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Glorious Exploits: A Novel | Ferdia Lennon

Next up! #ToF

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Pedrocamacho

Glorious Exploits: A Novel | Ferdia Lennon

pick

What a wonderful book. It does this book a disservice to call it a comedy or a tragedy or any one thing. It is a layered story with interesting and lovable characters. It has a perspective and, yes, it made me laugh. I cannot recommend this book enough.

14 likes1 stack add

Gabbymags123

Loyalty | Lisa Scottoline

March 2025 read in less than a week!! Great read enjoyable!!

2 likes

Vansa

Glorious Exploits: A Novel | Ferdia Lennon

pick

Using litsy after a while!Also writing reviews after a while, bear with me while I do a reviews dump of books I've loved!Cannot recommend this delightful historical fiction enough.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6758491576

17 likes

Robotswithpersonality

Glorious Exploits: A Novel | Ferdia Lennon

pick

I LOVED this book. And yet, I immediately feel the need to very sparingly recommend it, because it's one of those ones that I would not have thought I would love, if I knew what it was before I read it. Sure, the ancient Greek part, the discussion of Euripides' plays is a draw. I can get on board with bringing a smaller scale, down-to-earth focus on a few characters to historical or 'from the distant past' events, 1/?

Robotswithpersonality especially when the narrative voice, the way character's speak to each other is approachable. In this case there's a discernable UK (author is from Dublin, now lives in England and I've no idea what speech patterns are from where) palaver; since I've no idea how conversational, idiomatic ancient Sicilian/Greek would actually sound if translated into English, this works well in sounding different from my modern North American English, 2/? 4mo

Robotswithpersonality 3/? but still relatable, intelligible. When it's done well, I can also appreciate an occasionally darkly humourous bent on a dire situation, not quite satire or cynicism, in the face of man's inhumanity towards man. What surprised me was the author's skill in brining out the complexity in a frequently unlikeable narrator, making Lampo live and breath, see the flaws and the pettiness and the flashes of a better friend, of a deeply insecure being 4mo

Robotswithpersonality 4/? with so little opportunity for hope that would motivate better action. Gelon is the most in focus portrait of loss, though his tale of woe is refracted throughout the Syracusan community and the Athenian prisoners. The violence done on both sides, the brutality and cruelty that sadly, doesn't belong just to an earlier era, creates a sharp contrast with the choices made by the protagonists. Lennon never lets you forget that this story centres 4mo

Robotswithpersonality 5/? around tragedies in one sense or another, and yet still leaves room for hope, for the possibility that people as individuals can choose to take an action that will improve the lives of others. It's not a mood mashup because it's seamless. It's not the dark comedy the cover would suggest; that doesn't mean the dialogue isn't frequently entertaining, but the conclusions are often sobering. 4mo

Robotswithpersonality 6/6 If I described how I felt at the end I think it would be a spoiler, similar to the Syracusans' love for the art of an invading nation, let's just say it was complex.
⚠️details prisoner of war conditions, grief, child loss, slavery 4mo

9 likes5 comments

Larkken

Glorious Exploits: A Novel | Ferdia Lennon

#12Booksof2024 i had a number of surprise 5-star reads to round out 2024, but i think this tragedy (about ancient Greek tragedies!) and set in ancient Syracuse won my heart.
A great year! Thanks for hosting @Andrew65

Andrew65 Thanks for playing along, it‘s been great seeing everyone‘s books. Hope to see you on the First day of Christmas later this year for #12Booksof2025. 👏👏👏😊🎉🥳 5mo

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Hooked_on_books

Glorious Exploits: A Novel | Ferdia Lennon

bailed

This one is me, not the book. I tend not to enjoy fiction set in Ancient Greece and this was no different. Glad I gave it a try at least. Don‘t let me deter anyone. #TOBlonglist

squirrelbrain I actively disliked this and bailed, both of which are quite unusual for me! 😬 6mo

dabbe #hailthebail! #betterbooksahead 🙌🏻 6mo

Hooked_on_books @squirrelbrain I‘m glad I‘m not alone! So maybe it is a little bit of the book and not just me. 😉 6mo

squirrelbrain @micheleinphilly hated it too! 🫤 6mo

51 likes4 comments

Larkken

Glorious Exploits: A Novel | Ferdia Lennon

pick

I loved this, it was brilliant, but then maybe it is something only another Classicist would love? I have beef with the blurb calling it a comedy, it is def a tragedy, if a madcap one, and it is about POWs being forced to perform in order to eat, so rather brutal for even dark comedy. But there were still some flashes of beauty, and I appreciate the decisions the author made in plot and execution. #tob25 #tob25longlist

Larkken If the dialect is weird for you in print, I recommend the audiobook read by the author. Syracusans with Irish accents make sense to me now, what can I say. 6mo

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