Bull (By David Elliott) Review by Robenas Tadesse
If you’re just like me and love Greek mythology or any mythology in general but generally tend to avoid any form of poetry, Bull by David Elliott is probably worth a try. This poem book follows the story of the royal family of Crete and the Minotaur, but not just in an ordinary way, the style in which David Elliott structures this book is quite curious, as he writes each poem in the book from the perspective of a different character (i.e. Poseidon- king of the oceans, Minos- king of Crete, Daedalus- the royal family’s forcefully-kept engineer, Pasiphae- Minos’s wife and queen of Crete, Asterion- Asterion/the Minotaur, half man half bull, etc.). David Elliott transforms the arguably mundane story of the Minotaur and gives it a scornful, condescending, profanity-full, but particularly amusing twist. In other words, the general plot of the story is followed but with a modern-like tone.
The traditional story starts with a man by the name of Minos “humbly” requesting Poseidon to crown him king of all of Crete, a beautiful, luxurious island and the birthplace of Zeus, god of the skies. Poseidon grants his wish under one agreeably simple condition: (King) Minos sacrifices the stark-white bull that Poseidon conjures from the sea to Poseidon. Surprisingly or Unsurprisingly (depending on your background knowledge) King Minos does the opposite, deciding to keep the ethereal bull for himself. Poseidon is, of course, furious and– in mythology fashion– curses not King Minos, but his wife Pasiphae. The curse that Poseidon bestows upon Queen Pasiphae? An erotic attraction to the bull of Minos. Pasiphae, finding herself in quite an embarrassing and low position goes to Daedalus, son of Athena, goddess of wisdom, craft, and warfare, and their captured genius inventor. Pasiphae begs a disgusted Daedalus to build a hollow female cow out of wood and hide so she could… well I think you get the point.
After some undetermined amount of time, Pasiphae gives birth to a half-man half-bull living being and names him Asterion: Ruler of the Stars. All the while, Poseidon sits and observes, entertained by the mess unfolding before him that even he could not predict. Simultaneously King Minos watches with a dirty, mischievous interest saying, letting Pasiphae keep “it” the “abomination” because it “makes him smile”. For years Asterion lives a bashful life spending much of his time reading but as daily neglect and whispers of Pasiphae’s monstrous son with horns stay consistent, the little one’s mind begins to darken.
Finally, Minos has had enough of that thing living in his presence. He summons Daedalus (a person, I’ve noticed, who seems to be caught up with all the family’s petty drama) to construct a twisting and turning maze, unpredictable and frustrating, a maze that acts as if it has a malicious consciousness: the Labyrinth would be Asterion’s new home, or more accurately– prison.
I really enjoyed reading Bull by David Elliott because even though I already knew the story of the Minotaur before, this version highlighted the perspective of each character and their specific motives. I think in modern depictions of the myth, Asterion (the Minotaur) is depicted as a raging beast without any thought in its mind except bloodthirstiness. I personally did not know any backstory of the Minotaur and believed it was just another monster from the depths of Hades’ domain (another extremely misrepresented character!). Bull allowed me to gain a load of sympathy for Asterion while increasing my hatred for King Minos and Poseidon.
Hi Robenas!! I personally don't dabble much in Greek mythology, but this seems really really interesting! Especially with how you entwine humor and a great story in your writing. This seems like a really unique modern take on Greek mythology. As stated before, I don't really understand Greek mythology and who's bad or good, but this helps me understand some of it. Thank you for this great review on an intriguing book!!
ReplyDeleteRobenas this book looks very interesting. I like reading adventure books about all kinds of mythology reading your book review really got to me. You obviously put a lot of effort in it. Nice Job.
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Nice review Robenas! This book seems like a great way to help people understand Greek mythology. I don't know much about Greek mythology, but your review on this book intrigued me. Great job!
ReplyDeleteHi Robenas! I'm not going to lie, I consider myself pretty well-versed in Greek mythology, and if I had to be honest I would say it's the topic I know the most about out of literally every topic in the world. Because of my love of Greek myth and of books, I'm constantly looking for new retellings that have a different twist or perspective than how the myth is commonly told nowadays -- especially when the myth was actually traditionally told completely differently in antiquity. I see the myth of the Minotaur as one of these myths, where modern people depict Theseus as a hero, the Minotaur as a monster, Pasiphae as a disgusting zoophile, and Ariadne as a damsel who relied solely on Daedalus's instructions to help Theseus. In actuality, the myth traditionally depicted Pasiphae and the Minotaur as victims, and Ariadne was often considered a goddess in her own right, or a powerful Cretan priestess. In addition, the myth (even in antiquity) almost always focuses solely on Theseus, whereas it seems that this book explores different (and frankly, more interesting) characters and perspectives. I love that, and it definitely makes me want to check /Bull/ out!
ReplyDeleteI have read a small bit of Greek mythology, mainly Percy Jackson, so I really only know what happens in those books. I haven't read many of the more complex myths or the character's backstories. This book looks like a fairly easy entry into this more complex world, so I might take a look. Nice job Robenas!
ReplyDeleteNice review, Robenas! While I'm not a huge greek mythology fan, I found what you had to say very interesting. I'd love to learn about the Minotaur story, so this might be a cool future read for me.
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