Troy [Hardcover]

Adele Geras (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 2001

The classic struggle between Greece and Troy brought to life by a panoramic chorus of voices both humble and high, human and divine.
The siege of Troy has lasted almost ten years. Inside the walled city, food is becoming scarce and the death toll is rising. From the heights of Mount Olympus, the Gods keep watch.
But Aphrodite, Goddess of Love, is bored with the endless, dreary war, and so she turns her attention to two sisters: Marpessa, who is gifted with God-sight and serves as handmaiden to Helen, the most beautiful woman in the world; and Xanthe, who is kind and loving and tends the wounded soldiers in the Blood Room. When Eros fits an arrow to his silver-lit bow and lets it fly, neither sister will escape its power.
With vitality and grace, Adèle Geras breathes personality, heartbreak, and humor into this classic story. This is truly an inspired novel, told through the eyes of the women of Troy, in which the Gods move among mortals and an ancient city is brought to life.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Homer's mighty epic poem, The Iliad, is the earliest written literature of Western civilization. Adele Geras, best known for her trilogy based on Sleeping Beauty, takes on the seemingly impertinent task of retelling the siege of Troy as a young adult novel, but manages to carry it off without trivializing the original. The great battles of the bronze-clad warriors and the clashes between Achilles and Hector and Odysseus are seen at a distance from the walls of the city, where the Trojan townsfolk gather to sit each day and cheer the action like spectators at some archaic football game.

The passion of Helen and Paris, Hector's farewell to his ill-fated infant son, and other familiar domestic scenes are seen from a closer perspective, through the eyes of the four teenage protagonists. Marpessa is Helen's young servant, and her sister Xanthe is nursemaid to Hector's baby son, while Iason, who is secretly beloved by their friend Polyxena, tends the horses and yearns for Xanthe, who has a crush on Alastor, who has impregnated Marpessa. These complicated, interlocking infatuations and love affairs work themselves out against a background of siege and bloodshed watched over by the gods. Artemis, Mars, Poseidon, and Pallas Athene appear in visions to reveal their plans to the characters (and to us), but their words blow away like mist as soon as they are gone. Meanwhile, the bawdy gossip of three old serving maids in the kitchen emulates a Greek chorus. The story winds to its inevitable destination with the emergence of the Greeks from the wooden horse and the bloody sack of the city--a suitably violent end to an ancient and violent tale. (Ages 12 and older) --Patty Campbell

From Publishers Weekly

With exceptional grace and enormous energy, Geras (The Tower Room; Pictures of the Night) recreates the saga of the Trojan war from a feminist perspective, by delving into the hearts and minds of the women behind the scenes. The author plunges readers into the thick of the action to become intimately acquainted with both familiar mythological characters and the common folk around whom this retelling revolves. She focuses primarily on two orphaned sisters: Xanthe, caretaker of Andromache's child and a healer in the "blood room" where the injured men are taken, and Marpessa, Helen's favored assistant who can see the gods. The siblings are devoted to each other until Aphrodite reeks havoc in their lives, causing them to fall in love with the same wounded soldier. Although Xanthe nurses young Alastor back to health, he chooses instead soft-spoken Marpessa to be his lover, despite the fact that his mother has already arranged for him to be married to a girl of higher standing. While jealousy rends the bond between sisters, the fighting outside the city walls continues. Hector, Paris and Achilles play out their dramatic finales while "gossips" (older servants reminiscent of a Greek chorus) recount tales of victory and woe (the infamous "Judgment of Paris," the tale of how Ulysses was drafted into the Trojan War, etc.). Meanwhile, gods and goddesses Zeus, Hermes, Ares, Athena, Poseidon and Aphrodite drift in and out of people's lives like fragments of dreams to offer mixed blessings, prophesies and consolation. The effect of this novel is similar to that of a confidently conducted symphony that brings new meaning to a renowned masterpiece: harmonious strains alternate with cacophonous segments to evoke a vast array of moods. Multidimensional images of familiar mythological characters emerge deities who hold the fates of Trojans in their hands as well as human heroes and heroines who change the course of the war. But Geras focuses most of the attention on the universal experiences of mortals struggling to survive. Mythology buffs will savor the author's ability to embellish stories of old without diminishing their original flavor; the uninitiated will find this a captivating introduction to one of the pivotal events of classic Greek literature. Ages 14-up. (May)
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 14 and up
  
• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Harcourt Children's Books (May 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0152164928
• ISBN-13: 978-0152164928
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (56 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #766,617 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I was born in Jerusalem in 1944 and educated at Roedean School, Brighton and St Hilda's college, Oxford.
I've been writing books for children and young adults since 1976 and have published more than 90 titles.
I've also written four adult novels, published by Orion Books.
My website is at http://www.adelegeras.com

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Iliad--in English, June 2, 2001

By 

E. A Solinas "ea_solinas" (MD USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Troy (Hardcover)

The Iliad is enjoyable as a great work of ancient literature, but oft-neglected due to the fact that it's written in a distant and often difficult style. This book gives us a good insight into how people would have felt and seen things.

The war between Greece and Troy has been lasting years, and Troy is beginning to crumble under relentless pressure to win back the beautiful Helen.

The characters we know already, Paris and Helen and Hector and so forth, are shown from the viewpoints of servant girls, who have a tangle of loves and infatuations worthy of a high school soap. Marpessa is Helen's servant, and her sister Xanthe is Hector's son's nurse. Their anguishes and loves spin their courses as Troy collapses ever further, a situation including the famed wooden horse.

The gods appear, as they do in myth and legend, but only in brief spurts -- the humans are the ones we wish to see here. And it is these unknowns, the invented people that interest us for anyone with a passing knowledge of the Iliad will know the conclusion for Troy, for Paris, for Helen. But we don't know what will happen to Marpessa and Xanthe, and thus we care a great deal.

Marpessa and Xanthe are interesting characters, but I often felt that the focus shifted a little too far off them. That, and I got bored easily by the kitchen gossip — it was entertaining for a bit but got a little older later on. I also tended to get a little lost in the tangle of who-loves-who, where A loved B who is secretly in love with C, who got A pregnant.

One inevitable thing is that the writing style will be a bit off when one adapts a novel from an ancient poem. Often it seemed to sag or to lose something that could have made a scene sparkle. It was fairly sprightly throughout most of the book, but I felt that it was a bit "off" when the major events of the legend came together at the finale.

Overall, an enjoyable adaptation with a few awkward spots, but a nice read.

14 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Troy: Giving Teenagers a Bad Name, May 8, 2006

By 

Bookworm Extraordinaire "Me" (San Fran, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Troy (Paperback)

Contrary to popular belief, most people buy books about Troy to read (no kidding!) about Troy! Never would have guessed, would you?

This book (a bestseller ENTITLED Troy), however, is determined to add something more:

TEENAGERS AND THEIR SORDID LOVE LIVES!

While the battle rages outside Troy's walls, the two protagonists, sisters Marpessa and Xanthe, obsess, cry, yell, and catfight over a boy (beautiful Alastor who spent all of five seconds in battle before getting wounded)!

Instead of a fierce ten-year battleground, the city of Troy becomes an attractive backdrop for a teenage soap opera. And instead of the epic this tale should have been, readers are left with girl fights, premarital sex, and (of course) unwanted pregnancies!

Might as well watch it on TV!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good Overall Book, April 3, 2003

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Troy (Hardcover)

Although this book is good and interesting, some of the things could have been better
First of all, even though the book is set in Troy and tells the basic story, it is mainly about the feautered sisters and thier love life. Also, the ending is rather vauge.
I would still get this book, but I would recomend Inside The Walls of Troy instead. It is much more about Troy and its story.