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Sirena (Hardcover)

~ Donna Jo Napoli (Author) "I am waiting, impatient and excited..." (more)
Key Phrases: guardian birds, chin hair, Mother Dora, Little Iris, Bear Beach
4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (122 customer reviews)

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  Hardcover, September 30, 1998 -- $48.90 $0.64
  Paperback, October 31, 2000 -- $136.71 $0.93

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Donna Jo Napoli thoughtfully and poetically reexamined the story of Hansel and Gretel from the witch's point of view in The Magic Circle. Here, she retells the Greek myth of the Sirens, whose sweet, beckoning singing caused countless shipwrecks. But did the Sirens (who Napoli imagines as mermaids) really mean for the sailors to perish? Or were these sultry singers cursed themselves? In Napoli's tale, because they are half-human, the 10 Sirens are doomed to lead short mortal lives--unless they can convince men to become their mates. But after witnessing a shipwreck in which the survivors kill one of her sisters, 17-year-old Sirena decides she would rather lose her chance at eternal life than trick a human into loving her. She vows to live alone on "an island where the first rays of sun bring sight to blind eyes.... I am going there to find new sight. I will wipe from my brain the sights I have seen and start over." Little does she know that due to a jealous goddess, a sea-serpent bite, and a dead hero, a man will come to her island and love her for herself, not just her song. Sirena is the perfect teenage heroine--questioning authority and falling in love no matter what the consequences. In creating this beautiful story, Napoli brings mythology alive for today's young adults. (Ages 12 to 15) --Jennifer Hubert


From Publishers Weekly

Like its mermaid heroine, this uneven novel is something of a hybrid: a romantic fantasy imposed atop a classical legend. A lengthy, even laborious set-up invents a genealogy for mermaids within Greek mythology (at least, this appears invented; there are no source notes). Offered immortality if they can win a man's love, Sirena's mermaid sisters use their silvery voices to lure sailors to them even though it will cause the sailors certain death. Sirena, however, exiles herself from this grim mating game and winds up on the island of Lemnos. There she meets the Greek warrior Philoctetes (the subject of a famous play by Sophocles). True to the legend, this Philoctetes has been abandoned by his crew mates because of a snake bite?but instead of spending the next 10 years letting his wounds fester, per the Sophoclean model, this hero falls in love with an equally adoring Sirena. She becomes immortal, a gift that she does not want in light of her lover's inability to share it, and then she must yield him up when fate calls upon him to reenter the Trojan War. Napoli (Song of the Magdalene) is at her best when she compares Philoctetes's and Sirena's points of view about subjects like honor, but the bulky apparatus she constructs overwhelms the writing. The atmosphere is surprisingly arid, and the language slides dangerously between the stuff of high drama and pulp romance. There are better romantic YA novels built on Greek myth (e.g., Doris Orgel's The Princess and the God); for mermaid lore see Mary Pope Osborne's Mermaid Stories from Around the World. Ages 12-up.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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Product Details

  • Reading level: Young Adult
  • Hardcover: 256 pages
  • Publisher: Scholastic (October 1998)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0590383884
  • ISBN-13: 978-0590383882
  • Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.8 x 0.9 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
  • Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (122 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,020,220 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Front Cover | Front Flap | First Pages | Back Flap | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
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First Sentence:
I am waiting, impatient and excited. Read the first page
Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
guardian birds, chin hair
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Mother Dora, Little Iris, Bear Beach
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Customer Reviews

122 Reviews
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 (68)
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 (34)
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 (12)
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Average Customer Review
4.3 out of 5 stars (122 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars True love doesn't just exist in fairy tales, March 6, 2006
This review is from: Sirena (Paperback)
Sirena is a mermaid, a siren. One of fifty of her kind, the result of a rape (Eros the god of love and lust and a parrot fish) she is a creature of the gods, but not immortal. However, her sisters and her can become immortal if a man loves them. To help them with this they were given the gift of song.

The Trojan War approaches and more ships come by their rocky homes. They sing for the men to come to them, but the men drown or die on the rocky islands which have no food or water on them. Sirena is disgusted and saddened by the deaths, but her sisters don't care as long as they become immortal.

So she leaves and decides to forever live alone. But on the island where she decides to live a man is abandoned for ten long years, and a mermaid who thought she could only seduce becomes aware that true love does exists after all.

This is beautiful, sad and the way mythology should always be told. You can only hope when you finish it that our lovers are reunited someday somehow.

Five stars.
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16 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Destined to become a classic!, April 6, 2001
By Stephan Nance (Eugene, OR USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)      
This review is from: Sirena (Paperback)
This book is awesome! Sirena, one of the sirens (Greek mythological mermaids) is very different from the other sirens. She does not want to kill men in order to become immortal. She would rather live out her days alone and die without having to sing her siren song in order to seduce men into coming closer and destroying their boats---and sometimes themselves. So she takes off to the island of Lemnos, where she hopes to live in solitude. However, her peaceful life is soon interrupted by the arrival of some men, who abandon one of their fellow crew members (who has a fatal serpent wound---the handiwork of Hera). She cleans his wound while he is unconscious (although it doesn't stay clean, unfortunately) and finds food to leave with him. She eventually meets this man, although it is at first to her dismay. Find out what happens in this wonderful tale of mermaids, gods, goddesses, serpents, and other mythical creatures. A must-read for fans of mythology/love stories.
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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars Sirena- not what I was expecting, July 25, 2006
By Kelli "Future Star" (Washington, USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Sirena (Paperback)
I am slightly disappointed by author Donna Jo Napoli.

I had heard a lot of reviews praising "Sirena" and couldn't wait to read it; when I finally did so, I was slightly let down.
This book does not have the magic of many of Napoli's other books, and its story is not as captivating.

The plot sounds engaging at first; Sirena is a siren, cursed to be lonely and mortal unless she can find a man who will love her. Only then can she become immortal. However, she realizes too soon that her one gift for winning men, her seductive song, only leaves them either dead or angry. How can she ever find a human that will truly love her, when she is little more than a cursed hybrid?

The book starts out okay, too...but about halfway through we start realizing that there's not really much to the story. Most of the book is spent on the island of Lemnos, where not much happens and we are just sort of dragged through a muddy plotline. Sirena's whole point of living--her quest to find a man to love her-- covers very little of the book, and once she gains immortality, there's really not anywhere else to go. The book covers many years and after a while the chapters just turn into random events that happen to Sirena and her lover. The end is not satisfying, either; perhaps if the book were a little more interesting, I would have been truly sad for our heroine. As it is though, it just lets you down even more. The reader knows that their romance will not be able to work out in the end; love is hard between a mortal man and an immortal mermaid; but the ending is still rather awfully put.

However, I did like the concept or the siren who does not wish to destroy...it gives a new meaning to the "merciless" seductresses. The book is full of Greek mythology, so if you're new to it it may be a little overwhelming, but it is very interesting to learn all of the little stories that you may or may not have heard before.

Overall, I was sort of disappointed with "Sirena," at most I would give it 3 1/2 stars, but it is still an interesting read. Especially if you are into Greek mythology.

Kelli
Future Star
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Should be required reading
I am a fantasy lover. Anything that involves mermaids, faeries, elves, and vampires intrigues me. This is by far one of the best books I have ever read. Read more
Published 4 months ago by marblecheshire

3.0 out of 5 stars Sirena
I liked this fairy tale by Ms. Napoli fairly well but I didn't think it was my favorite of hers. Sirena is one of fifty mermaids born of the eggs of a rainbow fish, fathered by... Read more
Published 11 months ago by Maria Waltner

4.0 out of 5 stars Alright but...
I enjoyed this novel, I love retellings of fairytales and though I'm not all the big on the immortality idea the plot was fun and generally quite enjoyable. Read more
Published 14 months ago by Faith Stein

3.0 out of 5 stars A different spin on the classic myth
The sirens of classical Greek mythology were creatures with the head, arms, & breasts of a woman but their body was like that of a human-sized bird. Read more
Published 15 months ago by Peekablue

3.0 out of 5 stars Easy read yet not entirely worth reading
Having read one of Donna Jo Napoli's other books, Zel, I knew what to expect from her writing. She's lyrical in a melancholic kind of way. Read more
Published 19 months ago by V. Nunez

2.0 out of 5 stars I was expecting something better...
Well, I love stories about mermaids and I really wanted this book. But I was in for a big disappointment.
Sirena is a mermaid longing for immortality. Read more
Published on May 25, 2007 by Twilight Geisha

3.0 out of 5 stars Sirena
The book Sirena is a very great book for someone who likes mushy/sad/lovey dovey stories.If you like books with a mystery in it you will not enjoy this book as much as someone who... Read more
Published on February 22, 2007

5.0 out of 5 stars looove!
i havent read this book in a while, but i have read it about 3 or 4 times! i loved the way the story moved and the way ms. napoli wrote it. Read more
Published on November 7, 2006 by pluckyduc007

5.0 out of 5 stars A story that sparkles...
Personally, I think this book deserves ten stars. If someone were to ask me what my favorite book is, I think I would have to point to this one! Read more
Published on September 28, 2006 by Amalia

5.0 out of 5 stars Sirena Review
Sirena by Donna Jo Napoli was a lovely novel. A mix of romance and adventure. The story starts of on the island Anthemoessa with Sirena and her 11 sisters. Read more
Published on May 8, 2006

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