Ransom

David Malouf's Ransom takes a segment of the Trojan War saga and creates an elegy about grief and loss. The focus of the story is the relationship between Achilles, the Greek hero, and Priam, the Trojan king, and their grief at the deaths of their most beloved ones. Patroclus, Achilles' life long friend and soul mate, is killed by Hector, Priam's son, on the battlefield. In his rage Achilles slays Hector and then proceeds to deface Hector's corpse, which is an extreme insult to Priam. Achilles and Priam are tethered to each other in their pain. The story, as told by Malouf, shows that mental and emotional anguish will drive the most heroic and most lauded individuals to acts that, in their right minds, would never have happened. Malouf, considered to be one of the great Australian writers, writes with lyricism and a mystical quality that takes the reader into another world. The author takes the reader into the minds of Achilles and Priam - two vastly different individuals experiencing the same devastating loss. In some ways the writing is cinematic - the visual descriptions color the language and put the reader on the beach where the Greeks are besieging the Trojans. It is beautifully written. It seems that each word is chosen carefully to evoke the emotional depth of each character. It is a short novel, but one well worth an afternoon/evening of contemplation. I recommend it highly.