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The Persian Boy
by Mary Renault
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$14.95 |
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$10.17 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. |
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Paperback
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN13: 9780394751016
Condition: NEW
Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
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“It takes skill to depict, as Miss Renault has done, this half-man, half Courtesan who is so deeply in love with the warrior.”–The Atlantic Monthly
The Persian Boy traces the last years of Alexander’s life through the eyes of his lover, Bagoas. Abducted and gelded as a boy, Bagoas was sold as a courtesan to King Darius of Persia, but found freedom with Alexander after the Macedon army conquered his homeland. Their relationship sustains Alexander as he weathers assassination plots, the demands of two foreign wives, a sometimes-mutinous army, and his own ferocious temper. After Alexander’s mysterious death, we are left wondering if this Persian boy understood the great warrior and his ambitions better than anyone.
| Customer Reviews: |
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| I didn't like this book At ALL! |
| Customer Rating: 1 out of 5 |
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First of all, I could not identify with Bagoas. If I were castrated I would have wanted to kill myself. It gave me a feeling of disgust trying to read the sexual scenes. Why would a woman want to write about man-boy sex as though it were real love? I can't imagine. Man-boy love I can understand, but though it might involve admiration, I can not imagine it involving sexual desire. Ugh! Secondly, Alexander didn't come across to me as a real human being; he came across to me like one of those guys in one of the Harlequin romances, although as an unbelievable goody-goody. [...] Finally, I felt that I learned very little from this book as a 'historical' novel. After reading 150 pages, I decided there was no merit in reading any further. I decided to go to Wikipedia to look up about Alexander's homosexuality or bisexuality and it said that there was very little documentation of it, although it seemed surmisable that he was bisexual, that he loved women also, but that he was not highly sexed. [...]
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| People! It's a novel, fiction, already! |
| Customer Rating: 5 out of 5 |
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I read this book when it came out (no pun intended) in paperback in the 70s. I was a child to love (sex, yes), female or male, then of 26 years. I reread it a couple of weeks ago and loved it. I am 62 now. It is a story of love, not sex, for that is irrelevant. The First Edition hardbound dust jacket has these lines. "Alexander is a man with little experience of sensuality, but a profound need of affection. Bagoas' famous beauty has been much exploited, but his affection has been needed by no one. Their meeting is irresistible to both." Whereas the first sentence is arguable, yet incapable of proof, if one imagines Hephaestion to be a sensual lover, the second is the crux of this beautiful tale of deep affection. Testicles do not automatically confer manliness, any more than their absence confers femininity. One can never doubt Alexander's manliness, yet his warring parents apparently wondered if his mutual obsession with Hephaestion, nay besottedness, was healthy for the boy. He/they were probably 15 or 16 years old then. Philip and Olympias even wondered if their boy was a "gynnis," that is, a womanish man. So that raises another irrelevant question: who was top or bottom? Or both? Maybe they were both "versatile" in modern gay jargon. But then, who cares?! They were men and therefore sexual and very into a lifelong love. As there are only five references to Bagoas in all of the third hand (at best) ancient sources, we shall never know. Therefore this sensual, beautiful, and tender NOVEL should be judged on it's own merits and not pecked to meaningless pieces by modern labeling crows.
So now for a bombshell. I am going to write a sequel to The Persian Boy. No, I'm not insane, just a romantic dreamer who weeps unabashedly and procrastinates reading this book's last 50 or so pages. I don't want Hephaestion or Alexander to die so young. Who ever does? Could it have been plausibly different? What could (and should) have intervened (no time-travel, aliens or such absurdist cheap devices) to change their lives and all of western history forever? One very small thing could have. I have the vision, or perhaps a mad delusion. Whatever! I shall write it!
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| Truly Amazing (And this is coming from a reluctant reader) |
| Customer Rating: 5 out of 5 |
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First off I want to say that I was not initially a fan of Bagoas, I have always been much more partial to Hephastion. As this was from Bagoas's point of view I was initially reluctant to read it but I am VERY glad I did. I have come to love Bagoas every bit as much as Hephastion, much like Alexander did. Though of course this isn't a memoir penned by Bagoas himself, I do very much believe that Mary Renault did him justice and he would be proud. He deserves to have his story told just as much as Alexander does. Bagoas wasn't some weak, frightened, limp wristed eunuch by any stretch of the imagination. He not only survived Royal politics, which is in a feat in itself, but he survived the fall of Darius, the xenophobic Macedonians, an assassination attempt and an incredible and harrowing march through India and the desert. Many, many men (who actually did have balls) did not survive that particular campaign. To me, this just proves the point that being a man is less about what you look like physically and more about what you are made of inside. Cheesy sounding I know, but true. I highly, highly recommend this book, not just for Alexander-aphiles, but for anyone simply looking for something good to read - gay or straight.
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| Beyond compare |
| Customer Rating: 5 out of 5 |
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If only other female writers had as much understanding of the gay male psyche as Mary Renault. This is a superb rendering of the life of Alexander the Great and like all of Miss Renault's historical novels is realised with consummate ease and supreme ability. Superb!
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| Best book I've read in years! |
| Customer Rating: 5 out of 5 |
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Pros: How can I list them all? The writing is eloquent, lush, and yet very readable. The story is gripping and the romance touching. The book somehow gets you to understand a supremely different time and different places without long explanations. Bagoas is a wonderful character.
Cons: I can't think of much. The ending is very abrupt.
I actually feel lucky to have discovered this book. "The Persian Boy" tells the story of Bagoas, a eunuch and the historical lover of Alexander the Great. In the book, he is taken in deadly attack on his family. At the age of ten, he is castrated and sold into slavery. He has a hard time of it until he becomes the kept boy of Darius and later the lover of Alexander. Bagoas is an incredibly loveable character. Both vulnerable and hard, he wishes for the life he could have had if he were not castrated even as he is grateful for his life with Alexander. He obeys Alexander unquestioningly even as he worries over some his decisions and mourns his relationships with Hephaistion and Roxanne. Bagoas is a beautiful and complex character and the fact that the story is narrated through his point of view gives it much of its charm.
As a historical novel, The Persian Boy really shines. Somehow, the novel manages to make you understand ancient Greece and Persia, two cultures so different from our own, without dumping too much information on the reader. Mary Renault really has a talent for giving just the appropriate information as she goes. It is also worth noting that the author's attitudes are never intrusive in the story. Bagoas has most the prejudices of his era, though his relationship with Alexander and his status as a slave lessens some of them. Some will think the book far too sympathetic toward Alexander, but it is sympathetic because this is how Bagoas feels and actually makes a lot of sense. The first person point of view lends a lot to Bagoas' perspective and the style in general is just so rich.
In the end, Bagoas' love for Alexander is at times touching and at times heartbreaking. Even if you love the Alexander/Hephaistion dynamic, it is hard not to sympathize with Bagoas who is so completely in love with a man who (at least in Renault's books) so deserves to be loved.
I know that this is such a gushing review, but I truly mean it when I say that this is the best book I've read in years. The only problem I can think of is that the ending feels very abrupt -- like the story just stops instead of truly ending.
I read "The Persian Boy" before "Fire from Heaven" and can tell you that it works very well as a stand alone novel. 5+ stars.
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