kalikabali 's review for:

Ragnarok by A.S. Byatt

3.0

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My knowledge of Nordic myths has been limited to their references in literature (Thor the thunder god, Odin the one-eyed one etc) and of course, from the appearence of the Norse Gods in Neil Gaiman's Sandman series. So, I had no pre-conceived notion of the myth or its progression. I like AS Byatt's writing in general and especially love to sink my teeth into the sheer linguistic delight of it. How often do you read words like "tenebrous" and "numinous" without feeling that the authour is merely showing off or being pretentious? I guess what I was expecting was a rich narrative that is her usual style; the semi-autobigraphical counter-story of the "thin girl" in WW2 England does provide a thread that holds the narrative together but the story is told very much in the mythological style. I soon got used to it as it is not very different from the style in which Indian myths were generally told when I was a child.
The essay at the end of the book on myths and fairytales is quite good on its own as well as an epilogue to the retelling of the myth itself.