Succeeds in both respecting and enriching the venerable original.
A new translation of the Old English classic alongside two sturdy sequels.
Though the monstrous Grendel has been defeated by the conclusion of the original epic poem, the story ends on a cliffhanger: The titular hero is dead, and the future of his people is uncertain. In his sequels, Webber (American to the Backbone, 2011 etc.) picks up right where Beowulf left off, with the Geatish people struggling to maintain their power and security. When a mission to defeat the nearby Swedes goes catastrophically wrong, Beowulf’s young comrade Wiglaf insists that the Geats must abandon their homes and sail in search of a new, peaceful land. The first sequel (Beyond Beowulf, first published in 2006) is the story of that search, the challenges the tribe faces—raging storms, fearsome trolls—and the people it encounters along the way. Yrfa’s Tale, the second sequel, covers the same ground, but it does so retrospectively in the voice of Wiglaf’s wife. Rather than discussing battles and glory, Yrfa focuses on the emotional effects of the journey and what they ultimately mean for the Geats’ future. Webber’s translation of the original Beowulf is meticulous and vivid. In the introduction, he states his intention to preserve the text’s aural effect by following a strict alliterative structure akin to the original’s; indeed, his translation’s clean, musical lines are excellent for reading aloud. The two sequels also maintain the original’s language and narrative style. Tonally, however, Beyond Beowulf rings slightly off. Wiglaf’s constant insistence on peace and cooperation jars against Beowulf’s glorification of bloodshed and warfare; as such, it feels uncomfortably modern. Yrfa’s Tale is the real standout of the trilogy. Yrfa’s reflections on family and relationships bring an immediate humanity and realism to the epic tale that the other two volumes lack, and those universal themes are likely to appeal to a contemporary audience while remaining true to Beowulf’s original context. Yrfa’s beautifully rendered emotions are enjoyable and enlightening: “The phantoms that I fear the most are formless / And hold their power in the human heart.”
Succeeds in both respecting and enriching the venerable original.Pub Date: July 31, 2012
ISBN: 978-1475108309
Page Count: 382
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Oct. 23, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2012
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A short, simple, and sweet tale about two friends and a horse.
A novel tells the story of two spirited girls who set out to save a lame foal in 1952.
Mary, age 12, lacks muscle control of her legs and must use a wheelchair. Her life is constantly interrupted by trips with her widower father to assorted doctors, all of whom have failed to help her. Mary tolerates the treatments, hoping to one day walk unassisted, but her true passion involves horses. Possessing a library filled with horse books, she loves watching and drawing the animals at a neighboring farm. She longs to own one herself. But her father, overprotective due to her disability and his own lingering grief over Mary’s dead mother, makes her keep her distance. Mary befriends Laura, the emotionally neglected daughter of the wealthy neighboring farm owners, and the two share secret buggy rides. Both girls are attracted to Illusion, a beautiful red bay filly on the farm. Mary learns that Illusion is to be put down by a veterinarian because of a lame leg. Horrified, she decides to talk to the barn manager about the horse (“Isn’t it okay for her to live even if she’s not perfect? I think she deserves a chance”). Soon, Mary and Laura attempt to raise money to save Illusion. At the same time, Mary begins to gain control of her legs thanks to water therapy and secret therapeutic riding with Laura. There is indeed a great deal of poignancy in a story of a girl with a disability fighting to defend the intrinsic value of a lame animal. But this book, the first installment of the Dream Horse Adventure Series, would be twice as touching if Mary interacted with Illusion more. In the tale’s opening, she watches the foal from afar, but she actually spends very little time with the filly she tries so hard to protect. This turns out to be a strange development given the degree to which the narrative relies on her devotion. Count (Selah’s Sweet Dream, 2015) draws Mary and Laura in broad but believable strokes, defined mainly by their unrelenting pluckiness in the face of adversity. While the work tackles disability, death, and grief, Mary’s and Laura’s environments are so idyllic and their optimism and perseverance so remarkable that the story retains an aura of uncomplicated gentleness throughout.
A short, simple, and sweet tale about two friends and a horse.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: Hastings Creations Group
Review Posted Online: Oct. 15, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Therapeutic, moving verse from a promising new talent.
Keridan’s poetry testifies to the pain of love and loss—and to the possibility of healing in the aftermath.
The literary critic Geoffrey Hartman once wrote that literature—and poetry, in particular—can help us “read the wound” of trauma. That is, it can allow one to express and explain one’s deepest hurts when everyday language fails. Keridan appears to have a similar understanding of poetry. She writes in “Foreword,” the opening work of her debut collection, that “pain frequently uses words as an escape route / (oh, how I know).” Many words—and a great deal of pain—escape in this volume, but the result is healing: “the ending is happy / the beginning was horrific / so let’s start there.” The book, then, tracks the process of recovery in the wake of suffering, and often, this suffering is brought on by romantic relationships gone wrong. An early untitled poem opens, “I die a little / taking pieces of me to feed the fire / that keeps him warm / you don’t notice that it’s a slow death / when you’re disappearing little by little.” The author’s imagery here—of the self fueling the dying fire of love—is simultaneously subtle and wrenching. But the poem’s message, amplified elsewhere in the book, is clear: We go wrong if we destructively give ourselves over to others, and healing comes only when we turn our energies back to our own good. Later poems, therefore, reveal that self-definition often equals strength. The process is painful but salutary; when “you’re left unprotected / surrounded by chaos with nothing you / can depend on / except yourself / and that’s when you gather the pieces / of the life you lost / and use them to build the life you want.” The “life you want” is an elusive goal, and the author knows that the path to self-definition is fraught with peril—but her collection may give strength to those who walk it.
Therapeutic, moving verse from a promising new talent.Pub Date: Nov. 2, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-72770-538-6
Page Count: 196
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Jan. 9, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2019
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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