"It is 13th century B.C. and aboard the ship Argo, Medea, Jason and the Argonauts make their return journey across the Black Sea from Persia’s Colchis, in possession of the Golden Fleece.David Vann, in brilliant poetic prose, gives us a nuanced and electric portrait of one of Greek mythology’s most fascinating and notorious figures, Medea; an ancient tale reimagined through the eyes of the woman often cast as sorceress and monster.
Atmospheric and spellbinding, Bright Air Black is an indispensable and provocative take on one of our earliest texts and the most intimate and corporal version of Medea’s story ever told."
A hauntingly and disturbingly visceral read. While the prose was beautiful, I found it occasionally repetitive and heavy to the point where I wasn't too sure what was really going on. This might have been on purpose as it definitely added to the mystic and surrealism of the story. The whole book felt abit like going on a macabre drug trip to be honest.
Some interesting points are raised on the social attitudes of the time in regards to misogyny, religion and power that can be seen as relevant to this day. Medea is not a sympathetic character and is made all to human while still retaining a large amount of her original monstrous otherworldly aura.
A very difficult book to describe or review as I think this is one of those marmite books. You will probably love it or hate it. I will definitely be trying something else of David Vann's in the future to see if maybe his prose will be slightly more understandable in that one.
Age Rating 15+. Trust me on this, not for the faint of heart. The book opens with Medea chopping up her brother and doesn't really let up from there. Allusions to sex and necrophilia. Th murder and gore is visceral and occasionally nauseating.
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