What do readers think of Son of Nobody by Yann Martel? Write your own review.

Yann Martel has returned to familiar territory. Just as Life of Pi drew inspiration from a 1981 allegory by a Brazilian author, and The High Mountains of Portugal investigated the chimera of faith versus science, Son of Nobody employs Greek myth to explore the human condition. In each instance, Martel blurs the line between artifact and artifice, which leaves the reader wondering, as the old commercial went, "Is it real, or is it Memorex?" Here, Martel utilizes a split narrative structure, a layout I found to be a shocking waste of page space, to present a "translated" Greek myth on the top half and a modern human story, told through footnotes, on the bottom.

My knowledge of the Trojan War comes largely from contemporary novels rather than classical texts, so I cannot vouch for the scholarship behind Martel's treatment of the Epic Cycle. However, I can attest to the thrilling drama he creates around Psoas (pronounced "so as"—a linguistic wink), who is neither a god nor a hero, but the son of a goatherd. Through him, Martel argues that history is frail and subject to interpretation. Readers like me, who regret their lack of a classical education, may fear they are being led astray, while those with deep knowledge may feel affronted. Regardless, the execution is superb; it was a pleasure to be invited to consider love, war, and grief alongside the great ones.

I love retelling of classics (like Circe or Wicked), but when I found out this novel was told entirely in verse and footnotes, I was a little skeptical (I am also not a fan of novels centering on academics). But I was surprised and delighted by this particular academic's discovery, through piecing together papyrus strips, of another angle on the heroics of the Trojan War, this one told by an ordinary soldier, Psoas. After 10 years of misery holding Troy under siege to satisfy the whims of Greek's two kings, one of whom claims Paris "kidnapped" his wife Helen (the Trojans, it turns out, have a very different story), Psoas finally breaks, tells off his superiors and finds himself in another kind of battle. What a feat of imagination to tell this new story in free verse that is completely engaging and absorbing! The inventive footnotes deepen our understanding of both The Iliad and "The Psoad" as well as our understanding of how Greeks saw the world. The footnotes also relate the struggles and battles of the academic's own domestic life with his wife and his 10 year-old daughter, also named Helen (though sometimes the parallels felt a little strained).

The Importance of Storytelling.

In Son of Nobody, a Canadian scholar of the classics pieces together writings from an unknown commoner's retelling of the Greek classic, The Iliad.

For this story, Yann Martel, Booker Prize winning author of Life of Pi, creates a fascinating literary and philosophical puzzle for the reader. The narrator of this novel, Harlow Donne, is working among the archives of Oxford when he discovers archeological fragments of a lost epic about the Trojan War as relayed by a commoner by the name of Psoas, Son of Nobody.

One of the things I enjoyed about this book is its unique two-sided structure: at the top of each page are the remnants of the new text, and at the bottom are Donne's notes about the original text from Homer and additional notes about his studies and his family. He often will refer to his beloved daughter Helen still at home in Canada, and yes that name and that absence will hold much significance.

This novel puts the reader right in the midst of the scholarly pursuit of truth. This kind of storytelling is so significant for today. As Psoas warns, wars are started by the powerful, but are fought by everyday soldiers and felt by everyday people. How timely. As Martel says, "the past is never done with…there are parallels and returns and repetitions."

I love books that ask me to think a little differently, that help me experience the story in a new way. This book definitely delivers this experience. You have the telling of the story of the son of nobody, but you also have the personal reflections and observations of a professor, a grieving father, and a sad husband. I found it to be a profound story of one family's personal war and grief, against the backdrop of an epic war and the inherent grief it brings to a civilization. The poetry was easy to read and was consistent with what little I know of the Iliad from other readings. There are many phrases throughout which are quite beautiful and I hope the reader will take some time to think about and reflect on those passages for themselves. I finished the book a few days ago and I've been reflecting on it ever since. It left me with a sense of unease, but also a sense of wonder.

These ancient stories, told and retold, help us to learn about ourselves and perhaps develop compassion for others.

I received an ERC of this book through #BookBrowse and I enjoyed reading it.

I truly enjoyed this original, delightful novel with two story lines: 1) a Trojan War epic and 2) the personal trials of the Oxford scholar who discovered the Trojan epic. The premise of the novel sounds confusing, but the author created a very readable bi-novel by dividing the two stories physically: the upper part of the page is the Trojan epic, the lower part of the page is the scholar's notes and personal drama. Both stories are very engaging!

Son of Nobody is written by Yann Martel, author of Life of Pi. Once again, he has created a novel unique in form and content. The plot involves two complementing storylines. One involves a doctoral student who discovers a version of the Trojan War called The Psoad which was written at the same time as Homer's Iliad. At its center is a common Greek foot soldier, Psoas. The second plot concerns the footnotes of the doctoral student, which reflect both his impressions of The Psoad and his own personal life. These two plots complement each other in content and theme. Those themes concern love, death, class and war.

The structure of Son of Nobody makes it unique. Each page is divided horizontally in two. The upper half is The Psoad, written in a quasi Homeric style. The bottom half of the page are the doctoral student's footnotes, which concern both reflections on the Psoad and on his personal life. These two intertwining stories complement each other. This structure might sound confusing, but it is not. The two stories read seamlessly.
I recommend this book to fans of Homer, Martel and Greek myths.

Yann Martel is a great writer, and this is a brilliant book. The structure is unique---basically a reimagining of Homer, coupled with a contemporary family drama tucked away in the footnotes. Equal parts alternative history, mythology, and tragedy, it moves seamlessly between "now" and antiquity, and it defies classification. It's also occasionally quite funny, though sadness is the dominant tone. Highly recommended!

Son of Nobody is an amazing read on so many levels. First, the structure of the book with two parallel story lines on the same page above and below a solid, black line, as though narrative above and footnotes below. Second, the retelling of the Trojan War through the eyes of a common soldier as it is being pieced together by a similarly common scholar of the classics. Third, the similar struggles of love, family, grief, and regret that befall both the soldier and the scholar transcend the thousands of years and miles that separate their lives, yet are so common to the human experience. This is a book that the reader will not soon forget. It's a compelling read that will be especially enjoyed by anyone who loves the classics and relishes the idea that perhaps, lost in an ancient trash pile, new stories are still awaiting discovery.