Ransom

Praise for David Malouf and Ransom

"Impressive. . . . That this tender novel lingers so long and hauntingly in the mind is a testament both to Malouf's poetry and to his reverence for the endless power of myth."
--The New York Times Book Review

"An eloquent and deeply moving tale of war, kingship, fatherhood, our common mortal lot, and--not incidentally--the enduring power of a good story. . . . Every sentence sings."
--Dallas Morning News

"Subtle and extremely moving. . . . Highly inventive. . . . Ransom is a rich meditation on literary genre. . . . Embroidered with imaginative details that often reanimate familiar elements of the epic. . . . Like Euripides, Malouf has scrutinized the vast fabric of Homer's story, looking for open spaces in the weave to insert his own design."
--The New Yorker

"Thrillingly profound. . . . Malouf's prose feels timeless--lyric and direct in ways that recall the source material yet seem wholly contemporary."
--San Francisco Chronicle

"The 'matter of Troy' has provided the world with timeless examples of heroism, nobility, cleverness and tragic destiny. In Ransom, Malouf adds to this great tradition. . . . Ransom returns again and again to the fundamental human need for story and storytelling."
--The Washington Post

"Malouf is at once powerful and tender."
--Los Angeles Times

"A writer with great imaginative powers and a gift for acute psychological characterization."
--Boston Globe

"Malouf may fairly be called Australia's greatest novelist, and the reasons why are all here, in an economical package--the penetration of his mind into hearts and motivations; the limpid, lucid prose; the bracing immediacy of the story, the art of his artlessness. A simple tale, cobbled from a few lines of an ancient text, but Malouf brings Achilles and Priam and the wagon driver to turbulent life. . . . A remarkable feat."
--The Oregonian

"Exquisite. . . . Lovely and moving. . . . Malouf doesn't exploit Homer's Iliad; he fully respects its majesty and at the same time fulfills his own deep need to link the distant past to the terrors of the present. Ransom is a joy to read."
--Providence Journal-Bulletin

"Vivid. . . . Priam's character [has] a warmth and immediacy that reflects Malouf's skill for animating historical figures."
--The Wall Street Journal

"Remarkable. . . . Highly evocative. . . . That [Malouf] is able to cut such an epic tale down to size (and in the process make it his own) is truly a testament to his gift as a novelist."
--Sacramento Book Review

"[A] lithe, graceful and deeply moving tale. . . . These pages of Ransom are nothing short of magical. Malouf's prose is delicate, marvellously alert to the natural world and endowed with a quality that has one name only: wisdom."
--The Sydney Morning Herald

"[Malouf is] a storyteller of achievement, for whom simple things gracefully become totems for deeper thought."
--Philadelphia Inquirer

"Lyrical, witty, gentle, this is above all a story of transformation. . . . Immensely moving."
--The Independent (London)

"Though Malouf's sparingly deployed details, vigorous language, and sly wit humanize these tragic heroes, the story is unmistakably epic and certainly the stuff of legend."
--Publishers Weekly (starred review)