A review by adularia25
Zeus Grants Stupid Wishes: A No-Bullshit Guide to World Mythology by Cory O'Brien
3.0
This book is a fun romp through tales that everyone should know, though many don't, made all nicely modern for the person who just doesn't have the time to enjoy them in their original language or when translated into prose. I'm truly pleased this collecting includes the tale of Set, Horus, and a salad of justice.
This book was recommended to my husband, and he had finished reading it, so of course I snagged it to read before it was returned to the library. I asked if he had studied as much mythology as me... and he replied no one has studied as much mythology as I had, which was sweet and brings me to my next point: the tales that were woefully missing from this volume.
I understand, there are hundreds of thousands of myths from around the world... and you can't possibly have them all, but there are some that absolutely deserved to be in a book like this.
Sumerian: Inanna's Descent to the Underworld where Ereshkigal, the goddess of Death, is rather angry that Inanna hasn't visited her ever since she was kidnapped an taken to the Underworld. Inanna is stripped, then gets turned into a rotting maggoty corpse, but the two sisters make up and decide they'd rather punish Dumuzi, Inanna's husband, after they realize he is basically celebrating the fact that Inanna was dead. Not cool. And it nicely counters the bromance between Gilgamesh and Ekindu.
Aztec: Tezcatlipoca hates Quetzalcoalt so much, Tezcatlipoca drugs his drink, which causes Quetzalcoalt to sleep with his own sister.
Among others...
The book has good breadth for the tales, but I would have loved a bit more depth.
This book was recommended to my husband, and he had finished reading it, so of course I snagged it to read before it was returned to the library. I asked if he had studied as much mythology as me... and he replied no one has studied as much mythology as I had, which was sweet and brings me to my next point: the tales that were woefully missing from this volume.
I understand, there are hundreds of thousands of myths from around the world... and you can't possibly have them all, but there are some that absolutely deserved to be in a book like this.
Sumerian: Inanna's Descent to the Underworld where Ereshkigal, the goddess of Death, is rather angry that Inanna hasn't visited her ever since she was kidnapped an taken to the Underworld. Inanna is stripped, then gets turned into a rotting maggoty corpse, but the two sisters make up and decide they'd rather punish Dumuzi, Inanna's husband, after they realize he is basically celebrating the fact that Inanna was dead. Not cool. And it nicely counters the bromance between Gilgamesh and Ekindu.
Aztec: Tezcatlipoca hates Quetzalcoalt so much, Tezcatlipoca drugs his drink, which causes Quetzalcoalt to sleep with his own sister.
Among others...
The book has good breadth for the tales, but I would have loved a bit more depth.