Grendel, John Gardner
Grendel, John Gardner
List: $15.99 | Sale: $11.20
Club: $7.99

Grendel

Author: John Gardner

Narrator: George Guidall

Unabridged: 5 hr 32 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Recorded Books

Published: 07/11/2007


Synopsis

This classic and much lauded retelling of Beowulf follows the monster Grendel as he learns about humans and fights the war at the center of the Anglo Saxon classic epic.

The first and most terrifying monster in English literature, from the great early epic Beowulf, tells his own side of the story in this frequently banned book. This is the novel William Gass called “one of the finest of our contemporary fictions.”

“An extraordinary achievement.”—New York Times

About John Gardner

John Gardner (1933-1982) was born in Batavia, New York. His critically acclaimed books include the novels Grendel, The Sunlight Dialogues, and October Light, for which he received the National Book Critics Circle Award, as well as works of nonfiction and criticism such as On Becoming a Novelist. He was also a professor of medieval literature and a pioneering creative writing teacher whose students included Raymond Carver and Charles Johnson.


Reviews

Goodreads review by karen on August 17, 2018

this review may or may not contain spoilers. i assume that most bookish people are familiar with the basic plot elements of beowulf, either through high school required reading or that video-game-looking movie, or cocktails at the heaney's. if not - this could ruin everything! but it won't. ah, exis......more

Goodreads review by Vit on September 14, 2024

Grendel… A creature of darkness… The legendary world seen through the eyes of the monster… Pointless, ridiculous monster crouched in the shadows, stinking of dead men, murdered children, martyred cows. He recollects his beastly childhood – even the monsters have one… He recalls the first time he saw m......more

Goodreads review by Tadiana ✩Night Owl☽ on January 08, 2019

Grendel, the famous monster from Beowulf, tells his side of the story here. Philosophies clash, along with monsters and men. This story of Grendel, told from his point of view, is an unusual amalgamation of Grendel's stream-of-consciousness thought (which becomes more clear and organized as Grendel......more

Goodreads review by Arianne on August 05, 2012

Look, I'll be honest: I'm never going to win a triathlon. Yes, scrubbing floors and wrestling dogs keeps me stronger than your average sedentary librivore, but my ecological niche is definitely chair-shaped. Even so, I was surprised at how challenging this book was. Take this sentence, for example: I......more

Goodreads review by Tom on December 19, 2022

My senior year in college I tried NaNoWriMo and my big idea was a thing about an evil magic sword and I had just re-read Beowulf for a student teaching lesson plan so I decided it would be Beowulf's evil magic sword and I felt supremely pleased with myself for the wholly original angle of telling th......more