Let's Bust a Recap : Troilus and Cressida

It's August and you know what that means: time for a Shakespearean tragedy! This year it was Troilus and Cressida. I thought King Lear had the best bit of name-calling I've read in any of Shakespeare's plays, but he outdid himself in Troilus and Cressida. We couldn't get through a page of this play without some epic putdowns, and I'm always here for that.

In Troilus and Cressida, we basically have two separate stories going on: one which involves the title characters' love story (which you'd think would be the bigger plot line...given the title), and one which involves the war between the Greeks and the Trojans—specifically, a lot of drama between Hector, Ajax, and Achilles (actually the bigger plot of the play). So let's get into it.

We open with a prologue, a soldier basically setting the stage for us. The Greeks and the Trojans are at war because Menelaus' no-good, philandering wife Helen is sleeping with Paris. So basically they've been fighting for years because the Greeks are trying to get Helen back. She must be one hot dame. 

Then we happen upon a conversation between Troilus and Pandarus in which Troilus is whingeing on about how in love he is with Pandarus' foxy niece Cressida, and Pandarus is snappy because he's fed up with Troilus' thankless bellyaching. But that doesn't stop Pandarus from being totally #TeamTroilus in the very next scene as he and Cressida are watching all the Trojan lords parade by on their return from the latest battle. After Pandarus leaves, we the audience get it from Cressida herself that she's definitely into Troilus but she's playing hard to get because—and I quote—"Things won are done".

Next we hop over to the Grecian side and sit in on a powwow between Agamemnon and his commanders who are trying to figure out how to light a fire under Achilles who is their best warrior but is refusing to fight. He's upset the entire balance of power in the Greek camp, and it's really ticking the top brass off. Hector (the Trojan heavyweight) has issued a challenge to the Greeks vowing to fight in one-on-one combat their best guy (presumably Achilles), but that puts the Greeks in a tough spot. For one thing, as already mentioned, Achilles can't be bothered. For another, even if they could get Achilles to accept the challenge, if he loses to Hector, it would really put a damper on Greek morale. They come up with a plan to rig a lottery in which Ajax would be chosen to fight Hector. If Ajax loses, they can save face by saying that Achilles would have won, and in the meantime, they can ruffle Achilles' feathers by passing him over.  Win-win. 

Back in the Trojan camp, King Priam and his sons are debating whether or not this whole war is even worth it anymore and maybe they should just send Helen back to her husband and be done with the whole bloody mess. Troilus pipes up saying their entire honor is on the line and the fight must go on. Paris is obviously with Troilus on this (no shock there, he's the one knocking boots with Helen) but why Troilus is so hot about this, I still don't know. It's a point he presses until Hector and everyone else give in. 

Agamemnon decides to go see if Achilles is warming up at all, but Achilles blows him off which naturally tries the last bit of patience Agamemnon has and he determines to stick with the original plan of sending Ajax out to battle Hector.

That pretty much sums up the first two acts. Still with me?

In Act 3, Pandarus finally gets Troilus and Cressida in the same room and pretty much tells them to just kiss already. Which they do once he leaves them alone. Little Miss Hard-to-Get gives it up awfully fast when Troilus whispers a few sweet nothings in her ear and they're vowing to basically be the greatest lovers in the history of the world when Pandarus comes back. 

But over in the Greek encampment, Cressida's pimp father is cutting a deal with Agamemnon to release a Trojan commander they've captured in exchange for his daughter since all the Greeks are super aware of how smokin' hot she is and he knows what a prize she'd be for them. What?! Obviously, Agamemnon thinks this is a great plan and sends Diomedes to go get her.

Also in the Greek camp, everyone has snubbed Achilles and started singing Ajax' praises which finally starts to get under Achilles' skin and he goes to Ulysses to find out what's going on. Ulysses tells Achilles he's yesterday's news and everyone thinks Ajax is the hero now and maybe if he'd quit messing around and fight already, people might respect him again. Which Achilles takes to heart.

So Diomedes goes to get Cressida, and all the Trojans are talking about how Troilus is going to take it real hard. Which he kinda does, but he also kinda doesn't. I guess he got what he wanted from her, because when it's time to go, he's all, "Sorry 'bout ya, sis, but this is the way things are. Stay true to me though, even when you're over there with all those hot and horny Greek guys." And Cressida's all, "Troilus forever."

When Diomedes shows up in the Greek camp with Cressida, there's this awkward scene where all the commanders insist on kissing her....and then call her easy behind her back. 

Then it's time for the much-hyped duel between Hector and Ajax. And it's a wash. Turns out, they're cousins and Hector can't kill his own kin so they end up hugging it out. Super lame.

Then there's a scene where Achilles is bragging about how he's going to wreck Hector, but then he gets a letter from his girlfriend telling him not to fight and he's all, "Aw man, I can't fight now."

Then Diomedes slips off to go see Cressida and Troilus follows him to see what's up. Diomedes is putting his best game out there and Cressida is into it. As Troilus watches in agony, Cressida—after a lot of flirty back and forth—gives in and and promises herself to Diomedes. Troilus can't believe it and vows to find Diomedes on the battlefield and kill him.

Then everyone's getting ready for battle and Hector's wife and sister and dad and anyone nearby are begging him not to fight because they're sure he's going to die and Hector just laughs them off. Troilus comes in and says he's ready to rage on the battlefield today, and off they all go to fight. 

Then...everything falls apart. There's a bunch of fighting. Something about Hector killing a guy for his fancy armor, and Troilus yelling at Diomedes about stealing his horse, and Achilles setting the Myrmidons on Hector to stab him to death while he's trying on his fancy new armor, and everyone finds out Hector died, and Troilus is still vowing to get revenge and then it's just over.

Seriously. That's the end. 

This play was just weird and it's the first Shakespeare play I've read that had absolutely zero closure. It seemed like old Willy just ran out of gas and stopped because he didn't care anymore. Which, you know, whatever. That's cool. But if you're trying to hit the highlights with the Bard, this is one you can definitely skip. I enjoyed it for what it was, and I'm always glad to check another Shakespeare off my list on my quest to reading them all, but this one just wasn't great. Would not read again, would not recommend. Unless you're looking for some spicy insults to shout at other drivers on the road. Then this might be the play for you. 

I think I'm down to six tragedies and seven comedies left. (Plus the histories and all the poetry.) I might try to squeeze in two comedies next year to even that up a bit. Any suggestions for what they might be?

And BONUS: when you're trying to read your Shakespeare but the puppies just want to snuggle.

I'm not mad at 'em.

A Word for Wednesday

Pandarus :  Be moderate, be moderate.

Cressida :  Why tell you me of moderation?

                    The grief is fine, full, perfect, that I taste,

                    And violenteth in a sense as strong

                    As that which causeth it: how can I moderate it?

                    If I could temporize with my affection,

                    Or brew it to a weak and colder palate,

                    The like allayment could I give my grief:

                    My love admits no qualifying dross;

                    No more my grief, in such a precious loss.

~from Troilus and Cressida by William Shakespeare~

Let's Bust a Recap : Sherlock Holmes

Well, at long last I have waded into the weird and wonderful world of Sherlock Holmes. Sherlock is one of those classic literary characters that I've always meant to read, but never got around to. We own The Complete Sherlock Holmes in "two handsome volumes" that Doubleday put out in the late 1920s. 

Because our Sherlock Holmes is all bound up in those two hefty editions, they sat on my shelf largely ignored for several years as classics I'd get around to someday. I didn't even know how many books Sir Arthur Conan Doyle had written about Sherlock or how they were compiled or anything until just this year. All I knew was that it was a lot and I didn't know where to begin. As it happens, right before our big move to North Carolina a few months ago, Cody and I snagged the BBC mini-series Sherlock on DVD from our Friends of the Library bookstore for a measly buck a season. After moving and getting settled in, we decided to start the show, and after watching the first episode, I decided it was time for my proper introduction to the OG Sherlock Holmes. 

So let me break down some of the quick facts for you: there were ultimately nine books Conan Doyle put out about the famous "consulting detective" Sherlock Holmes. Four novels, and fifty-six short stories which were originally published in magazines then later collected in five anthologies. The first (A Study in Scarlet) was published in 1887, and the final (The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes) was published in 1927. Interestingly, Conan Doyle was ambivalent toward his popular creation. As the demand for Holmes stories grew, Conan Doyle actually wrote to his mother that he often thought of killing the character off and being done with him because "he takes my mind from better things." An idea which horrified his mother. In an attempt to scare off publishers, he raised his price level to what he thought was an unreasonable amount, but that didn't keep them away. He ended up becoming one of the best paid authors of his time. 

My "two handsome volumes" arrange the books of Sherlock Holmes chronologically according to the dates they were originally published individually and that's how I decided to tackle them. So in this post, I'll be talking about the first two novels: A Study in Scarlet and The Sign of Four. 

So this short novel was the world's first introduction to the now famous duo of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. Conan Doyle wrote it at the age of 27 in less than three weeks. 

The first part of the novel is written from the perspective of Dr. Watson as his diary. (Most of the subsequent stories about Holmes are written in this way—as Dr. Watson's reminiscences.) He recounts how he and Holmes came to meet and room together at 221B Baker Street in London, and then goes on to describe the first case he accompanied Holmes on involving a murdered man named Enoch Drebber. Shortly thereafter, Drebber's secretary Joseph Strangerson also turns up dead, and Holmes in his unorthodox and brilliant way figures the case out and apprehends the murderer. 

In the second part of the novel, we're abruptly taken back in time and across the ocean to the Salt Lake Valley in Utah in 1847 where a story unfolds about a man and little girl who are at the brink of death in the desert when they are rescued by a band of pioneer Mormons on the condition that they adopt the Mormon faith. 

Let me tell you, the transition between Part 1 and Part 2 of the novel was so abrupt and so unexpected that I spent a good bit of time wondering if this was actually two separate short stories and if we were ever going to figure out how Sherlock Holmes had solved the case in Part 1. As it turns out, Part 2 is the backstory of the two murdered men and their murderer, and it does all come together in the end. I was completely wrapped up in it, and just as impressed as Dr. Watson with Sherlock Holmes' uncanny ability to unravel the mystery. 

I have to add: Conan Doyle's unsparing and merciless depiction of Mormonism in this novel was a thing to behold. It took me by surprise, and I have to wonder, given Sherlock Holmes' universal popularity, if he has many Mormon enthusiasts and what their opinion of this first novel is. 

One other fun tidbit about A Study in Scarlet is that it was the first work of detective fiction to incorporate the magnifying glass as an investigative tool. 

The Sign of Four was Conan Doyle's second novel featuring Sherlock Holmes and his boon companion Dr. John Watson. It was commissioned in August 1889 by the American businessman Joseph Marshall Stoddart who was the managing editor of Lippincott's Monthly Magazine, and first published in the magazine in February 1890. 

This novel has a much more complex plot involving a stolen treasure, secret pacts among convicts and corrupt prison guards, poison darts, a one-legged man, and even a boat chase down the River Thames. It was quite a ride and I enjoyed every minute of it. 

We also get to meet Dr. Watson's future wife Mary Morstan in this novel, and we learn that Sherlock Holmes has a drug problem. It was a bit of a shock to open upon Holmes casually shooting up a solution of cocaine because he was bored by the recent lack of interesting cases with a disapproving Dr. Watson sitting by, annoyed. 

These first two novels were not particularly successful to start with, and it was the ensuing short stories that launched Sherlock's widespread popularity. I'm currently reading the Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and hope to also read the Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes to complete Volume 1 of The Complete Sherlock Holmes by the end of the year. I can't believe it's taken me this long in life to actually read some Sir Arthur Conan Doyle especially given my penchant for mystery stories as a kid. I thoroughly enjoyed his first two novels about Holmes and Watson. Conan Doyle's writing is sparse and to-the-point which makes for quick reading. His style reminds me a lot of Agatha Christie. It's easy to see how his influence has impacted the mystery writers that have followed him. So far the short stories are even more fun as they're easily read in one sitting, and it's no wonder they're so popular. I, for one, can now join the ranks of other Sherlock fans in recommending his strange cases to mystery lovers everywhere. 

Do you like a good mystery? Have you ever read any of Dr. John Watson's reminiscences about Sherlock Holmes? Do you prefer the novels or the short stories? 

Let's Bust a Recap : The Penderwicks

Ah me, I've fallen headlong into the delightful world of the Penderwicks and they have completely eclipsed every other literary acquaintance I've made this year. Yes, even the hysterical Flavia de Luce and also the spellbinding Kya Clark. The Penderwicks immediately rocketed onto my list of All-Time Favorite Books and there they will always stay.

Now, being that we're discussing all five Penderwicks books in this one post, we naturally may hit a few spoilers, so Penderwicks newbies beware. 

The first book entitled The Penderwicks: A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and A Very Interesting Boy was originally published in 2005 and won the National Book Award for Young People's Literature. In it, we are introduced to the Penderwick family who are headed off on their summer vacation to Arundel Cottage. The Penderwicks are made up of widowed father Martin, oldest sister Rosalind, second sister Skye, third sister Jane, youngest sister Batty, and family dog Hound. During their stay at Arundel Cottage, they befriend the lonely boy Jeffrey Tifton who lives in the mansion on the Arundel estate and unofficially adopt him into the Penderwick clan. This first book is a gratifying ode to childhood and summer and family, and I fell deeply and madly in love with the Penderwick sisters and their new friend Jeffrey. It was one of those bookish experiences where I was sad I hadn't introduced myself sooner while still fully enjoying the introduction. I found myself giggling aloud throughout the entire book and trying to explain to my husband that it was all my favorite literary elements wrapped up in one thoroughly charming package.

The second book, The Penderwicks on Gardam Street, follows the Penderwicks home from Arundel and into the school year. But what does their favorite Aunt Claire have up her sleeve? She's decided it's time for their dad to start dating, and the sisters are having none of it. Enter the Save-Daddy Plan and hilarity ensues. This book saw me shedding a few tears alongside a lot more laughter. I was happy to see that Jeffrey, while not a main character in this second installment, was still very much a part of the Penderwick family. We also get to know some of the Gardam Street regulars including the Geiger brothers and Rosalind's best friend Anna. 

In The Penderwicks at Point Mouette, the family splits up to go on separate vacations: Mr. Pen off on his honeymoon, Rosalind to the shore with best friend Anna, and the rest of the Penderwick sisters to Maine with Aunt Claire and Jeffrey. This means that Skye is now the OAP (Oldest Available Penderwick) which terrifies no one more than Skye herself. Can she keep Batty alive for two whole weeks on the coast and preserve her sanity? This book squeezed my heart as we accompanied Jeffrey on his journey to deal with some tough family issues.

Now, these first three books all take place in the span of one year. Beginning The Penderwicks in Spring was a veritable shock to the senses when I realized we had jumped ahead five years and everything had changed. Rosalind is away to college, there's a new Penderwick sister (baby Lydia), and Hound is gone. This was a particularly hard pill for me to swallow as Batty and Hound's perfect friendship was my absolute favorite aspect of the series. His loss was a true sucker-punch to the gut, and I had to mourn him along with Batty throughout this book. Because Rosalind, Skye, and Jane are so much older in this one, the book focuses more on Batty, Ben, and Lydia—the three younger Penderwicks—and was very different in tone though no less wonderful than the first three books. However, we had to deal with some gut-wrenching family issues in this one, and I am not exaggerating when I tell you that I sobbed when we hit the climax of this novel. 

And finally, The Penderwicks at Last. We've jumped ahead another seven years and now we're getting ready for Rosalind's wedding. And where better to have her perfect wedding than where it all started: at Arundel. I have to admit, this was probably my least favorite of the series, mostly because it was the end and I just wasn't ready for it to be over. The book itself was about as lovely as the rest, but as I neared the end of it, I found myself googling if it truly was going to be the last Penderwicks book. (And sadly, it seems that it is.) It was published just a few years ago in 2018, but Jeanne Birdsall has said definitively that it will be the last. 

Birdsall's strongest writing is easily when all the family is together which makes the first two books especially outstanding. In those two books, the family is together all the time, and they are delightful from the first word to the last. But there are scenes in every book that involve the whole family getting together which makes each book wholly satisfying in its own right. I fell in love with every character that Birdsall added throughout the series, and I loved the way she grew this family and pulled you in, too. My favorite books are always the ones where I feel as if I have personally befriended the characters and I felt like a part of the Gardam Street crew. Jeanne Birdsall truly has a gift and I'm glad she shared it with the world. The first Penderwicks book (which was her debut novel) was published when she was 54 and the last one when she was 67. She has said she has more books lined up in her head, and I, for one, will be on the lookout for anything else she puts out. 

I know I'll be visiting the Penderwicks again. What are some of your All-Time Favorite Books? And what characters have wormed their way into your heart? A few of my other best literary friends include Anne Shirley, Christy Miller, and the March sisters.