 |
| {affiliate link} |
I finally read Percy Jackson! I know... I'm ridiculously behind the times. Let me first explain that I grew up with Greek Mythology but never felt comfortable introducing my kids to it at a young age. My beloved grandfather gave me a copy of D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths {affiliate link} and I memorized that thing. I knew the names of the gods and goddesses and their symbols and mis-adventures. I aced my Art History classes because I could always spot the mythological references. But unfortunately, I loved it too much. Neo-paganism was a temptation when I was younger and one that really scared me once I found the fullness of my faith. So, that's my story about why I never felt comfortable introducing my kids to those myths I loved. We all have our own story and I certainly don't begrudge anyone who chooses differently for their kids. They probably didn't struggle with it the way I did. I did try to introduce The Professor to that favorite book of mine when he was younger (after reading other people's praises of it and of a classics centered education) and he thought the pictures were weird and the stories kind of creepy. So, it went away.
Anyway, Percy Jackson... The Professor read it a couple of years ago because a friend told him he'd like it. He didn't so much. We dropped it. Until last week. I heard someone ask for Riordan's new book at our library and I got curious. So, I grabbed the first one and read it.
I have to admit, I was surprised in two ways. First, I was surprised that it wasn't really well-written. I mean, not like I could write something better, but it seemed a little "lightweight". Maybe it's just my perception having come off reading a couple of Jane Austens. I was actually in the middle of another one when I started reading it. I don't know what I was expecting, but it just surprised me, is all I'm saying. The other surprise was that I thought he did an excellent job not romanticizing the gods of Olympus. Riordan writes them like squabbling five year olds. He doesn't try to make them virtuous or noble because they weren't. The Greeks had no devotion to their gods. They were to be feared and avoided (placated) as much as possible.
I imagine Mr. Riordan to be a bit like the character of Chiron, someone who loves to teach and thought of a fantastically creative way to introduce the younger generation to Greek mythology. The man knows how to write suspense, I will give him that. He definitely told a story that kept me wondering what was going to happen next. As I read, I kept thinking, "He wrote a good movie." because it read so easily like a screenplay; the dialogue, the bantering, even the product placement. I guess maybe I should check out the movie and see if I was right.
For a reasonable, more thorough review, check out Jessica's over at Housewifespice.
Hey Charlotte, just as a point-counter point to Jessica's review. I have a different take on it here: Percy Jackson: A Book Review in Which I Disagree With Everyone Else Who Has a Blog
ReplyDeleteKendra
YES! Totally like a screenplay! BTW, I haven't seen the movie, but heard it wasn't as good as the book. I think a Riordan's other series are just Percy Jackson books with different names and places.
ReplyDeleteDid you catch the built in product placement? :) I read the first chapter of his Egyptian series and agree with you.
DeleteI enjoyed the Olympian books of Riordan, but am not thrilled with the Egyptian ones. I read all the Greek ones along with my oldest, and then (stupidly) thought the Egyptian ones would also be ok. Since I don't share any Kendra's concerns with the Percy Jackson books, I figured the Egyptian ones would be fine. After all, like you and Jessica pointed out, these are not masterpieces of literature and Riordan is pretty much a one-trick pony.
ReplyDeleteFrom what my oldest tells me, the Egyptian ones favorably feature something that sounds just like possession. My daughter is now increasingly fascinated by the Egyptian pantheon, and I'm going to have to do some major untangling of whatever knots the junk created in her head.
All this goes to show what? I guess that we need to get to reading as much YA lit as possible so we always have a ready answer to "what can I read next?"
Cari,
DeleteI am so skeptical of YA fiction! I love that our library put that section outside of the children's area. I am so thankful that my kids have not been drawn to it. But your daughter's fascination with the Egyptian pantheon is exactly why I am so careful about introducing pagan mythology to my kids. I was that girl. Please know that it's probably just a phase. I'm sure you are well prepared to help her through it. I made it through mostly on my own (and totally rocked my Art History classes)! But it's why I said "HUH?" when I read about classical methods of homeschooling introducing kids to it at the age of 5!
Oops, I meant to put my comment below as a reply here.
DeleteOkay, so I agree with the consensus that Percy Jackson books are not particularly well written but not the worst ever morally speaking. But I continue to be utterly flabbergasted that no one seems to mind at all, or even notice, the end in which the mom murders her husband, with material aid from her son, and her other morally problematic behavior.
ReplyDeleteI personally enjoyed The Hunger Games, some people think it's just awful, I know. But I really enjoyed the writing and the plot and I think they could be read by teens, but only with the proper guidance, because they have some important flaws. For instance, a weak heroine who isn't willing to stand up (or sit down) for what is right, and a mercy killing towards the end. These are problematic issues, and I feel like they were brought up by all Catholic reviewers of the books, many of whom (to my mind) seemed to miss the bigger issues of the book and condemn them as celebrating violence, which was not my perception of them.
But my point is, the important issues, the problematic issues are out there for discussion. When I was looking around at reviews before I let my son read Percy Jackson I didn't find a single one that even mentions the mom and her very immoral behavior throughout the whole book. I'm fine if people have noted it and discussed it and decided the book was worth having the discussions but it makes me very confused that the morally problematic themes in Percy Jackson are just a total nonissue in the reviews I have read.
And, end of rant. Who can help me understand why I am alone on this one?
I guess it comes down to what would you have had the mom do? She had a child out of wedlock, and the worst possible set of "what ifs?" came along with it. The father ran off, the child was in constant mortal danger, and the only way she could find to protect her son was by marrying a man who was emotionally, if not physically, abusive.
DeleteWhile I find her selling of Smelly Gabe's statue body repugnant, I think it entirely plausible that she used Medusa's head against him in self defense. At the very least, I think calling her behavior "very immoral...throughout the whole book" is extreme. Was she a flat character? Yes. But every character in that book was. Did she try to fulfill her vocation as wife and mother? Yes, I believe she did. She certainly did what she could to protect her son.
I don't really want to defend Sally Jackson, since I didn't like anyone in that book well enough to bother, but I feel like you may be maligning Percy's mom just a bit, Kendra. Was she June Cleaver? Heck no. But, I have to imagine that just like mothers of regular humans bemoan the fact that they don't come with an instruction book, I think the complaint is all the more relevant for the mother of a demi-god.
Kendra,
DeleteI'm so sorry you felt like you weren't properly warned about the Percy Jackson series. Having only just read the first one this past week, I can't say what my review would have included when they were the new books on the block but I'm pretty good about letting people know anything that might be a problem for kids. When my oldest was 10, I read everything he was interested in reading before he read it (especially something that was secularly popular). He's now 15 and we are at a different stage in life. Oftentimes, I ask him to preview things for his younger siblings but if it's for him and I don't know anything about it, I still preview.
Because of my experience with just mythology in general when I was young, I would never have given this book to a 10 year old to read, because mythology is based on a pagan culture. There was no moral code. A hero was not someone who acted bravely and nobly but rather someone who just did something significant. And mythology wasn't just the stories of gods and goddesses but also about the mortals they interacted with. As a theater person I can say that you have to suspend your disbelief in order to make this series even remotely work. If you study it too hard, it crumbles. But it's not meant to be studied like good literature. If it's being studied in schools as "literature" well, then, that's just another problem with our schools today, not a problem with the books. The books are fluff fiction. Blow too hard at them and they will disintegrate into the wind. That's part of the reason I don't let my kids read "fluff fiction" unless I've read it first.
I am not willing to be the "Literary Magisterium" and say that they aren't suitable for anyone's children. I thought Jessica was very reasonable in her caution " The behavior of the Olympian gods has not changed since Homer's times, and if your child is too young for those adventures, then he or she is probably not ready for these." There are a lot of faithful Catholics who have no problem presenting the stories of mythology to their children and maybe it's because they first set the parameters of what a moral code is and how the ancient pagan societies operated within a different one. I don't know. I'm not going to tell them they shouldn't just because I'm not comfortable with it. It's just my opinion.
Sally Jackson did what she thought she had to do to protect Percy. Is she supposed to be a shining example of morality? No. In fact, I don't see any shining examples of morality in this book because it was written about a pagan culture. Regarding her specific actions at the end of the book, technically, she turned him into a statue, she did not "murder" him. If you go back to the sources we have of Ancient Greek mythology, you will find that transformations are quite common. Things/people turning in statues, trees, astrological constellations, etc... sometimes it was even considered a kindness. But that's how their world operated. The fact that it's morally repugnant to us is a testament to the strength of the Christian foundations that have changed our world for the better. We are not a pagan civilization anymore no matter how hard some might wish us to be again. I understand your frustration with Riordan's world trying to combine the ancient way of doing things in our modern world today. Personally, I think he avoids the issues that conflict of worldviews brings up in favor of just writing an adventure story, making a lot of pocket change from it and getting a movie deal out if to boot. But he also didn't romanticize or sugar coat the behavior of the gods, demigods and heros which proves that he was faithful to his original Greek subject. I give him a little credit for that.
DeleteAnd frankly, I don't think you are alone on this except, maybe to the degree of your outrage, but perhaps that's because you are still concerned about the age at which you exposed your son to this story. I see people (like Jessica and now myself and others) cautioning that this series deals with the actions and misadventures of the ancient Olympians. Anyone who knows that and who is even remotely familiar with ancient greek mythology should hear alarm bells going off.
Sorry. Had to split my comment into two because it was too long. Hope maybe it helps you, Kendra, try to reconcile your experience with this story with other people's experiences.
DeleteThat does help a lot Cari and Charlotte both. Thanks for humoring me.
DeleteThat is an excellent point about him really being transfigured and perhaps it's more reasonable to look at him as being imprisoned eternally like in the old Superman movie rather than murdered. She doesn't smash the statue, which is nice I guess. And Cari, I agree with you that it could well have been in self-defense but I still don't like the idea of Percy leaving her the head, just in case, when she refuses to remove herself from the situation if it is indeed a dangerous one. And I guess as I think about it I have less of a problem with her actual actions (certainly child out of wedlock is nothing new and is an easy sin to fall into) and more of a problem with the reactions to it, how she's such a swell gal according to Poseidon and how no one seems to learn any lessons, certainly not her.
I have a huge tendency to get my hopes up about stuff and then when it isn't how I assumed it would be I get frustrated (and make my husband give me what HE ordered), so it's probably a case of me misinterpreting a few reviews and thinking it would be great, and then it really wasn't.
But mostly I agree that it just isn't a good enough book for us to be wasting such time and energy and blog space on, but I really do feel better knowing that people were just interpreting it differently that I was. Thanks!
This comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteGlad to have helped a little. I don't think there are any rules about what we can and can't waste blog space on and I think discussion (done open mindedly and charitably) is always a good thing. It's one of the reasons I started blogging oh so many years ago... when dinosaurs roamed the internet. :)
DeleteFor me, I have different levels of expectation when it comes to lots of different things but especially books. I remember a very popular t-shirt during my college days that said, "Theater is life. Movies are art. Television is furniture." Did I mention I was a Theater major? :) It was snarky, but it was also kind of true. I expect more from a theatrical production than I do from a movie and more from a movie than I do from a TV show. Fluff fiction, like popcorn, doesn't get judged by classic literature criteria. And what I consider "OK" for my 15 year old to read (with lots of discussion with me on the side) isn't the same as what I consider acceptable for my 9 year old. Maybe you should try that, setting different levels of expectations. Your husband might appreciate that and being able to eat what he orders every now and then. Then again, I'm sure he's a great guy who doesn't really mind. Have a good night!
Actually, I think the movie was not nearly as good as the books! Riordan got his start writing thrillers for adults--- so yes, Percy Jackson is more 'beach read' than high quality fiction. But it's FUN! :) We've let my 9 year old read them-- she likes mythology and they're just the right balance of scary and heroic.
ReplyDeletePlus.... Riordan seems to like his characters, and he's good about happy endings...
So... yes... fun series... I wouldn't assign it for school, but I'd totally encourage my kids to try it for goofy fun reading.
Oh, another fun series (but preview first) is Troubletwisters by Garth Nix (a well known scifi author who does some adult and some YA)-- It's considered good for the 9-12 age range. Lots of fun, but again, preview since different moms have different standards.
DeleteAlso.... did you know Avi is STILL WRITING??? And his most recent historical fiction, "City of Orphans" was really great--- it's about Newsies in NYC! And exciting, but not TOO scary. Our library shelves it in YA, but my 9 year old loved it. (And there was no sex. Some street gang-related violence, and a not too graphic murder.... the TB was actually more disturbing to my daughter than the violence was...)