The Hostage

by Mary R. DeMaine

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0967347114
• ISBN13: 9780967347110
• Release Date: June 2000
• Publisher: PZA Publishing
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.0" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Two Halves

I had the opportunity to hear Dr. DeMaine speak about "The Hostage" before I read it. The insights she gave added immensely to what I found to be a fantastic read even without them. She pointed out that the book is divided into two halves. The first half, which revolves around the confrontation between two dominant males, pays homage to the "Iliad" (which revolves around the confrontation between Achilles and Agamemnon). The second half, like Odysseus' long journey home in the "Odyssey", consists of a journey by the protagonist Philocleon. Women play a much more important role in the second half of "The Hostage", just as they did in the "Odyssey". (Women play such a strong role in the "Odyssey" that, according to Dr. DeMaine, it has been argued that the "Iliad" must have been written by a man and the "Odysssey" by a woman.) Dr. DeMaine also pointed out that the cover of the novel is done in Attic red-figure pottery colors because Attic black and red-figure pottery scenes were the primary visual sources for the stories in the "Iliad" and "Odyssey". The dagger on the cover alludes to both an actual dagger found at Mycenae (the legendary home of King Agamemnon) and to the signifi-cance a 'Mycenaean' dagger plays in the story. When I added these insights to the information included in the fore-word, I found that each time I turned one of Dr. DeMaine's intriguing corners in the story, I was doing so with the thrill that comes with being an insider. Her story is built around believable and lovable characters and, as a bonus, offers interesting insights into how the "Iliad" could have been recorded and some plausible ideas to explain how the "Odyssey" might have come into existence. After an exciting and extraordinary conclusion to the first half, she takes the reader to Delphi where a famous oracle becomes the crucial key to the action and the impetuous for a series of fascinating adventures that touch on all three places that claimed to be Homer's birthplace. By the time the novel ended, I wanted only one thing -- more! And given that Dr. DeMaine left her protagonist Philocleon poised for further adventures, I'm betting there is more coming.

Interesing take on Homer and archaic Greece

For those of you who are just interested in a good story, "The Hostage" is indeed a good and fairly quickly paced story. It centers around the life of a young wealthy man named Philocleon who in the course of a few months meets, befriends, and kills Homer and his own father, loses his family estate, loses his eyesight, frees his slaves and finds love matches for those who help him, as well as make sure the words of one of Homer's poems, The Illiad, are written down and dedicated to Apollo. The ending is quite aburpt actually and leaves many questions and Philocleon's own marriage hanging. I took this as fictiion and yet as an ancient historian somes things were a bit odd. Why this one poem and how would others then be acredited to Homer? Why were the writing tutors Assyrian when it is Phoenician that Greek develops from?

Ancient World Comes to Life

"The Hostage", by Mary DeMain, presents a cast of interesting and sympathetic characters that move across the landscape of ancient Greece in fulfillment of their destinies. The story is woven around the ancient Greek poet Homer, and suggests an imaginative alternative view of how our own civilization may have received his works.Ms. DeMain has a academic background in her subject, but the story itself is by no means "dry"---one could enjoy it knowing nothing more than the high school basics of ancient Greek mythology (if there such a thing anymore).The author's extensive knowledge of ancient Greek culture allows her to provide vivid and realistic details that bring the setting and the characters to life. Especially interesting to me were descriptions of the ways in which religion may have been practiced in ancient Greece, and the "homely" details of food, meal preparation, clothing, travel, housekeeping, etc.This is an intelligent, well-written story encompassing elements of humour, mystery, sadness, shock, and joy. It held my interest from the first page to the last.