Colleen J. (shukween) reviewed on 9/10/2008 + 118 more book reviews

Helpful Score: 1

The premise of this novel is intriguing: a retelling of the Neptolemus/Philoctetes myth that both of them must be present at Troy for the Greeks to win, finally, the Trojan War, but set in modern times. It is captivating at first, but as the novel wears on, it becomes a jarring context---overall, the novel reads like the memoirs of an aging, early AIDs victim uber-queen---light, chatty, little substance, and the historical backdrop starts to be just that--one dimensional like a high school stage play's cardboard, homemade backdrop. It is an award-winning novel, but other than offering a gay perspective (which by the way, I think might have stood on its own without the artificial historical context), I do not see its literary value.

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