Beowulf, the Seamus Heaney translation

Beouwulf - the Seamus Heaney translation
Pages: 213

So not gonna lie, I read sparknotes for most of this book because I couldn't understand what I was reading. As soon as I read it I would look on sparknotes for the dumbed down translation and I understood what was going on. This is an extremely difficult book to read, especially if you have no experience with old english or translated works. 

The main characters are Beowulf, Grendel, Grendel's Mom, and Hrothgar. Beowulf is our hero, Grendel is our antagonist, a descendant from Cain, Grendel's mom is obviously what her name means, and Hrothgar is the King of where Grendel was rampaging.

The plot was good but they used to many words for something so simple, but I can't really bash that because that's just how things were written back then. This book was written in 1040 if you don't know. So it was super wordy and I found myself falling asleep several times and not remembering what I read and having to go back and reread several pages. 

Other than all of these things the fights were pretty short but visual which was great. It was heartbreaking at the end a little after everything Beowulf did he ended up dying. 

This book is definitely for mature readers. Not because of content, but because I'm in an AP English 12 class and most of my class needed the teachers help with it. If you can understand it without help props to you because I couldn't haha. It really is a good book and NO THE MOVIE IS NOT ANYTHING LIKE THE BOOK. So don't go watching the movie and then thinking you read Beowulf because you saw the movie. NO. Not even close. Think again. This is a very good book to stretch your brain though. If you're ready pick it up and try it. Carry on my wayward readers.