2017 • 410 pages
Ratings124
Average rating4.3
15
Ratings124
Average rating4.3
The Greek myths are the greatest stories ever told, passed down through millennia and inspiring writers and artists as varied as Shakespeare, Michelangelo, James Joyce and Walt Disney. They are embedded deeply in the traditions, tales and cultural DNA of the West. In Stephen Fry's hands the stories of the titans and gods become a brilliantly entertaining account of ribaldry and revelry, warfare and worship, debauchery, love affairs and life lessons, slayings and suicides, triumphs and tragedies. You'll fall in love with Zeus, marvel at the birth of Athena, wince at Cronus and Gaia's revenge on Ouranos, weep with King Midas and hunt with the beautiful and ferocious Artemis. Thoroughly spellbinding, informative and moving, Stephen Fry's Mythos perfectly captures these stories for the modern age - in all their rich and deeply human relevance.
Series
4 primary booksStephen Fry's Great Mythology is a 4-book series with 4 primary works first released in 2017 with contributions by Stephen Fry.
Reviews with the most likes.
I want to read a book a watch a tv show with a psychotherapist in a world of Greek myths. I think they need it.
I don't know much about Greek mythology except some names, but it's always fascinating to read the bloody tales. But my memory is poor and I can't remember the details even if I've read some of them many times. Even now after finishing this book, I can't say I remember much except the most famous ones but I listened to this audiobook for the experience. Stephen Fry is an excellent, hilarious and witty narrator and I really enjoyed the way he told the stories in this book.
I really enjoyed this, especially listening to the audiobook expertly narrated by Stephen Fry himself, but at the end of the day it's a relatively straightforward (and a tad too twee for my tastes) telling of a lot of well known myths. There isn't any analysis or unpacking of these stories until the short afterward in which Fry explicitly states that he just wanted to let the stories speak for themselves.
And this is all well and good, they are great stories and if you haven't heard them before you should definitely listen to this! I knew most of them quite well, I think about once every year or so since I was a kid I dive back into Greek myths, but there were a handful of them that I was less familiar with.
I see Fry also has sequels to this book about Heroes, Troy, and an upcoming one about the Odyssey, all of which I am looking forward to listening to at some point!
