This book…where to start? It was moving, surprising, mythical, uplifting, desperate, callow, warm. It was a tour de force. It could simply be described as a book about friends but it is so much more than that and the imagination employed to create a book such as this is so rare! Lennon has created something which will stay under my skin for days to come.
Firstly, the background. This book is set in Syracuse on the island of Sicily in 408 BC. The narrative is told solely from the viewpoint of Lampo, a failed potter with a clubfoot who, along with his friend, Gelon, visit Athenians, prisoners of war, who are currently corralled in unused quarries and left to starve in what is essentially a stony pit.
Lampo and Gelon bring food to them. This is driven by Gelon who has a hankering to hear Euripides, a famous Athenian tragedy writer. In this pursuit, Gelon is fanatical and when he discovers that some of the occupants of the quarry are able to quote whole chunks of Medea by Euripides as well as The Trojan Women, Euripides’ last play, Gelon is driven to produce a play to show off Euripides’ talent and have the Athenians perform it.
Lampo is a lively narrator, his character distinct throughout his retelling of his glorious exploits. He is not wholly likeable but he is entirely human and this is what I really liked about Lennon’s evocation of him: he does not hide anything. It feels like a candid first person account.
When Gelon and Lampo get financial backing from a mysterious stranger with a devotion to the arts, the production is on and as a reader, you can’t help but want them to achieve their goal.
I’m not going to tell you if they achieve it. This book needs to be read. I have read other reviews that comment on the humour but I didn’t find much in this to make me smile or even break into a wry grin. It is a story of war and its brutality and aftermath, with its rawness of pain and lack of forgiveness; but it is also about hope and how, despite opposing factions having bitter differences, if people see what we share, and take pity or show mercy, there is an optimistic future, filled with friendship and commonality, based on the most basic of human traits: respect for our fellow man.
It is a blisteringly good read. If I hadn’t been reading it in a ski lodge, it would have made me cry.
Scuffed Granny 