Agamemnon's resentment would eventually erupt and be aimed at those who restricted his previous course of action. Homosexuality was dealt with in the novel as an ordinary daily occurance, both in the relationship between the priest of Apollo, Calchas and his beautiful acolyte and then in the relationship between Achilles and Patroclus, his cousin and lover. Achilles had the cruelty and arrogance of the beautiful and athletic demi-god, cutting of the head of a thief for a petty crime. Unsworth reveals the desires for power and wealth that motivated the Greeks, using the seduction/kidnapping of Helen by Paris as a pretext. The wronged husband Menelaus is a fool, rapist, bore that surely was disgusting to Helen. In the same way that Agamemnon's revenge was never fully developed, Iphigenia's agreement to her own sacrificial death was not fully developed either. Unsworth states that the father did not have enough sense of duty and the daughter had too much of a sense of duty. Thus he is pressured by Odyssus to assume leadership including making any sacrifice to unite his troops. Iphigenia is also pressured by Odyssus to make her ultimate sacrifice to her father and the nations of Greece as they move toward triumph. I have to give Unsworth credit for writing a page turner, even knowing the end, I was compelled to read faster and faster as the Princess moved toward her doom. In her arrogance, Iphigenia was not a sympathetic victim. But the stupidity and manipulative world of men made her a victim and worthy of some sympathy.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Fun with Greek myths!, March 11, 2004
In this novel, Unsworth retells Greek story/myth of Agamemnon, Iphigeneia and the wind at Aulis that just wouldn't stop so that the Greeks could sail to attack Troy and reclaim Helen and their honor. He writes with a delicious, tongue-in-cheekiness, fleshing out the characters to real people with real, and sometimes annoying, personality traits. The great hero Odysseus is a cocky trouble maker with a penchant for hearing himself speak. Achilles is flamboyant and egotistical. Agamemnon is willing to do whatever it takes to stay in power. Short, unattractive Menelaus is convinced that only kidnapping could have pulled Helen from his side and, um, prowess. The main theme of the story, though unspoken, is that of public relations--"good press" if you will. The will of the people was easily manipulated through the innuendo, stories and sometimes outright lies told by the Singer. As there was only one Singer in the camp, his good opinion--and his song--was bought by the highest bidder. What they heard the Singer tell was what became the truth. A jab at modern day press, perhaps? The story is often told from the standpoint of outsiders. Calchas, an Asian priest who has found favor with Agamemnon tells a large part of the narrative, as does Iphigeneia's maid Sisipyla. This looking in from the outside gives a different slant to the story, showing some actions, events and gods as alien. This alien-ness is balanced by the views of Odysseus (as in the above quotation) and other Greek characters, both major and minor, seeing their world as the only natural way. These two views combine with good solid writing to form a fascinating tale that is hard to put down, even though I knew how it was going to end. Anyone who enjoys Greek myths and would be amused (as opposed to horrified) to hear famous Greek heroes talk in modern lingo about "CV's" and "glad rags" and "blabbermouths" will probably get a kick out of The Songs of the Kings. I found it a fun read and definitely recommend it, though I was disappointed that Unsworth choose to end it where he did--I felt it should have went on just a bit longer. Nevertheless, I rate it an 8 of 10.
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12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Songs of the Kings, February 3, 2004
Barry Unsworth shines light on an early event from the annals of the Trojan War--that dark period when the allied Greek fleet was massed at Aulis on the eastern coast of Greece, ready to set out across the Aegean to Troy, but was prevented from sailing by adverse winds. As Unsworth tells it, the assembled Greeks are growing increasingly contentious with the delay, and some remedy is required. The man with a plan, naturally enough, is wily Odysseus--star of Homer's Odyssey--here presented as a Machiavellian manipulator of words and men. Charmingly enough, he is wont to affect being lost for a word, and he compliments whoever supplies him with one with a very British sounding "Brilliant!" Also on hand are those sons of Atreus, Agamemnon--the commander-in-chief of the operation, from whom a sacrifice is allegedly demanded by Zeus if the ships are ever to get underway--and Menelaus, wronged husband of Helen. You will remember that Helen was spirited away from her home by the Trojan prince Paris, the offense which was the direct cause of the Trojan War (her face launching a thousand ships and all that). Unsworth's Menelaus is a comical buffoon who can't wrap his mind around the possibility that Helen may have run off willingly: "Must I remind you that my Helen is currently in a Trojan dungeon, being violated on an hourly basis? And I've told you before, she wasn't seduced, she was kidnapped." As the story goes, Agamemnon sends for his daughter Iphigeneia to come to the fleet at Aulis--I shan't tell you why. Thus we have, in the second part of the book, a glimpse of the princess's life at Mycenae. There one evening she tells her slave Sisipyla the story of her family's proud history of incestuous cannibalism: how her great-grandfather Pelops was mashed into a tantalizing stew by his father Tantalus and served to the gods (he got better), and how her grandfather Atreus in turn butchered his brother's three sons and served them up to their father. Sisipyla, hearing the story and thinking to comfort Iphigeneia, who seems strangely affected by the telling of her family's exploits, says, "It's always the children who suffer, isn't it?" A great line. Unsworth's prose, as you've probably already noticed, is less stilted than one often finds in historical novels, for which I applaud it, though it is admittedly an odd experience to hear his loin-girded characters speak of "collateral damage," or to hear Agamemnon's scribe say of the hero Palamades, "[H]is father was one of that band of heroes who sailed with Jason on the Argo in the quest for the Golden Fleece. That's the sort of thing that is bound to look impressive on a person's CV." Readers who are already familiar with the story of Iphigeneia at Aulis will know more or less how Unsworth's story goes. Or will they? Because there is that alternate ending in which the goddess Artemis steps in and saves the day at the last moment.... Reviewed by Debra Hamel, author of Trying Neaira: The True Story of a Courtesan's Scandalous Life in Ancient Greece
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