28 Feb / Mythos: The Greek Myths Reimagined by Stephen Fry [in Booklist]
*STARRED REVIEW
British TV-film-stage-even-video-games-actor/comedian/novelist Stephen Fry is a consummate storyteller. Yes, he’s got multiple bestsellers on the page, including this latest: choosing from the godly Greek pantheon certainly provided divine inspiration, replete with the utmost in family dysfunction including bed-hopping (although, who needs beds?!), Sisyphean feats (couldn’t resist), even an anachronistic Hollywood star thrown in! But ohhhh, stuck in the ears – Fry ciphers his written words into an aurally ambrosial delight: he’s chatty, conspiratorial, wink-wink-nod-nodding his way through 15.5 hours of gossipy fun and Schadenfreude horror as he reveals plenty about the original (sur)reality stars of all time.
While the collection isn’t comprehensive, it’s certainly entertainingly expansive: Fry’s Zeus is wily and bombastic, Hera long-suffering and exasperated, Athena eruditely detached, Hephaestus both wheedling and commanding, Phaeton whiny over his father’s neglect, to name but a few. For modern audiences, Fry cleverly updates the ancient with contemporary embellishments, from etymological tidbits (Arachne and spinsters; Hephaestus, aka Vulcan, and volcanoes), to the addition of Sue Ellen and J.R. Ewing (of TV’s Dallas fame) to an eternal lovers list, to Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders references in which divinely originated diagnoses narcissistic personal disorder (Narcissus) and echolalia (Echo) are included. Irreverent enchantments await.
Review: “Media,” Booklist, February 15, 2020
Readers: Adult
Published: 2019