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Most Helpful Reviews
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Liked It “Made me love British literature. Here's to saucy, wanton hussies everywhere.” see full review » see other reviews » |
Didn’t Like It “I hated this book and the class I read it for (Arthurian Legends). I couldn't understand a thing my professor was saying and basically didn't care until I realized I had to write a paper about this.” see full review » see other reviews » |
Newest Reviews
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“English 221: British Literature I”
Wendy Bell wrote this review 2 weeks ago. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No“I hated this book and the class I read it for (Arthurian Legends). I couldn't understand a thing my professor was saying and basically didn't care until I realized I had to write a paper about this.”
Samantha wrote this review Wednesday, October 21 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No“Made me love British literature. Here's to saucy, wanton hussies everywhere.”
Mrs. D wrote this review Wednesday, October 14 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“A classic retelling of Sir Gawain, a knight of the Round Table, and his foe the Green Knight. Sir Gawain holds up the values of Knight of the Round Table and although he is human, manages to come away from his experiences still holding to his honor. A timeless story of striving to live up to a standard of goodness and the ties of friendship and trust that result.”
Stan W wrote this review Monday, September 14 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“Translation of this fabulous story with Raffel's explanation of how tricky it is to understand and interpret, this being the only known example of this dialect of Old English.”
Eileen M wrote this review Saturday, August 22 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“An adorable and fun tale”
Erika S wrote this review Friday, July 31 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“I wouldn't have read this all the way through had the translation not been so great. It was really easy to read and, being completely unfamilar with King Arthur legend, it helped me understand what was going on. I had no idea where the story was going, so I wrote a lot of questions in the margins, but it ended well and Merwin did a fantastic job portraying the original poet's true intentions.”
Kristine G wrote this review Friday, July 24 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“I re-read it last year and loved it. It's an action movie in verse form. Everything is here: honor, courage, the Quest, the Temptation. The story revolves around trust and honor. The Exchange of Winnings is as much a test of honor as the Green Knight's Challenge. Gawain's real test is of whether his Chivalry is merely an artificial convention or is truly part of his Christian Self. His greatest challenge is the temptations presented by Bertilak's wife. The first Temptation scene is a sensual masterpiece. Where Gawain does fail, by not informing Bertilak of his daily winning (the wife's magic girdle), he lies as much to protect the wife as to protect himself. Does that make him dishonorable or is honor more complex than he thought? A very exciting, very thought provoking book.”
Sorella M wrote this review Monday, July 20 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“Excellent. Good read, better for those more interested in the period and literature of those times...”
James wrote this review Sunday, July 12 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No“A fun book aimed at children although I wandered how much they would understand the temptation.
In and Out of the Stash wrote this review Sunday, June 21 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
Beautiful illustrations”
