Bull: 07/15/17

Bull by David Elliott is a poetic retelling of Theseus and the Minotaur. Each of the main characters get their own poetic style and voice and the book alternates between.

Elliott uses modern language including profanity to rework this story into compelling snippets. It's a fun, sometimes crass (but so is the source material) modernization of a Greek myth. It should appeal to teens who grew up reading Percy Jackson and are looking for something edgier.

The book itself is also well crafted, designed to further draw the reader into the story. Above ground, the text is presented in a standard fashion: black typeface on white paper. As Asterion is imprisoned and begins his descent into madness and transformation into the blood lusting beast we know as the minotaur, the pages go through a gradient, slowly getting darker and darker until it's white typeface on black pages.

I chose this book to further explore the relationship of the Minotaur and labyrinth to the American road narrative — specifically the crossing the cornfield and road not taken categories. Bull serves as a good counterpoint to The Minotaur Takes a Cigarette Break to see how jaded M came to be — how he was once an idealistic child (despite is bovine features), named Asterion (ruler of the stars).

Five stars

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