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j_espere's review
adventurous
informative
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
thesundaywriter's review against another edition
3.0
Am kind of disappointed most of the 'tales' weren't that captivating and rather long winded.
jeffhall's review against another edition
3.0
Peter Ackroyd's prose version of The Canterbury Tales takes quite a few liberties with the source text, and thus the subtitle "A Retelling" is well-earned. And yet he does a good job of blending the Middle Ages with the modern, updating Chaucer's diction without sacrificing the alternately holy and bawdy elements which are the core of the original work.
Having now read Ackroyd's retelling, I'm eager to revisit one of the more standard Modern English translations, and the fact that Ackroyd's text has pushed me in that direction is the final proof that his version has its own particular value.
Having now read Ackroyd's retelling, I'm eager to revisit one of the more standard Modern English translations, and the fact that Ackroyd's text has pushed me in that direction is the final proof that his version has its own particular value.
kikiandarrowsfishshelf's review against another edition
5.0
Dear Duke Thesus,
What is it with you and threatening women with death during your wedding? Do you think it is romantic?
Dear Wife of Bath,
You go girl!
Dear Chanticlear,
Foxes like chickens in all the wrong ways. Just saying.
Dear Mr. Ackroyd, World's Greatest Renassiance Man,
I've read Chaucer in the orignal both Tales and Trolius. I've tried to read various modern translations.
Tried being the operative word.
Yours, I finished. It's wonderful.
In part, this must due to the fact that you are a poet. You keep the poetry of the tales, but since you write in prose, the forced rhymes of translation are non-existent.
But most of it is because you kept Chaucer dirty. You didn't try to clean him up as some other translations do. Therefore we have the line about Alison (in "The Miller's Tale") - She was meant to be f**ked by a prince and wedded to a yeoman. We know precisely what Chaucer means by that. You keep all the dirty words, all the dirty stories. In bringing Chaucer back to the earth, back to the mud, you have re-established his position among the stars for those who do not read Middle English.
General Comments
The Tales is a group of stories mostly about sex and power between couples. Okay, there are other bits thrown in, but its mainly sex.
And Farting. There is lots of farting.
Little romance though. In fact, the Knight's Tale which should be the most romantic is the most sterile, perhaps Terry Jones has a point about the Knight.
What is it with you and threatening women with death during your wedding? Do you think it is romantic?
Dear Wife of Bath,
You go girl!
Dear Chanticlear,
Foxes like chickens in all the wrong ways. Just saying.
Dear Mr. Ackroyd, World's Greatest Renassiance Man,
I've read Chaucer in the orignal both Tales and Trolius. I've tried to read various modern translations.
Tried being the operative word.
Yours, I finished. It's wonderful.
In part, this must due to the fact that you are a poet. You keep the poetry of the tales, but since you write in prose, the forced rhymes of translation are non-existent.
But most of it is because you kept Chaucer dirty. You didn't try to clean him up as some other translations do. Therefore we have the line about Alison (in "The Miller's Tale") - She was meant to be f**ked by a prince and wedded to a yeoman. We know precisely what Chaucer means by that. You keep all the dirty words, all the dirty stories. In bringing Chaucer back to the earth, back to the mud, you have re-established his position among the stars for those who do not read Middle English.
General Comments
The Tales is a group of stories mostly about sex and power between couples. Okay, there are other bits thrown in, but its mainly sex.
And Farting. There is lots of farting.
Little romance though. In fact, the Knight's Tale which should be the most romantic is the most sterile, perhaps Terry Jones has a point about the Knight.
btwjournals's review against another edition
2.0
Plot: The Canterbury tales follows a very mixed group of people as they go on a pilgrimage. Each has their own individual stories which they tell as the story progresses. Occasionally being interrupted by annoyed others. I didn‰ЫЄt really know what to expect with the stories but they were all very individual and set to the time period. I thought they were very interesting but I found them quite hard to get into.
Characters: One character who famously stood out was the wife of Bath. Her was of storytelling was more easy to read and slightly more interesting than the rest. The characters interact well with each other and interrupt each other‰ЫЄs stories which I though was really creative and efficient.
Favourite aspects: I did like the way other characters where annoyed by the stories and the interactions they had as it made it appear very real. You did not learn much about the characters specifically however.
Themes: There are themes or love, sex and crimes which obviously are a combination which goes very well together and make for interesting reads.
Structure: The stories all vary in lengths and are set up as a prologue and a chapter which meant there was a good interdiction to each section which made it flow nicely and easy to read.
Characters: One character who famously stood out was the wife of Bath. Her was of storytelling was more easy to read and slightly more interesting than the rest. The characters interact well with each other and interrupt each other‰ЫЄs stories which I though was really creative and efficient.
Favourite aspects: I did like the way other characters where annoyed by the stories and the interactions they had as it made it appear very real. You did not learn much about the characters specifically however.
Themes: There are themes or love, sex and crimes which obviously are a combination which goes very well together and make for interesting reads.
Structure: The stories all vary in lengths and are set up as a prologue and a chapter which meant there was a good interdiction to each section which made it flow nicely and easy to read.
k8brarian's review against another edition
5.0
Really brings the Canterbury Tales to life in a way that refuses to let you look the other way and pretend it's not a dirty, dirty book. :) Until I read this version I didn't realize I liked Chaucer...
sarah2696's review against another edition
5.0
Ackroyd has done a marvelous job converting Chaucer into modern English. At times it doesn't quite work (like in one tale he says a scrap of paper was "flushed down the loo", despite the setting still being very much medieval even if the language isn't) but this is rare and overall he's made Chaucer a million times more accessible to a lay audience.
I've never read any Chaucer before and didn't know what to expect. All I knew was that I couldn't dream of calling myself a medievalist if I hadn't read this at least, and Ackroyd was the perfect introduction. This isn't for serious scholars of middle English literature, but it serves as an ideal starting point for anyone new to the world of Chaucer. I can normally read middle English somewhat easily, but I know for sure that it's still too much work for me to enjoy reading it for a long period of time. Ackroyd took all that away and enabled me to just enjoy the tales - and I was surprised at how much I did enjoy them! Naturally some tales are misogynistic and racist and anti-semitic, but I don't think it would be fair to use that as a criticism - it's just a reflection of the very misogynistic, very anti-semitic society that Chaucer and his contemporaries inhabited. I was surprised, though, to find some (like the Clerk's tale) telling wives to be strong and not meek, as it was completely the opposite of what I had expected to find.
Now that I've read this, I may look into getting a version of the Tales in the original spelling - but I'm immensely glad that I had them in modern English for my first time reading them.
I've never read any Chaucer before and didn't know what to expect. All I knew was that I couldn't dream of calling myself a medievalist if I hadn't read this at least, and Ackroyd was the perfect introduction. This isn't for serious scholars of middle English literature, but it serves as an ideal starting point for anyone new to the world of Chaucer. I can normally read middle English somewhat easily, but I know for sure that it's still too much work for me to enjoy reading it for a long period of time. Ackroyd took all that away and enabled me to just enjoy the tales - and I was surprised at how much I did enjoy them! Naturally some tales are misogynistic and racist and anti-semitic, but I don't think it would be fair to use that as a criticism - it's just a reflection of the very misogynistic, very anti-semitic society that Chaucer and his contemporaries inhabited. I was surprised, though, to find some (like the Clerk's tale) telling wives to be strong and not meek, as it was completely the opposite of what I had expected to find.
Now that I've read this, I may look into getting a version of the Tales in the original spelling - but I'm immensely glad that I had them in modern English for my first time reading them.
42andyjo's review
4.0
This is an excellent introduction to the Cantebury Tales. It puts it in prose and in modern day language. I will warn you it does have some profanity but it is replacing the old profanity for the new profanity. Overall, I enjoyed the reading. It was fun to read different tales from different walks of life. I will probably someday pick up a more literal translation.