The Persian Boy by Mary Renault Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of The Persian Boy
Book Review: One of My All Time Favorites
Summary: 5 Stars
It's hard to know how to express how much I have enjoyed just readingthis marvelous book. It will always be one of my all time favorites;
an experience I won't forget.
The novel is highly educational, as it IS AN HISTORICAL one,
and learning about the ancient peoples and geography it covers
was a real learning experience for me.
The character portrayals and developments in the book made me
feel like I was with real people in real life, and I will remember them.
After just finishing this book along with Barbara Olson's
"The Final Days" (I highly recommend reading several books
concurrently; a habit I learned from my great cousin who was
head of a well known college's history department) I feel I have
been exposed to the heights and depts of character qualities.
Alexander was extraordinary in his leadership characteristics,
and the extreme inversion of those ideals are painfully elucidated
in Barbara Olson's book.
Rating: 5/5 10/10
Book Review: One of my favorites!
Summary: 5 Stars
I love this book. Mary Renault is a serious scholar of Alexander the Great but also writes historical fiction based on historical characters and events of the times. The Persian Boy is Bagoas, a Persian eunech. We follow Bagoas through his family's demise and his subsequent castration to his elevation as the Great King Darius' concubine. After Darius' assassination at the hands of traitorous friends, Bagoas is taken to meet Alexander. He becomes his lover and friend and follows Alexander until his death. This is a richly written novel, full of description and lively characters. It is one of my favorite novels of the last 10 years and I recommend it highly!Book Review: People! It's a novel, fiction, already!
Summary: 5 Stars
I read this book when it came out (no pun intended) in paperback in the 70s. I was a child to love (sex, yes), female or male, then of 26 years. I reread it a couple of weeks ago and loved it. I am 62 now. It is a story of love, not sex, for that is irrelevant. The First Edition hardbound dust jacket has these lines. "Alexander is a man with little experience of sensuality, but a profound need of affection. Bagoas' famous beauty has been much exploited, but his affection has been needed by no one. Their meeting is irresistible to both." Whereas the first sentence is arguable, yet incapable of proof, if one imagines Hephaestion to be a sensual lover, the second is the crux of this beautiful tale of deep affection. Testicles do not automatically confer manliness, any more than their absence confers femininity. One can never doubt Alexander's manliness, yet his warring parents apparently wondered if his mutual obsession with Hephaestion, nay besottedness, was healthy for the boy. He/they were probably 15 or 16 years old then. Philip and Olympias even wondered if their boy was a "gynnis," that is, a womanish man. So that raises another irrelevant question: who was top or bottom? Or both? Maybe they were both "versatile" in modern gay jargon. But then, who cares?! They were men and therefore sexual and very into a lifelong love. As there are only five references to Bagoas in all of the third hand (at best) ancient sources, we shall never know. Therefore this sensual, beautiful, and tender NOVEL should be judged on it's own merits and not pecked to meaningless pieces by modern labeling crows.
So now for a bombshell. I am going to write a sequel to The Persian Boy. No, I'm not insane, just a romantic dreamer who weeps unabashedly and procrastinates reading this book's last 50 or so pages. I don't want Hephaestion or Alexander to die so young. Who ever does? Could it have been plausibly different? What could (and should) have intervened (no time-travel, aliens or such absurdist cheap devices) to change their lives and all of western history forever? One very small thing could have. I have the vision, or perhaps a mad delusion. Whatever! I shall write it!
Book Review: Persian Boy
Summary: 5 Stars
While under normal circumstances I find myself asleep in almost every history class and thus was rather doubtful when first getting this book, it not only kept me awake during the evening, but well into the night as well. This is one of very few books that I've finished in one sitting and not felt tired after. I love the way Renault has shaped her characters; these are not the cookie-cutter protagonists and antagonists you normally see. They have depth, a personality of their own, and many (though there are probably more without than with) with their own set of moral standards and honor; and though you hear mostly of Alexander's actions, you also learn about the lil Persian boy's character through what he admires and despises. Rich with details not only about the surroundings and whatnot, but about the various cultures at the time. You learn about soldiers, you learn about nobles, you learn about what makes simple men's names immortal. Jane Austen's books, after Pride and Prejudice, bored me because they became redundant. I think, however, if you are like me-rather picky and easy to bore-you will find The Persian Boy a refreshing breath of long-sought clean air. If you hated even vaguely-historical novels before, give it another shot with this book. You won't regret it. Cheers!Book Review: Phenomenal doesn't even begin to describe it
Summary: 5 Stars
Years ago, I discovered Mary Renault when we read The Nature of Alexander for a Greek History class. I marvled at her work then, and again, at this novel. Regardless of how much of it is "historically accurate" (which I believe is much more than some of these other reviewers think) the novel is amazingly well crafted and more than once brought me to the verge of tears just for the sheer joy it inspired. Many comment on the "homosexual" aspects and argue that it didn't exist, or wasn't true while neglecting to remember that in that time the onus of homosexuality didn't exist. It was a fact of life then and accepted readily. Renault does a fabulous job of doing this book and these characters justice. This is a definate must read.