In the Shape of a Boar

By Lawrence Norfolk

2000

First Published

3.49

Average Rating

352

Number of Pages

10H45M

Audio Length

Lawrence Norfolk's In the Shape of a Boar is a juggernaut of a novel, an epic tour de force of love and betrayal, ancient myths and modern horrors. The story begins in the ancient world of mythic Greece, where a dark tale of treachery and destructive love unfolds amid the hunt for the Boar of Kalydon—a tale that will reverberate in those same hills across the millennia in the final chaotic months of World War II, as a band of Greek partisans pursues an S.S. officer on a mission of vengeance. After the war, a young Jewish Romanian refugee, Solomon Memel, who was among the hunters will create a poem based on the experience, which becomes an international literary sensation. But the truth of what happened in the hills of Kalydon in 1945 is more complicated than it seems, and as the older Sol reunites with his childhood love in 1970s Paris, the dark memories and horrors of those days will emerge anew. ".... classical Greek culture and twentieth-century barbarism, the nature of human evil and the ambiguity of storytelling itself ... Dazzling." — David Kipen, San Francisco Chronicle "Wonderfully complex ... a fascinating story built from layered narrative lines." — Reamy Jansen,The Washington Post Book World "In the Shape of a Boar is a Herculean task accomplished with bravado and style ... storytelling of the highest echelon." — Andrew Ervin, The Hartford Courant

Avg Rating

3.49

Number of Ratings

279

5 STARS

18%

4 STARS

34%

3 STARS

32%

2 STARS

12%

1 STARS

goodreads

Author

Lawrence Norfolk

Author · 5 books

Lawrence Norfolk (born 1963) is a British novelist known for historical works with complex plots and intricate detail. His novels are also known for their unusually large vocabulary. He was born in London but lived in Iraq until 1967 and then in the West Country of England. He read English at King's College London and graduated in 1986. He worked briefly as a teacher and later as a freelance writer for reference book publishers. In 1992, he won the Somerset Maugham Award for his first novel, Lemprière's Dictionary, about events surrounding the publication, in 1788, of John Lemprière's Bibliotheca Classica on classical mythology and history. His second novel, The Pope's Rhinoceros, is based on the history of an actual animal also known as Dürer's Rhinoceros. Themes in the work include the lost city of Vineta, the sack of Prato, and the Benin bronze-making culture on the river Niger.