A review by mint_renegade
Gilgamesh: A New English Version by Anonymous

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

1st read 3.25/5

2nd read 4.25/5

Despot kings, terrifying monsters, lust-ridden gods, man’s appeasement and defilement of sacred decrees, great floods. Is anything original? Was there a seedling, a first sprout? Was it a story shared over burning coals? Was it sung in the heart of one, spun in her mind, sprung from her lips, ferried across the winds, guided through the ear and into the heart of another, then another, then another; to be repeated, again and again, each teller seeking to share the true essence of the story; as true as their hearts, minds, lips and ears felt it to be? 

We live, then we die. What happens in between, what we hate, rage against, love and conquer; what we eat, where we sleep, cry, what we dream, where we live, who and what we give ourselves to, all of these are done in celebration of death. Life is a tribute to mortality, not its fragility, but its inevitability. Every day, we die in increments. Yes, the cellular degeneration, but also the little deaths – the death  a friendship, the death of a petty grievances, the death of old habits, the death of spring; each little death heralding the fast and slow march towards a death that is not-so little. Listen closely, and you will hear death in this step, and this. 

Every day, we die in increments, and every day we celebrate.