Haven Squire’s Reviews > Hero and Leander > Status Update

It also felt like slightly abrupt and unfinished (which of course there is much debate about whether this was intended or due to Marlowe's death). Perhaps including the entire myth and having them both die at the end would have made it feel as though something had actually come about in the plot.

I understand the point in this as it was supposed to seem as though her virginity was precious and that he was having to have a similar struggle defeating this as he does swimming to her. The images of her hiding under the sheets and him having to break the metaphorical barrier they created was a bit weird (especially as this was one of the parts I actually understood).

Leander had been inexperienced to begin with and then Hero was refusing it so when they did finally do it it felt a little too forced from Leander. Just the way it was written - as if he was having to literally fight her - was a bit off and felt rather unconsentual which I wasn't a huge fan of.

The writing style felt quite beautiful despite me having quite literally not a clue what was happening for a lot of it. I also think the story in general (when reading a summary after and during my lectures etc. afterwards) is actually quite poetic - Leander swimming across the Hellespont to be with Hero every night. I will say I wasn't a huge fan of the part at the end when they finally had sex.

This was another thing I read for my uni degree although it was much shorter than anything else I had read so far. I actually read this lying in bed when I had food poisoning and was drifting in and out of sleep a bit so my rating and opinions are probably not entirely based on the text but more on my reading circumstances. There were also a lot of parts where I simply had no idea what was going on.