Heroes

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For some months now I have been wriggling my way through the fascinating world of Greek Mythology and I have finally come to the realisation these stories are Nursery Rhymes for Grown-ups. Having read and watched a few of these tales, I know how they end, I always know what the heroes and villains will do, but I just want to hear it again and again and each time I hear/watch a story – it's always slightly different. More often than not there’s a different spin, or a slightly divergent theme. Even though these stories were created many, many years ago they are still very much alive. Few mere mortals have ever embarked on such bold and heart-stirring adventures, overcome myriad monstrous perils, or outwitted scheming vengeful gods, quite as stylishly and triumphantly as Greek heroes. We see the Hydra, Cerberus, Minotaur, Pegasus and many other well-known mythical creatures and learn about their family trees as well as about the lineage of the afore-mentioned heroes. And no, I didn’t quite realize for a while that this was the second book in the series, but it was not detrimental to my enjoyment at all).

And I’m coming to the conclusion that Stephen Fry may start rivaling Wil Wheaton as my favorite narrator. I suppose one of the things that is a deciding factor in which books get to be put on the GCSE line-up is how they are written, and in fact, the rich language used is something that all of my GCSE texts have in common, which I love. I shall judge this book purely upon whether I was entertained. And I'm happy to announce that I was. :)Enrico Rucelli: Francis met Enrico during his time at war. His experiences are used to show the extent of war as he lost both his legs and his left arm. He has a cheerful attitude despite his injuries but he does feel despair. The novel has a very complicated outlook on heroism and what defines a hero. Francis is considered to be a hero as his actions during the war saved the lives of others, but the reader is asked to consider if cowardly actions can result in heroic consequences. In time, even the benevolent minor deities would find themselves elbowed out by the burgeoning and newly confident human race. The nymphs, dryads, fauns, satyrs and sprites of the mountains, streams, meadows and oceans could not compete with our need and greed for land to quarry, farm and build upon. The rise of a spirit of rational enquiry and scientific understanding pushed the immortals further from us. The world was being reshaped as a home fit for mortal beings only." Who dared break into your chamber? Tell me his name and I shall have him gelded, tortured, and strangled with his own intestines.”

Nancy Drew is a young, fearless detective who is always smartly solving crimes and is the hero of her town. as well as the audiobook since it is narrated by the author himself. I read them in parallel to enjoy Stephen Fry’s voice as much as the visual design of the print copy with the great artwork and photographs. The smartest witch around, Hermione Granger is constantly saving the day and is a wonderful female role model. This book was interesting and I thought that the characters were well introduced as we are given a lot of information for such a short book but overall it just wasn't my cup of tea.Francis Joseph Cassavant is eighteen. He has just returned home from the Second World War, and he has no face. He does have a gun and a mission: to murder his childhood hero. Young soldier, Francis Cassavant, has just returned to Frenchtown after World War ll horribly maimed and disfigured. I know Cormier can be dark, but Heroes was fantastic, moving, and thought-provoking, and I would read it again. I was pretty amazed that the author Robert Cormier wrote this in his seventies and only got published in his forties. Bloody hell there's hope for me after all ! One thing I admired in this book was the complex characters and the theme of what makes a hero. None of the characters were stereotypes and each character had committed good deeds and bad deeds making them neither angelic or evil. There is a fine line between what it means to be a good or bad person and Cormier showed us just how blurred the line can be. Larry asks a question near to the end of the book that captures the book's central theme perfectly, "Does that one sin of mine wipe away all the good things?".

Heroes is a follow-up to Stephen Fry’s original book of Greek mythology, Mythos, which I haven’t read but now plan to. Whereas Mythos focuses on the titans and gods of Greek mythology, Heroes focuses on the mortal heroes (as the name suggests). It includes sections on Perseus, Heracles, Bellerophon, Orpheus, Jason, Atalanta, Oedipus, and Theseus.

The book’s purpose was to show how much betrayal, love, hate, guilt, and forgiveness can impact a person. Also, it shows how some things cannot go the way you wanted. Additionally, those words are not always what you think they are, since all of those traits can hurt instead of help. The overall message of the book is to teach you a lesson about love, hate, guilt, and forgiveness. Another resilient young woman, Jane Eyre values her freedom and independence and has an extremely strong conscious. The value of wartime heroism is also called into question through Larry's Silver Star medal. Despite being a brave act, it was ultimately motivated by self-preservation. But Cormier doesn't stop there, he also highlights the disturbing contrast between Larry's celebrated violence towards enemies in combat and his reprehensible sexual violence (rape) towards Nicole, and the fact that Nicole is underaged makes this even more despicable. And it has been heavily implied in the book that this wasn’t his first time, either. This pressure utterly destroyed Francis’ mental health, as he grew depressed and suicidal- wanting to jump off the roof of a church, but ultimately stopped because he considered it cowardice. Remember when I said Francis almost sacrificed his life, fell onto a grenade, and tried to “shield” his comrades from a grenade explosion? I've been waiting for a while now to resume Stephen Fry's Mythology series. Mythos - the first book - had been a ton a fun, and this one's no different.

Let me start off by saying that I really enjoyed Mythos, but the second instalment is bitterly disappointing. I’ve had many ‘heroes’ in my life- most of them my friends, many inspired me to be a better me, a better Brice. But does that ultimately constitute them as heroes? According to dictionaries, being a hero means to be a person who is admired for their courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities. Heroes by Robert Cormier is a 1998 novel written by Robert Cormier. The novel is centred on the character Francis Cassavant, who has just returned to his childhood home of Frenchtown, Monument (in Massachusetts), from serving in the Second World War in France and has severe deformities as a result of an incident during the war. Just like the first volume of this series, Fry’s wonderful voice, obvious erudition and charming wit make this book not only a breeze to read, but a delight as well. He doesn’t try to reinvent anything, he is simply delivering the classic stories of the Golden Fleece, the love of Orpheus and Eurydice and so on, in a traditional but very accessible format – that’s a lot less intimidating than sitting down with a big pile of works by Homer and Herodotus.Thus, Fry tells the story of incredible human feats, of torturous labors, of gods’ punishments - usually for crimes the humans didn’t even commit solely because gods didn’t punish gods but still needed to let their anger out on someone. The heroes cleansed our world of chthonic terrors—earthborn monsters that endangered mankind and threatened to choke the rise of civilization. So long as dragons, giants, centaurs and mutant beasts infested the air, earth and seas we could never spread out with confidence and transform the wild world into a place of safety for humanity.