Un acte de gloire

by Ferdia Lennon

"Un roman brillant sur l’amitié, l’art et son pouvoir de guérison et la nécessité de poursuivre ses rêves." Douglas Stuart, auteur de Shuggie Bain. 412 avant notre ère, au lendemain de la victoire de Syracuse lors des guerres du Péloponnèse. Alors que des milliers de prisonniers athéniens croupissent dans des carrières, deux jeunes potiers sans le sou, Gélon et Lampo, offrent du vin et des olives à qui voudra bien réciter des vers d’Euripide. Parmi les hommes affamés, les candidats ne manquent pas. Bientôt, naît le projet fou de monter Médée et Les Troyennes au beau milieu de cette prison à ciel ouvert. Mêlant une parfaite connaissance du monde antique au parler savoureux des pubs irlandais, Ferdia Lennon signe un roman à cadre historique résolument moderne, embarquant le lecteur dans une aventure tragi-comique inoubliable. D’une actualité brûlante, Un acte de gloire est une puissante réflexion sur le pouvoir de l’art et sur les interstices où renaît l’humanité après la guerre.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Historical, Mythology, Book Club, Audiobook, Humor

314 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 18, 2024

Reviews

[Tom Mooney · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book you never knew you needed in your life. Glorious Exploits is madness. Nothing about it should work. It's like Kevin Barry-meets-Homer.

And yet. And yet. It is absolutely brilliant. So enjoyable. So funny and satisfying. So sad and brutal and glorious.

It is about war and art and literature and friendship and love and family and community. I loved it fully and hope it finds many readers.

[Marchpane · Rating 5 out of 5]

‘Gelon says that’s what the best plays do. If they’re true enough you’ll recognize it even if it all seems mad at first, and this is why we give a shit about Troy, though for all we know, it was just some dream of Homer’s’

Gosh this was fun. At first it felt sort of like Monty Python’s Life of Brian except Irish and set during the Peloponnesian War. Complete with Irish vernacular: It’s Sicily, 412 BCE and we’ve got Syracusans calling each other ‘gobshite’ while coercing Athenian POWs into performing Euripides’ Medea.

Glorious Exploits nails the comedy, but it turns out to be more than just a cheeky premise and dry Irish humour — the story that unfolds has a lot of heart and depth to it too. There’s a message here about brotherhood, and art piercing the veil of propaganda, but it’s delivered with a light touch. Exploits? Yes. Glorious? YES.

[Sujoya - theoverbookedbibliophile · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5⭐️

Set in 412 BC, in Syracuse, Sicily amid the Peloponnesian War, Glorious Exploits by Ferdia Lennon follows the exploits of two unemployed potters Lampo and Gelon in the aftermath of the Athenian invasion of Syracuse. As the vanquished Athenians lay imprisoned in one of the old quarries in the city, starved and kept in horrific living conditions and easy targets for those seeking revenge against the invaders, Gelon and Lampo devise a plan to direct a production of Euripides’s Medea with those captives who remember the lines from the plays. Gelon is motivated by his love for Greek plays and his fear that the defeat of the Athenians would ultimately result in their famous literary works being lost to time. Lampo, the loyal friend that he is, goes along with his friend’s plans, though he does not share his friend’s fascination for Greek tragedies. The Athenians who know the lines of the play are offered extra rations as an incentive to participate. The narrative follows the friends as try to organize the resources (casting, funding, venue, costumes and of course, an audience who would need to be convinced to attend a play featuring the Athenians who the Sicilians hate with a vengeance) they would require for staging Medea and Euripides’ new play The Trojan Women which Gelon only recently heard about and the events that follow.

I was intrigued by the unique and original premise of this novel and was not disappointed. The narrative is presented from the perspective of Lampo in the first person. While Gelon is brooding and intense with a literary bent of mind, and having experienced much personal loss in his lifetime, in contrast, Lampo is more easygoing, impulsive, compassionate and loyal to a fault as is evidenced through his friendship with Gelon, his interactions with the captives in the quarry and his feelings for Lyra. There are quite a few sub-plots woven into the primary narrative that flow well, without ever becoming overwhelming despite the large cast of supporting characters and the multiple threads of the story. The supporting characters are equally well thought out and each has a distinct role to play in the story. The writing is elegant with contemporary dialect interspersed throughout the narrative, which works surprisingly well. The author strikes a perfect balance between the dry humor and light-hearted humorous elements in the first half of the story and the heartbreaking shocking events later in the narrative that alter the direction of the story altogether culminating in an emotionally satisfying yet bittersweet ending. The story touches upon themes of friendship, loyalty, the horrors of war, love and loss, grief and how an appreciation of art and literature can be a unifying force for people all across the world, despite their differences otherwise. Well-written, with a vividly described setting and well-thought-out characters, this novel is an engaging, entertaining read.

Many thanks to Henry Holt and Co. for the gifted ARC. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Connect with me! ✏ Instagram ✏ My Blog ✏ The StoryGraph

[K.J. Charles]

I would really like to talk to someone who read this because I'm at 30% and I haven't found anything remotely funny in this. A bunch of unhappy deluded drunks stumble around chatting shit while people starve to death in their concentration camp, and it...isn't tickling my funny bone? IDK, I like plenty of dark humour books but I'm just not getting it at all. A lot of people seem to bail around this point, is this a nadir and then the tone changes? Genuinely somewhat baffled here and would like to know what I'm missing.

[William Gwynne · Rating 5 out of 5]

BookTube channel with my awesome brother, Ed - The Brothers Gwynne
My personal BookTube channel - William Gwynne

My 2nd favourite book of 2024!

My brother recently read and loved this after it won the Waterstones Debut Award, so I trusted his judgement and picked it up. I am so glad that I did.

Glorious Exploits is a truly unique read. It has characters that leap from the page, an engaging plot, a wonderful writing style and a story you can connect with. All the hallmarks of an excellent book. But this also has that 'X' factor that is so often indescribable. Ferdia Lennon brings all these elements together to weave a truly masterful read that makes you laugh, makes you sweat with fear, and makes you cry. Very few books can achieve all three, and it is done expertly in Glorious Exploits.

We are thrust into 412 BC Syracuse, after an Athenian force have failed to conquer them. The Athenian prisoners has been thrown into a quarry to slowly starve, and during this time two recently jobless potters decide to go to the quarry and feed the Athenian prisoners who can quote lines from the plays of Euripides, an Athenian playwright. This then evolves into them deciding to direct a play, with the prisoners as the cast....

“If I’m honest, some days I still come here to sniff and stroll and lose myself in other worlds, and like when I was a kid, I wonder if the real places are anything like I’m imagining, and just like then, I wince, for something tells me I’ll never know, but it’s still a buzz.”

Glorious Exploits took this very unique premise and runs away with it, with a humorous undertone to the style that was very amusing, but also provoked a visceral reaction at times when it contrasted with the content, which can be very brutal. This could have come across as jarring, but in my opinion a balance was struck that perfectly exploited (my pun of the day) its potential.

This is a read that I would recommend to everyone, no matter if they mainly read historical fiction, thriller, fantasy, horror or poetry. It is a book that hooks you and refuses to let you go, investing you in the characters and exploring the human condition along the way.

A truly exceptional read.

5/5 STARS

[Allen Walker · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sigh.

So, look. I get why people recommended this to me and why people might think I'd like it: set in the Peloponnesian War, Greek crap, theatre, funny, etc. The problem is threefold:

1) It insists upon itself, Lois.

2) I didn't actually find it funny.

3) The 1st person MC is so incredibly insufferable and unlikeable that I almost couldn't even finish it.

This is a book about the brutalities of war, the longsuffering costs of said war, how it changes people, how they continue with their lives after. How in victory we treat the losers as less than human, even though we wouldn't want them to do the same if our situations were reversed. It's also about the power of theatre and shared stories to transcend differences and participating in something greater than ourselves. That's fine.

I just don't think it's a very good book. It's hamfisted thematically. Our narrator, Lampo, is just a wretched human being who thinks he's funny--he isn't--and seems to have the emotional resiliency of a 5th grader. The story just kinda chugs along and I know there's supposed to be a part where I'm horrified--simply aghast!--but I did not care about anyone involved, so I was just happy it was going to be over--only to see I still had almost 100 pages left. The contemporary writing style is jarring, and I understand what the author was going for: trying to create tonal dissonance between tone and content, but I think it just irritates instead. To me, it just felt like a pretentious book, one that my friends like Philip and Johanna would love, and leave me feeling like I just read a different book than they did.

Two years ago, I read FULGENTIUS by Cesar Aira which has very similar themes: dehumanizing the other, the power of the theatre, the brutality of war, the casual way with which brutality is treated, but I enjoyed FULGENTIUS much more. Part of that is it wasn't 1st person because even though Fulgentius is a terrible man, at least we had some distance in its 3rd person perspective. Fulgentius was also shorter, nor was I meant to care about him or anyone involved in it.

Both are morality plays--and I didn't love FULGENTIUS--but I felt like the latter was just a cracked door you stumbled by, peeking through to see the cruelties of man, while the former was the guy on the side of the road, wearing a sandwich board and screaming "look at me, look at me!!"

I'm sad I did not like this, but I am eager to have the discussion with John, Amy, and Johanna, if only to hear how different their experience was.

[Nancy · Rating 5 out of 5]

If I told you this book was set at the end of the Peloponnesian war, with thousands of Atheneans imprisoned in a Syracusan quarry to die, and that it is a joyful, hilarious, uplifting story, will you believe me?

The Athenians are walking skeletons, shackled, left to the elements, hated for murdering and sacking Sciliy. One man with a club descends into the quarry to avenge his loss, murdering indiscreetly. It is all too gruesome sounding.

Enter two Syracusan men, unemployed potters. Lampo tells their story in an Irish lilt, of how Gelon’s mad love of the Greek plays, specifically those by Euripides, led them to a wild dream: they would find Atheneans who remembered lines from Medea, feed them, and put on the play in the quarry. When Gelon learns of a new play by Euripides, The Trojan Women, he is determined to present that play as well. For Gelon is aware that with the fall of Athens, the plays may be lost to time.

The pair find backing, obtain sets and costumes, bring the prisoner actors to health, all to experience the marvel of story. With twists of fate, they met both success and horror, and endeavor the heroic.

In the end, the novel left me deeply affected. It is a homage to the power of story to alter individual lives and connect even enemies.

Thanks to the publisher for a free book through NetGalley.

[Nadine in California · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has a Monty Python air that is immediately and continually poked at by the tragic context of the story - that thousands of captured Athenian soldiers are slowly dying of starvation and exposure in a rock quarry-cum-prison in Syracuse in 408 BC, during the Peloponnesian War. The narrator, Lampos (potter by trade, slacker by inclination) is something of a self-deprecating clown, the perfect voice for keeping the comedy/tragedy balance going throughout the book. His Irish slang was a bit surprising at first, but quickly made perfect sense to me - we can only know this character as a modern English-language version of himself, so working class Irish seems like a fine approximation of the 'real' Lampos. His best friend Gelon is an excellent foil for Lampos, leavening his clownishness with a deep melancholy born out of personal tragedy. And, of course, Lampos is more than just a clown (much to his own surprise), as we get to know him better.

Lampos and Gelon tackle the staging of two Euripedes plays with their own personal agendas in mind, and don't reckon with the emotional and political fallout this will have on Syracusans who came close to being annihilated by Athens, until a surprising turnaround in the war. This element of the story takes control in the second half, giving the story more depth and momentum and takes it places I didn't expect. The ending was terrific - so many good books just can't find a way to end that is deserving of all that came before, and I think Lennon nailed this one.

[Henk · Rating 4 out of 5]

A surprisingly fun take on war-ravaged Syracuse, Sicily, post the Athenian campaign, brought to live in an Irish vernacular. The power of stories and the impact of trauma on both the victors and the vanquished is contemplated effectively.
Why do you act a fool? You’re not a fool.
I am. I just know it. I reckon that makes me cleverer than most.

Glorious Exploits is carried by the modern language of Lampo, the endearing, street-smart douchebag who narrates the book. He and his friend Gelon are not just dealing with an injury similar to Achilles (which actually turns out to be a clump foot) and a missing wife and dead kid (in the case of Gelon), but also the repercussions of the defeat of Athens invading Sicily. These two unemployed potters love Euripides (impeding their productivity in their vase factory), and with their city council ordering the 7.000 captured Athenians to starvation, locked up in the quarries, they need to act fast to ensure they can still experience theatre. Meanwhile the mishap of others offer an uplifting view to even the poorest Sicilians, with the scars of war and trauma still being very much present.

The city is full of tension between classes and flush with foreign traders, leading to unlikely funding for their improvised theatre directorship. It is clear that the mishap of others offering an uplifting view to even the poorest Sicilians, but also that the scars of war are far from healed. The impact and trauma from war is, especially in chapter 5, touchingly described. Later chapters also go against the levity of the narrative voice of the main character, commenting on slavery and with a performance that brings to mind the concentration camps and how across the ages humanity even at its darkest finds solace in storytelling. Tourism in antiquity is so funny described by Ferdia Lennon, as does his description of crocs for shoes made of crocodile hide.

I definitely see why this is such an acclaimed debut (and this would make such a good meta play if someone would adopt it!), marrying both heavy topics and a singularly fun narrative voice together. Lampo is such an endearing, street-smart douchebag and an impressive character.

Quotes:
Do you make a treaty with a corpse?

But in the end he didn’t know, because there is no future, but just what happens next

I’m not a boy, I’m fucking thirty

Well, then in the words of the great Homer, I shall cave in your skull.

Certainty is the way of cowards and fools

The luckiest man who ever lived died in his mother’s womb

Jason singing something to the effect that all women are cunts

It’s perfect really, everything about them that is fucked and broken fits with the play.

The hearts of men are alike wherever you go. The rest is scenery.

A few is enough, a few is everything

The thing is, there is a big difference between might and will.

His master believed the world a wounded thing, that only could be healed by story.

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my favorite book of 2024, so much so that I read it twice. It's the story of two unemployed potters in 412 BC who stage two Euripides plays using only Athenian prisoners of war. The potters are, of course, Irish, and the voice is so funny that it won me over immediately. This book pulls off something quite difficult, which is making the Syracuse of 2400 years ago feel both familiar and foreign at the same time. I loved this so much because it's heartfelt and strange, and I could only think of one person to recommend it to (Riah). It reminds me of Anthony Doerr, so if you liked Cloud Cuckoo Land you will probably like this too.

There is a pacing problem in this book, which is that the last two-thirds gallops along while the first third simply trots. It's more noticeable on a second read. The first part is enjoyable, but once you get to the play's staging, it's so engrossing that you pretty much have to read to the end. I'm also curious as to why the ending plays out as it does with the Euripides section. I think you have to stay with Lampo instead of leaving Syracuse, though of course I liked seeing Paches make it home.

Also, this book won the 2024 Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse prize for comic fiction, which means there is a pig named after it. I can't think of higher praise.

[Edward Gwynne · Rating 5 out of 5]

My brother and I loved reviewing Glorious Exploits on our YouTube channel! The Brothers Gwynne

What a daft, subtly powerful book. It's hilarious at times, completely mad, incredibly unique and there some extremely emotional scenes towards the end. It really sweeps the carpet from under your feet.

Two Syracusean potters out of work, a quarry full of Athenian prisoners, why not put on a Euripydes play? The premise is bonkers but the delivery is groundbreaking.

[Banu Yıldıran Genç · Rating 5 out of 5]

ben biraz mitoloji cahiliyimdir. oraya dalarsam çıkamam diye de yıllardır bekleyip duruyorum. ferdia lennon’ın “muhteşem zaferler”inde de euripides’in oyunlarının sahnelenme süreci ele alındığı için ay dedim acaba mitolojiye çok mu gönderme var.
o yüzden başladığımda emin değildim, ilk birkaç sayfada emin olmama halim devam etti, sonra “adamım, siktir git, aynen” filan diye konuşan siralüzalı lampo ve arkadaşı gelon’la bir anda kaynaştım. birkaç yıl evvel kaybettikleri savaştan sonra esir düşen atinalılarla medea ve truvalı kadınlar oyununu sahnelemeye çalışmalarını, sahnelemelerini ve sonrasında olanları sular seller gibi okudum.
ve dün yazarın teşekkürünü okuduktan sonra kitabı kapatıp hüngür hüngür ağladım. ki şunu söyleyeyim beni ağlatan kitaplar ajite dramlar değil böyle komik kitaplar olur genelde.
çünkü “muhteşem zaferler” insana, merhamete, vicdana, aşka, iyi olmaya, değişmeye, dönüşmeye dair bir roman. romanla beraber siz de dönüşüyorsunuz. o yüzden ağladım belki de bu kadar. her şey o kadar şefkatli ve o kadar acımasızdı ki.
serkan toy o bıçkın dili çok iyi çevirmiş. ben bu kitap için daha uzun yazarım. dedalus 2025’in en iyi yayınevlerinden biriydi.

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have no idea how this book came to my attention, but it had such a brilliant premise I couldn't resist reading. Two out of work Sicilian potters attempt to put on Euripides plays in the quarry that is currently holding the remains of an Athenian army during the Peloponnesian war. In doing so explore how art can bridge a gap between enemies and evoke emotions buried deep. Add in a distinct Irish dialect to the whole thing, and it's utterly bonkers.

Lampo in particular is a stand out character, the light relief to Gelon's somber moods, at the start of the book he's really just there because he has nothing better to do. Riding on Gelon's love for theatre and his passion to show his local community how evocative plays can be, Lampo learns and grows such much as a character by seeing first hand what putting on these plays, as some respite from the brutalities of war, can do.

This gets 3 stars for me mainly due to the pacing. For such a short book it's a bit all of the place in terms of developing the story, with a slow meandering pace to start followed by a rather frantic ending. I also wanted more world building, and to see more of a juxtaposition between the quiet village life with the horrors of the recent wars. However overall, this was such a unique read that was made all the more special by having the characters be so obviously Irish, yet stuck in 431BC Sicily. An absurd concept, but one that really made the characters that bit more realistic and endearing.

[Kerry · Rating 5 out of 5]

I once read that there are only two types of stories, that all literature can be divided or assembled under these: A man goes on a journey OR a stranger comes to town. In this novel there is a little of both. First the strangers in the guise of the Athenians who are imprisoned due to overstepping, as often happens in war, when the final battle in Syracuse is lost and the prisoners of war are relegated to the deep limestone quarries to ultimately die of their wounds or starve to death. Along come two young men Syracusans in love with art and the idea that a final play of Euripides might be enacted by this ragtag bunch of Athenian prisoners.

It is the story of a quest and the hero is unlikely--isn't that the best kind. Not all the pieces fall into place and it's happy every after takes a little thought to be appreciated. But oh my the whole is so much better than the parts at first seem. I almost DNFed early on as the voice of the narrator did not fit and had none of the nobleness or solemness I had been expecting. Yet as it continued the narration by the author Ferdia Lennon gave the story a reality it might otherwise have lacked.

In the end it is a ballad to love, which drives all men and for all who believe:"the world a wounded thing that can only be healed by story."

Yes, all 5 stars for this one

P.S. Thanks to Ben Reads Good (www.youtube.com/@benreadsgood) for singing its praises so highly that I continued on.

[Diana · Rating 1 out of 5]

The idea is creative, sure, and judging by the majority of reviews other people appreciated the writing, but this was a complete miss for me. Another reviewer said she started laughing within the first few pages because of the ridiculous situation depicted (two weird unemployed dudes in ancient Sicily want to get a bunch of Athenian prisoners of war to star in a Euripides play), but I don’t think I’ve ever found anything that’s supposed to be funny less amusing.
The Athenians are basically stuck in a concentration camp and as the story went on the crassness really got to me. Killjoy moment, but the “some Irish blokes transposed into Ancient Greece” dark humour didn’t land for me - it was just dark, the humour seemed misplaced.
I don’t know, maybe this just caught me at the wrong time and maybe it gets more “riotously funny and deeply moving” after my 30% DNF point, but this book actually ruined my mood, so screw it.

[Sofia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ferdia Lennon's Glorious Exploits links past and present by using an Irish voice for the two men moving the story. Like the Irish, the two are part of a colonised city at war, so there is more than one parallel, which joins Syracuse to Ireland or any other colonised country. By these means, Ferdia Lennon underlines that his story, although set in the past, has tentacles that reach into the present. With human nature being as it is, there is a tendency for what happened in the past to happen again and again ad nauseum in our present and in our future. War is still with us, abuses are still here, anger and revenge are still human traits we have to face. So is art though and through it we have the means of reaching out and 'seeing' the other side. 'Seeing' that the other side is often just a mirror image of us on this side.

A story superbly told by Lennon who narrates it as well. I enjoyed it very much.

[Korcan Derinsu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Çok beğendim. Hatta uzun süredir okuduğum en yaratıcı roman diyebilirim. Antik dünyayı bugünün diliyle konuşturmak gibi zor bir işi hem doğal hem de sahici bir tonda kotarması yetmezmiş gibi bir tiyatro oyununun savaş esirleri tarafından sahnelenmesi üzerinden “sanat ne işe yarar?” sorusunu canlı tutuyor. Mizah var, öfke var ama en çok da merhamet var. Dostluk, açlık, aşağılanma ve sanatın dönüştürücü gücü aynı sayfalarda buluşuyor. Kısacası hem kalbe hem akla dokunan ve “olmayacak” bir işi oldurmuş çok iyi bir ilk roman Muhteşem Zaferler.

[fantine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gelon and Lampo are unemployed potters in Syracuse, ancient Sicily. The Peloponnesian war rages and in a surprising turn of events, a Greek offence has failed to besiege Syracuse. And our boys have scored a sweet gig as guards of the quarry, the makeshift prison for the thousands of captured Athenians.

There are so many moving parts that could be this novel’s downfall. It's a mismatched buddy comedy with a large supporting cast, written in modern Irish vernacular and narrated by the goofy Lampo. But in a very Greek and very Irish way, Lennon perfectly understands how thin the line between tragedy and comedy is.

Because even the Syracusians must admit their enemy creates art like no other.

Through prisoners trading poetry for morsels, news of a new, never seen outside of Greece Euripides play reaches the Homer-mad Gelon. The play is The Women of Troy, written in reaction to the particularly brutal siege of Melos by Athens in 416 BCE.

And so in Syracuse—this grief-stricken and traumatised populace ravaged by the Greeks—a group of Athenians who have been starved and beaten to within an inch of their lives are to perform.

‘“It's poetry we're doing,” he whispers. “It wouldn't mean a thing if it were easy.”’

This ancient world is the vibrant multi-cultural tapestry of a metropolis, brought to life through witty prose and teeterings into the absurd. Democratic youths—the nepo baby sons of politicians and philosophers—posture in bars. There are the enslaved people: Libyans who have become artisans and a Lydian woman who recalls the ingenuity of the Persian courts. One destitute bard refuses to sell a piece of string to a mysterious seafarer, no matter what he is offered. I even recognised the pan-Celtic god of thunder, which was just so fun and speaks to the broader theme of storytelling as essentially connective.

What is glory if not a twisting, slippery thing… Gelon has lost his wife and child, and Lampo’s mobility is hindered by his lame leg. But neither fought in the war. So what lesson is there to be found in the mundanity of their suffering?

I find stories on the power of stories to rarely shine. There's often a triteness and indulgence that becomes flattening. But Glorious Exploits simply feels too clever to fall into cliché.

‘But still, a tragedy without a tune is like a sun that doesn’t give off heat; dead and nothing will grow from it. When men go to war, they do it to music. When they set sails for better shores and row into the vast blue, they do it to music. Even our hearts beat to some rhythm. And the director who neglects it neglects what makes us men.’

This is about art and myth not only transcending but being the antidote to propaganda. Warmth and wit balance out the inevitable darkness, and the emotional gut punch remains tender long after the final page. Euripidean and Homeric, sure, but also decidedly Lennon.

Also, Lampo buys crocodile boots at the market and then refers to them as his crocs for the rest of the novel. Like…

[Trudie · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5
Lampo, is a Sicilian potter who speaks in the Irish vernacular and he is just so gloriously amusing in this romp set in Sicily in 412BC. I use the word 'romp' cautiously as "harrowing morality tale" could equally be applied. Although this book sounds like it shouldn't work it really does, particularly if your comfortable with the idea of a Monty Python, Asterix and Obelix and Kevin Barry mash-up.

Is it a tiny bit draggy in places ?, yes. Might I have done better with a familiarity with the Classics or at least Euripides ?- yes ( the author has a BA in Classics which is evident ). Still this was mostly all pure pleasure.

[Maddie Fisher · Rating 4 out of 5]

RATING BREAKDOWN
Characters: 4⭐️
Setting: 3⭐️
Plot: 4⭐️
Themes: 4⭐️
Emotional Impact: 4⭐️
Personal Enjoyment: 4⭐️
Total Rounded Average: 4⭐️

The first thing to note before you read is that the writing style is very unique! The story takes place in ancient Syracuse following the defeat of the Athenians. However, the story is written by a modern-day Irishman, and all of the language sounds like it! The author also narrates the audiobook. Because the story is written in first person narrative, it can be quite jarring to experience an Irishman from the 21st century who you are supposed to believe is a man from ancient Syracuse. I acclimated to this stylistic choice eventually, but it did take a while. It is clearly intentional and accurately depicts the spirit of the main character, making him even more relatable for the modern reader. It also adds quite a bit of humor. But ultimately, if you read historic fiction to be immersed in a historic setting and want your prose to feel somewhat period-accurate, this may not work for you.

However, if the writing style works for you, this is an incredible story about the human spirit, art, hope, and the kind of crazy it takes to be an optimist in an imperfect world. I felt moved and triumphant in the end, and very emotionally invested and satisfied. For the right reader, this is a masterpiece.

[Irena Pasvinter · Rating 5 out of 5]

I first spotted this book when it was on a "Daily Deal" discount on audible.co.uk. A debut novel by a young Irish author... well, well... Ancient Sicily... quarries of Syracuse... thousands of defeated Athenians...

WAIT! What was this amazing story I heard in an umpteenth course on the Ancient Greek history and culture? Something about thousands of Athenians enslaved after a disastrous Sicilian expedition, perishing in stone quarries, some of whom survived because they could recite a bit of Euripides...

And this guy based his debut novel on this astounding bit of ancient trivia? Wow! Of course, I just had to buy this "Daily Deal" audiobook.

This was in March, but feels as if it were in another life (for personal reasons). Anyway, I somehow got to listening to the audiobook at the beginning of August, at the blackest ever time in my life.

A novel set in the Ancient Greece told in a contemporary Irish voice? WTF! How on earth could this work? And yet it didn't take me long to see that it did work, and brilliantly so. After all, why would a neutral English voice be closer to the Ancient Greek voice than a contemporary Irish one?

It's all about the mood, the tone, the verisimilitude of style and events, and Ferdia Lennon manages to balance between contemporary tone and convincing historicity like a true virtuoso. He certainly puts to brilliant usage both his BA in History and Classics and his MA in Prose Fiction: unlike many an author of countless modern pseudo-historical bestsellers, he knows what he is talking about when he masterfully incorporates into the story the minutia of the Ancient Greek experience; he is also very much aware that writing in a contemporary Irish voice doesn't mean that all characters should spout out f-words with equal frequency -- what totally makes sense for a humble potter doesn't work for a rich art collector.

"Glorious Exploits" turned out to be the best book I read this year, in spite of me coming to it at the darkest time ever in my personal life.

As I thought about writing this review, I just had to look up the historical record/legend/hearsay that the author used as the springboard for his imagination, the "factual" foundation upon which he constructed this fascinating tale, quite worthy of Euripides himself.

So here it is, the springboard -- just three paragraphs from Plutarch's Lives:

Plutarch, Lives, Nicias 29:

Most of the Athenians perished in the stone quarries of disease and evil fare, their daily rations being a pint of barley meal and a half-pint of water; but not a few were stolen away and sold into slavery, or succeeded in passing themselves off for serving men. These, when they were sold, were branded in the forehead with the mark of a horse,—yes, there were some freemen who actually suffered this indignity in addition to their servitude.

But even these were helped by their restrained and decorous bearing; some were speedily set free, and some remained with their masters in positions of honor. Some also were saved for the sake of Euripides. For the Sicilians, it would seem, more than any other Hellenes outside the home land, had a yearning fondness for his poetry. They were forever learning by heart the little specimens and morsels of it which visitors brought them from time to time, and imparting them to one another with fond delight.

In the present case, at any rate, they say that many Athenians who reached home in safety greeted Euripides with affectionate hearts, and recounted to him, some that they had been set free from slavery for rehearsing what they remembered of his works; and some that when they were roaming about after the final battle they had received food and drink for singing some of his choral hymns. Surely, then, one need not wonder at the story that the Caunians, when a vessel of theirs would have put in at the harbor of Syracuse to escape pursuit by pirates, were not admitted at first, but kept outside, until, on being asked if they knew any songs of Euripides, they declared that they did indeed, and were for this reason suffered to bring their vessel safely in.


Sicily and the Peloponnesian War. (Image credit: Translator was Kenmayer, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons)

P.S. As I was listening to the audiobook (by the way, listening to Ferdia Lennon's perfectly nuanced narration of his own text is a huge bonus), a fellow reader contacted me here on GR
asking what I thought about the ending because he had feelings, as he put it. I'm pretty sure he also befriended me on GR, although I can't vouch for this. Anyway, I said I was still at the beginning but would share my thoughts about the ending when I get there. But now I cannot find any trace either of this guy, or of his message. A little GR mystery... Anyway, regarding the ending, I think it is in total harmony with the rest of the story. I too have feelings, but this is probably why I no longer expect a story that strives to reflect human life with any degree of realism to have a happy ending for all parties involved.


Apulian red figured volute krater, circa 330 - 310 BC, Canosa di Puglia, now in Munich, Staatliche Antikensammlungen. Detail showing Medea, about to kill one oh her sons on an altar (the other son is being rescued by a soldier, to the left). At the center is Medea’s grandfather, the god Helios, hauled by two snakes, bearing two flaming torches and glimpsing the murder’s scene. This is labelled ΟΙΣΤΡΟΣ meaning "frenzy" or "mania". Rushing up from the right is Jason, unable to stop Medea from slaying their son. (Image credit: Deiadameian, CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons)


Marble bas-relief representing sitting Euripides, a woman who gives him a theater mask, and Dionysius on a pedestal. Between 1st century BCE and 1st century CE. (Image credit: John-Grégoire, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons.)

[Argos · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bu yıl okuduğum en güzel, en çarpıcı roman, çok farklı. Siraküza’da içkiye düşkün, farklı fiziksel ve ruhsal karakterlerdeki iki çömlekçi, Lampo ve Gelon’un hikayesi. Antik Yunan mitlerinden ve trajedilerinden beslenen, Euripides’in ön planda olduğu bir kurgu. Böyle bir hikaye kurgulamak bana olağanüstü yaratıcı geldi.

O dönemin ruhunu anlatmasını bir kenara koyuyorum, insanın mekan ve zaman farketmeksizin ne kadar şaşırtıcı, dirençli ve gizemli olduğunu düşünüyorsunuz. Mizahla hüznü çok güzel kaynaştıran trajikomik bir anlatı. İnsana ilşkin herşey, çok şey, tam da insanın kendisi. Serkan Toy’un çevirisi mükemmel. Mutlaka okuyun derim.

[Katie Lumsden · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just fantastic.

[Wera · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.25 stars
*** I have a YouTube channel now! Check it out here. ***

Set in Syracuse, amid the the Peloponnesian War, Glorious Exploits follows two friends Gelon and Lampo as they set out on a quest to recruit the Athenian slaves working in the limestone quarries to star in their production of Euripides' plays. When I first started this book, I must admit, I wondered if it wasn't trying to be too "literary," if it was asserting its "greatness" prematurely. After finishing it, I reread the beginning and totally changed my mind.

This is one of the most moving text I've read about the value of a life, art, and exploitation. It is all tied perfectly together by one of the most original and compelling narrators I've read in fiction, Lampo. None of this would've worked without him because he peels back what another narrator would've made into a shiny or grotesque veneer. Lampo makes this story REAL.

Incredible book.

[Albert Marsden · Rating 5 out of 5]

Who knew Greek tragedy could be so fun? I had a blast

[John Caleb Grenn · Rating 4 out of 5]

DAD GUMMIT 🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹
That was great.

[Emmeline · Rating 4 out of 5]

After seeing a stage version of Iphigenia, and reading Medea (then watching the Pasolini film) this summer, I felt I should have a chaser of Ancient Greek history set to modern Irish. And it was, indeed, quite fun.

Ferdia Lennon’s debut deals with lesser-known (to me) history: the defeat of the Athenians in Syracuse, which results in all the surviving Athenian soldiers being kept in a quarry and generally neglected, abused and forgotten by the local population, except for an unlikely duo of Syracusan ceramics-workers, Gelon and Lampo. These two like to go down and feed the Athenians, and Gelon has a passion for Euripides and soon has a scheme to have the prisoners enact a mashup of Medea and The Trojan Women. There are various hijinks involved in getting funding (from a mysterious offshore merchant), costumes (from a local businesswoman and her Libyan slaves) and, perhaps, rescuing some Athenians.

The central conceit – Ancient Greece meets Modern Ireland – is definitely the main attraction here, along with the joyfully orange googly-eyed cover. Throughout, I mulled over how irritating the dialogue would be if someone had written it in modern American, and why should it therefore be so entertaining in modern Irish? Maybe because of the destabilizing unexpectedness of such a move? Could it be the Irish are intrinsically funny? Lennon’s aim is certainly to draw some parallels, probably to insist on the universal nature of much of human experience. At one point, Lampo reflects that he’s just a 30-year-old still living at home with his mother, which couldn’t not make me think of Dublin today, and there are many character who are slaves from abroad or other forms of migrants that seemed in dialogue with current events. Importantly I think, not too much is made of these parallels, the book doesn’t read as allegory and the focus is on the main story.

On a lighter level, I got the sense of a young man who deeply enjoyed his Classics degree and wants to pull all that pleasure through and make it new again for someone else. I definitely learned some history. I felt the lack of much grounding in the classics here – apart from my summer blip and a couple of readings of The Odyssey, I’m fairly disastrous on this era of history, and though it wasn’t necessary to enjoy the story, I wondered what else I might get from it with more background.
In some ways, this does read like a first novel, not quite capable of marrying its glorious premise with consistently impressive plot or meaning. But that isn’t to undersell what it does well, which is consistently entertain, intrigue and dare I say educate, with a frisson of modernity that keeps the reader questioning.

[Hirondelle (not getting notifications) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well, this was grim. Purposefully so, in many small details the author picked :it is meant to be a serious book about the aftermaths of war and bad things humans do to other humans (and horses...).

It was not what I was expecting—I was expecting something funnier, more bittersweet, but oh no, it's like the author takes pleasure in detailing all kinds of horrible things humans do to other humans and pulling the rug on his characters whenever nihilistically. And I hate authorial masochism; it felt self-consciously edgy to hit you over the head about how grim things were. And look, if anybody tells you this is "raucously funny" or hilarious or whatever, take note and be careful with that person; any humor in this book is kind of fucked up (requiring laughing at somebody getting their hopes or brain smashed) or puerile (ah, crocs, the footwear... and he hits you with that dozens of times; did you notice how funny that is yet?). (As context, I thought Shuggie Bain was a very funny book, but Glorious Exploits is no Shuggie Bain in all ways...)

Set in Syracuse post athenian invasion, athenians stuck in a quarry being starved and abused, our main characters decide to set up a play using them, Why? Whatever, so the author can talk about Euripides and have an epilogue about it. The characters are detailed, particularly when they are first on scene, but they never felt deep and Lampo's motivations are a mess to me. The author decides to use a certain modern irish slang and concepts here (unemployed, in antiquity? A kind of thing where Lampo seems to be an addict who can not control himself...) and it makes for a vivid and accessible read, but it's not particularly convincing around the edges of that worldbuilding. Deus machina plot ending, though actually thematically here I can respect that (not so much the connection to Ireland which felt forced...)

TLDR: I did not like it at all, for many different reasons. I am still giving it two stars because there is something compelling to the pace, and the writing is vivid. But totally not my cup of tea.

[Claire Fuller]

Set in Syracuse, Sicily, during the Peloponnesian War (412 BC) Lennon's debut is dark and funny. A load of Athenians have been defeated and imprisoned in an abandoned quarry just outside the city when the narrator, Lampo and his friend Galon decide to use the prisoners to stage a play. It's mad, and horrific, and hilarious. But it's Lampo's voice that comes shining off the page to make it feel utterly real and in an odd way, contemporary.
Thanks to Penguin Fig Tree for the proof.

[Spyros Batzios · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don’t know about you, but whenever I go to theatre I leave at the end of the performance feeling changed to a better version of myself; and this is exactly what I felt when I finished “Glorious Exploits” by Ferdia Lennon. Following Athenian invasion of Sicily and their subsequent loss, Greek warriors are found to be captives by Syracusans, rotting in a quarry where they are left to die. Gelon and Lampo, two poor unemployed potters that pass their time feeding the hungry Athenians, come up with an amazing plan: they want to direct a full-blown production of two of the most famous plays by Euripides, “Medea” and “The Trojan women”, using their war captives as actors. And this is the only thing you need to know in order to start reading this book, whose story is one of the most original things I have ever read in my life. The writing is funny, cozy and beautiful and the characters are really well thought. I was hooked from page one until the end and I actually finished it in the same day because I just couldn’t stop reading. It is very clever and entertaining, and the ending is a 10/10!

This is a book about war that is the father of all things based on Heraclitus. About honouring your enemy and the way you treat your war prisoners. About glory and power. The fact that nothing is permanent and all things must change. About doing what is right and wrong. It is a story about ancient Greece and ingenuity of greek minds like Homer, Euripides and Sophocles. About the beauty of arts and theatre, greek drama and poetry. The fact that all those forms of art can elevate you and unite people. About the great art of acting and the transformation of a character. A book about our society, that on any given moment in history, is divided in directors, producers and actors. The entitlement of rich over the poor. The idea that Nationalism hides behind “love”. A story about common sense and logic but also about going beyond the ordinary. About groundbreaking ideas and great things that are made up of a load of not much. It is also a book about friendship and love, both of them making you something more of what you already are. A story about divine order and intervention. Religion and faith and the idea that Gods have already plans for us that are sometimes better not to know. About the fact that in real life there is no Deus ex machina. Mostly, it is a book about dreams and hope, that sometimes are so big that can make you feel scared. About selling your past to secure your future and accepting your fate with dignity even in the worst case scenario. A story about all the things we do to reveal our humanity.


Why should you read “Glorious Exploits”?

Because you will acknowledge how important it is not only to respect your enemies during a war but also admire them for their heritage to the world.
Because you will realise that people always need a meaning, a reason in order to stay alive.
Because it will make you play with the idea of divine order, of the fact that there is a reason for everything and even if God(s) don’t know what they are doing then something higher does.
Because you will be carried away by the beauty and magic of arts and theatre that on occasions make your hair stand on end.
Because it will make you feel proud of your origins and the things your culture lent to the world.
Because it will make you understand how important is to dream and never ever forget what you wished for even if it is necessary to go against all odds in order to accomplish it.
Because as Euripides says at the final paragraph, the world is a wounded thing that can only be healed by story, and this is a hell of a story.


Favourite quotes:

“It’s poetry we’re doing, he whispers. It wouldn’t mean a thing if it were easy”.

“You don’t rob a man of his suffering. That’s his”.

“There’s a reason for everything, he says quietly. Even if the gods don’t know what they’re doing. Something does”.

“Put all your hopes in one ship, and it’s the one that’s liable to sink”.

“Hunger, what an odd thing it is. Is the source of all love a lacking? Is that what creates emotion? Not a presence but an absence. Do you need to be emptied to be filled?”.

“I have the feeling that the future and the past aren’t separate at all, just different snatches of a single song, always sung, given consequence when heard”.

“For the world was one just a dream in a god’s eye, and the man who gives up on himself makes that very same god look away”.

“A man should be grateful for his fears, ‘cause it means he has something to lose and to win”.

“The hearts of the men are alike wherever you go. The rest is scenery”.

“Common sense is common, had no imagination, and only works by precedent. It leaves the man who follows it poorer, if not in pocket, then in his heart. Fuck common sense”.