An Iliad: A Story of War

Alessandro Baricco re-creates the siege of Troy through the voices of 21 Homeric characters. Sacrificing none of Homer’s panoramic scope, Baricco forgoes Homer’s detachment and admits us to realms of subjective experience his predecessor never explored. From the return of Chryseis to the burial of Hector, we see through human eyes and feel with human hearts the unforgettable events first recounted more than 3,000 years ago events arranged not by the whims of the gods in this instance but by the dictates of human nature.With Andromache, Patroclus, Priam, and the rest, we are privy to the ghastly confusion of battle, the clamour of the princely councils, the intimacies of the bedchamber until finally only a blind poet is left to recount secondhand the awful fall of Ilium.Imbuing the stuff of legend with a startlingly new relevancy and humanity, Baricco gives us “The Iliad” as we have never known it. His transformative achievement is certain to delight and fascinate all the readers of Homer’s indispensable classic.

Reviews of An Iliad: A Story of War

"* 'Baricco has written an Iliad for his time, a wonderful, gripping take on a story that has haunted our culture since it was first told.' – The Times * 'You won't, and can't put it down' – Observer * "A swift, stylish, summer-reading version of the great epic." – San Francisco Chronicle * "A taut and mesmerizing tale." – Seattle Times"