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A review by saj_81
The Song of Troy by Colleen McCullough
2.0
I think I liked the idea of this book more than I liked the book itself. Getting inside the story of Troy? Sounds great! And in some ways it was. There were parts that were interesting.
The problem is, that the characters just didn't come alive to me. It's always annoying when you have your character do the explaining for you, because nobody does that naturally. I'm not sitting here wearing woollen socks thinking: "she knew that in some cultures woollen socks weren't as common as in Finland. Smiling to herself, she thought about her ancestors and how they had knit thick grey socks for the cold Finnish winters...etc." Perhaps Colleen McCullough constantly finds herself giving little lectures about everyday things, but I really doubt if the Trojans did that as well. If the narrator wants to reveal some backround, there are better ways of doing that.
Then there was the part that always makes me giggle, and I know it's not supposed to. Throughout the book, McCullough points out several times that homosexual relationships were very normal at the time. I knew this, we studied it in highschool history class (actually, my teacher was also enthusiastic about this topic). The first time this came up, I paid no special attention, but after that it got ridiculous. It was like she was saying: "Look! Homosexuality was VERY NORMAL! I'm such a modern person to include so many homosexual relationships in my book! Aren't I hip and awesome? LOL!"
Yes, I think she really secretly wanted to say LOL.
The problem is, that the characters just didn't come alive to me. It's always annoying when you have your character do the explaining for you, because nobody does that naturally. I'm not sitting here wearing woollen socks thinking: "she knew that in some cultures woollen socks weren't as common as in Finland. Smiling to herself, she thought about her ancestors and how they had knit thick grey socks for the cold Finnish winters...etc." Perhaps Colleen McCullough constantly finds herself giving little lectures about everyday things, but I really doubt if the Trojans did that as well. If the narrator wants to reveal some backround, there are better ways of doing that.
Then there was the part that always makes me giggle, and I know it's not supposed to. Throughout the book, McCullough points out several times that homosexual relationships were very normal at the time. I knew this, we studied it in highschool history class (actually, my teacher was also enthusiastic about this topic). The first time this came up, I paid no special attention, but after that it got ridiculous. It was like she was saying: "Look! Homosexuality was VERY NORMAL! I'm such a modern person to include so many homosexual relationships in my book! Aren't I hip and awesome? LOL!"
Yes, I think she really secretly wanted to say LOL.