Name: Autobiography of Red
Rating: 4.183673469387755 (147 reviews)
ISBN: 9780375701290

Anne Carson

A novel in verse bridges the gap between modernity and classicism with a story about a winged red monster named Geryon, who retreats into the world of photography after losing a male lover.

A Novel in Verse

Autobiography of Red

WOOOOOOOOF. on list of things i would have love to have written but am elated exist regardless

mira lee

“Something black and heavy dropped between them like a smell of velvet. Herakles switched on the ignition and they jumped forward onto the back of the night. Not touching but joined in astonishment as two cuts lie parallel in the same flesh”

gingy :3

It has been nearly two weeks and I feel like my mind is still reeling a little bit from finishing this. The further I get from the point of having read it, the more it feels like a piece of abstract artwork - the details are fuzzy, distorted, but the emotions are sharp and clear. It moved me, deeply, but I am yet to pin down exactly why. Maybe I was just the perfect reader for it.

Hellboy TCR

Sara

Carson's ability to communicate so much with so few words is incredible

alina s

The beginning of this book made no sense and I felt stupid but then the rest made me feel like I was dreaming. Very beautiful and clever in its language and phrasing. Smart without making you feel like you’re reading something quirky. Good shit

Emily Morgan

Francesca

Sicuramente farò qualche ricerca per comprendere meglio quest'opera, che comunque rientra tra le letture più interessanti che abbia mai intrapreso.

serena maeve.

This verse-novel made me fall in love with Anne Carson's words. Metaphorical yet poignant.

Really inventive. I went into this slightly confused by the proposed relationship between Geryon and Herakles, because something like that happening in canon mythology would be...weird because Geryon and Herakles only knew each other for like. A few days. And then Herakles stole his cattle and killed Geryon. 

But then I saw that this was modernized and I felt a lot better.

Anne Carson's writing style made me fall in love. If only I could do descriptions justice like this.

In this extraordinary epic poem, Anne Carson bridges the gap between classicism and the modern, poetry and prose, with a volcanic journey into the soul of a winged red monster named Geryon. There is a strong mixture of whimsy and sadness in Geryon's story. He is tormented as a boy by his brother, escapes to a parallel world of photography, and falls in love with Herakles - a golden young man who leaves Geryon at the peak of infatuation. Geryon retreats ever further into the world created by his camera, until that glass house is suddenly and irrevocably shattered by Herakles' return. Running throughout is Geryon's fascination with his wings, the colour red, and the fantastic accident of who he is. Autobiography of Red is a deceptively simple narrative layered with currents of meaning, emotion, and the truth about what it's like to be red. It is a powerful and unsettling story that moves, disturbs, and delights.

Kwan Ann Tan

This book is actually the best thing I have read this year.

madina

i know!! me, not rating anything of anne carson's 5 stars? [shocked gasps from the audience]

i think, along with bone map, this is one of those books where i understand the literary viewpoint that it is absolutely gorgeous & groundbreaking but it just isn't for me in its entirety. there are some lines that i loved, phrases that shook me, but as an entirety it didn't pierce me the way, say, night sky did. honestly i think the [cough] "aesthetic" didn't fit mine in here. & tbh i was so much more interested in geryon's relationship with ancash rather than herakles so halfway through reading this i was dreadingg giving it a 3 but thank god he saved the day. also those translations > the actual retelling..... sorry ms carson.

Autobiography of Red A Novel in Verse

Reviews

Highlights