Grendel

Grendel is more than just a story about monster. It is a novel chronicling every human's search for meaning in life. Grendel begins by struggling with meaning in the universe. He tells himself, "Nothing mattered." With this nihilistic attitude, Grendel explores the meaning of life in all aspects of human existence, everything from politics to love. By the end of the novel, Grendel, through experience and observation, begins to doubt himself and his beliefs. This is perhaps the most significant way in which Grendel exhibits human existence: all humans doubt their beliefs, it is what makes them human. It is also fascinating to note that Grendel is not a human. He is a big, hairy monster. Yet, he still thinks, experiences emotions, and acts like a human.
Grendel is an example of metafiction, a work of fiction based on another work of fiction. The character Grendel is the villain of Beowulf, an ancient epic poem. John Gardiner does an excellent job developing a story within the confines of another story with imagination and humor. Grendel could easily be read with or without having read Beowulf and is a relatively light read, depending on what the reader chooses to get out of it.
I would recommend Grendel to anyone who is interested in reading a complex novel about a misunderstood monster who wants nothing more than to find its purpose and create meaning in its life.

Grendel... ah, where do I begin? Grendel is a lavish novel that will transcend the great echoing halls of classic literature for eons. John Gardner's piece puts you, the reader, in a front row seat to one of the finest orchestrations of the classic beast's, Grendel, mind and method to madness.

As the story progresses, we follow closely along with the maturation of the mind of that paradoxically enigmatic, yet so familiar mind that represents the nature of man. Grendel is forced to confront classic ideas in areas such as epistemology (the power of perception), government (the tyranny of despotism, the nature of revolution), theology (the purpose of religion as a metaphysical limit), and many others.

As great pieces of literature have transcended the wear of time into the glorious mead hall of classics, they have all shared something in common; they have all spent years and years of their pre-existence to their conception fermenting and nourishing themselves within the mind of the author in hopes to one day question and console man's great journey and epic tale of self-awareness. Grendel accomplishes this perfectly.

If you are in search of a novel that will question and push your mind and perception to new heights, I would most certainly recommend John Gardner's Grendel.

I have read a large number of traditional literary works and a few items of modern writing in recent years. And, of the many works of contemporary literature, the work Grendel stands out as one of the most interesting and innovative in construction and plot.
Gardner has created a work with an interesting variation of style. At various points, the work goes from standard narration into modes of poetry and play. This can make for a more interesting read but it can also cause a degree of confusion for less experienced readers. But, on the whole, this feature adds positively to the book. The book has a somewhat interesting way of going about telling the original Beowulf tale. It is completely narrated by the primary villain of Beowulf, Grendel, and follows him from his birth, to his early life, to his inevitable demise at the hands of Beowulf. It is also interesting that the work has twelve chapters with one representing each period of the zodiac.
The book is written on a very deep level. If one wants to pick something up for a light read, I would recommend that he chose something else. But the work is relatively short and "word efficient" and goes by quite fast so it doesn't seem at all tedious. Because of all of these factors, I would highly recommend the work to any advanced reader who wants to try meta-fiction.

The novel, Grendel, written by John Gardner, is a meta fictional literary work which details the mental and physical life of Grendel, the monster discussed in Beowolf. Gardner describes Grendel's life in detail giving the reader a story barely touched upon in Beowolf. This story details his journey, starting from early life in a cave with his mother and ending with his last battle against Beowolf. Each chapter Grendel must confront a new conflict whether external or internal, the nature, he must overcome them or lose. Many of the conflicts he face are internal and deal with his role in regard to mankind and how he correlates to them. Many of these internal conflicts occur after Grendel visits the dragon and the dragon defines Grendel's role to mankind as the brunt force behind their progress and a cog in the machine that leads to evolution. However there are some physical conflicts such as mankind vs. Grendel, the most visible of these conflicts being between Grendel and Hrothgar. After the first chapter, the chapters all document a random year of Grendel's war with Hrothgar. The climax of this novel occurs after Grendel talks to the dragon and he tries to come to terms with his newly defined role in mankind. This is where Grendel truly loses his innocence and starts the downhill spiral to his death, encountering on his way many occasions in where he tests his thoughts and becomes confused. Gardner uses this novel as a side commentary on his views of politics, religion, and social caste mentality. A very intense, emotional, and descriptive novel, that I believe, deserves 4 Gold Stars.

John Gardner's "Grendel" is a fictional story based on fiction. The storyline in this book of what Grendel encounters and what his fate will be is based on the storyline of Beowulf but from Grendel's point of view and experience. Throughout this book you get a sense of man's search for meaning through Grendel's experiences, which is interesting because Grendel is no man, he is a monster.
In this book you find out about Grendel's childhood, his relationship with his mother, and his interactions with man and his thoughts to all of this and how he deals with it. His childhood experiences taught him that man was dangerous, his mother represented his innocence, and his interactions with man showed him heroism, love, search for meaning, politics and government, religion and faith, and death.