Mythos: The Greek Myths Retold. By: Stephen Fry

Time spent reading: 16 hrs.

The book is no one story, it's more like a series of events strung together. Fry writes a compelling book, it kept me engrossed right through and is very well written

At the beginning of the book fry makes it very clear that you do not need to have any prior knowledge of Greek Mythology at all to understand the stories in the book

"There is absolutely nothing academic or intellectual about Greek mythology; it is addictive, entertaining, approachable and astonishingly human" - Fry

Why I Picked this book:

Unlike many others who may have first discovered ‘Fry’ from his famous performances in the Monty Python series, I found Fry in an Interview I saw online. It was not the whole interview just a snippet, where Fry furiously and with a lot of logic answered a question on him being an Atheist. So confident, sure and precise was his reply that it could not have in any way rehearsed. It would have also not been an exercise in elocution where he was muttering someone else’s thoughts. This sort clip from the interview made me want more and so I browsed the World Wide Web and tried to earn a bit more about the new object of my intellectual affection.

I came across a couple of books written by him, searching further I found out that there are more than a couple and more that 3 or 4. I am glad though I picked up this book instead of the others.

My review

Set in two parts Mythos is the tale of Greek mythology…of its gods and Goddesses, humans nymphs and Demi-gods, as retold by the enigmatic Stephen fry. Fry is a very funny man and also a deep thinker. The best part of reading anything is understanding the thought that the writer has put forward. TO this effect, Fry does a commendable job, no where in the book does, he take the subject too seriously. The writing is simple and not overburdened with too many big words or complicated plots. The stories move in a linear manner, they were easy to follow and the language was very convenient for some one of my reading pace

We as Indians are used to stories of Gods living among humans and taking human form to rid the world of demons, we even have stories about Gods appearing to guide the general populous away from the clutches of evil and into the right path. This book and its stories however are written to showcase the human side of the Gods. The Greek Gods were never portrayed as pure ‘ al -might’ with regards to their appetites and desires. The book gives us examples of how the Greek Gods got tempted by the sins, how they fought for power, for love, for lust. How they had their own insecurities, their own jealousies and how they acted with malicious intent towards each other and towards anyone who cam in between them and their desires or objectives.

The best part of the book though for me was the to understand the rich heritage of a culture which was previously unknown to me and teaching me some nice reference of the origins of words that have found their way into every day usage if the English language. Further more it has given a sudo-intellectual like myself ammunition to use while trying impress my superiority when I am in a social setting.