The Persian Boy by Mary Renault Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of The Persian Boy
Book Review: Praise again and again!
Summary: 5 Stars
Ahh, The Persian Boy!As most have stated: this book is sublime. Many more scholarly reviewers have discussed themes that bring this story up from the level of mere historical novel. We are treated to a story about fear, hatred, violence, revenge, honor, courage, devotion. But - most clearly - undiluted love. A marvel. And, its great fun too! A real page-turner. Where is the blockbuster Hollywood treatment?
I chuckle at the references from my fellow readers about the homosexual content and how "it is not too offensive" to the gentle reader. Some people can be so silly.
Surrounded by rape and pillage - this story of homosexual love is a joy to behold. Pity modern society could not be more like our so-called primative forebearers in this regard!
(This paperback version is small enough to carry to the beach and on the bus yet beautiful enough to give as a gift.)
Book Review: Prepare to shed tears
Summary: 5 Stars
I have not cried for 15 years. As I progessed with The Persian Boy, I could not stop crying. The perfect historical novel.Book Review: Pure enchantment from "The Persian Boy"
Summary: 5 Stars
Robert Lipsyte, who wrote some wonderful novels himself, said in a column that his father gave him this book to read one weekend. After putting it off, he finally gave in and was hooked from the first sentence. Mary Renault casts a spell from the first in "The Persian Boy", the pivot of her Alexandriad.Bagoas is born into an aristocratic family; the turmoil following the death of King Ochos claims his father, mother and sisters, and he himself is castrated and sold at the age of 10. The twin horrors are followed in time by another; Bagoas is himself sold by his master to other men as a prostitute. Procured for King Darius, Bagoas's lot changes only slightly; instead of being sold to many men, he is kept by one man, a King he holds in awe for his station, and not out of personal admiration.
Darius has made the mistake of underestimating the young Macedonian King Alexander, who at 20 undertakes the reconquest of Greek cities in Asia Minor. But Alexander closes in on the Persian Empire, and Darius suffers one defeat after another until his own warlords lose faith in him. When a coup sees Darius taken prisoner, Bagoas escapes with only his life. In time he is rescued by one of those warlords, who decides to beg Alexander for clemency. Who does he bring to sweeten the plea? Bagoas--as a gift.
Alexander is presented by Renault as a man capable of more than mortal feats who is still reassuringly human--more than that, he needs love desperately, from the hero-worship of the soldiers who follow him to the intimate devotion of his lover Hephaistion. Bagoas has never known love at all, only use. When Macedonian King and Persian courtesan meet, the inevitable happens--and this is where the enchantment begins.
Renault's mastery is impeccable. With a few well-chosen words, she conjures the images of the great Persian palaces--the ruins at Persepolis, Susa, Ekbatana, and Babylon; she recreates the travels of the Macedonian army so well that any reader who picks up her companion book "The Nature of Alexander" will look at the pictures and exclaim, "I know this! This is--" and name the very scene. But it is her characters that truly live. Bagoas is keenly intelligent, charming, courtly, sarcastic, prey to jealousy and possessiveness when it comes to his lover; his growing maturity merely adds to the pain he experiences as the affair and Alexander's conquests progress. And Alexander is much more accessible here than in "Fire From Heaven," which is a wonderful book but presents Alexander as all light and no fire. Here we get to see Alexander as preening boy, heroic warrior, pragmatic king, and devoted lover. It is a marvelous love story whether or not it actually happened.
But the emotional payoffs of the affair are balanced by hideous tragedies, none more affecting than the death of Hephaistion. Bagoas' quiet desperation to keep Alexander with the sane and living is agonizing with the knowledge that Alexander did not survive his lover by more than three months. Renault foreshadows without laying it on too thick, but it's worth noting that the portents of Alexander's death were recorded by historians, and the ancients paid close attention to that sort of thing. The final quarter of the book is grim, with only a few moments of light, and the most poignant moment is when Bagoas, having kept watch over Alexander even after his death, finally gives way to the Egyptian priests who come to embalm the Macedonian.
It isn't all romance and grief. Bagoas is, after all, only sixteen when the affair starts; he's prey to insecurity about his place in Alexander's heart, and his two antagonists are Hephaistion, Alexander's lifelong love, and Roxane, the legendary beauty who becomes Alexander's wife. With Hephaistion, Bagoas indulges in the sort of reverie that anyone who's ever had a romantic rival can identify with (stopping short of cutting him into little pieces and feeding him to the dogs). Roxane, on the other hand, earns Bagoas' hatred for good reason, and she is presented as everything Hephaistion isn't: clinging, vindictive, and devouring. Bagoas wryly notes that Alexander has, like most men, married a woman like his mother, and it's asides like this from him that make the story such an indulgent treat to read.
Like other reviewers, I will say that if you despise homosexuality and homosexuals, don't pick up the book. But if you can put aside prejudices and read for the sheer pleasure of encountering excellence in writing and losing yourself in another place and time, "The Persian Boy" is still in print.
Book Review: Pure gold!
Summary: 5 Stars
I read Mrs. Renault's "The Persian Boy" some years ago (1991 I think) I say read, but I actually listened to a "Books-on-Tape" unabridged version of the test thanks to my local library (Thank you Alachua County Public Library). In any case I believe that it was this book that turned me on to Mary Renault. I have never been disappointed by anything that I have read from Mary Renault, on the contrary her prose make for a luscious read. I highly recommend anything by Mrs. Renault. Strangely enough, when reading "Servant of the Bones" by another highly recommended author Mrs. Rice, I was reminded of "The persian Boy".Book Review: Quietly and Consistently Magnificent
Summary: 5 Stars
Deeply moving, and unfailingly historically accurate, this story of the young castrated lover of Alexander the Great is surprisingly educational in today's world because it talks about East and West. Through the eyes of "the Persian boy," we come to understand a gulf between mindsets that has not been bridged even to the present time. But you don't think about these things when you're reading Mary Renault's smooth and beautiful prose. You're swept up in the story and above all else, in her fully realized characters. Alexander the Great and his youthful brashness become completely real to you. You imbibe the history. That's how Mary Renault wanted it and she was marvelously accomplished at her task. You take away with you an emotional experience of this incalculably important period of time -- when Alexander through sheer will and conviction brought Hellenism, that is Greek philosophy and ideas to foreign territories all along the Mediterranean coast laying the ground for a way of life which we are still to this day enjoying -- and your comprehension of the sequence of events is forever deepened. Renault's The Last of the Wine brings to life ancient Athens in the same rich and unforgettable manner. Both are sad novels in a way, but sadness with Renault can be very sweet and very rewarding. Highly recommended. The best seller lists of today seldom include such literate and substantial and enduring novels.