2 Books Like The Profligate Son

I did not expect to like this novel. It looks like yet another saga of lots of sweaty guys whacking each other with swords. And yes, the heavily perspiring males are there with the long pointy metal things to boot.

But in his tale of the rise and fall of King Edwin of Northumbria (reigned 616-633 CE), the author deftly brings out the mindset of a society based on constant competition between rival warbands. He probes the motives behind Edwin’s ultimate adoption of Christianity with its promise of a way out of the endless treadmill of war and violence.

It is never going to be my thing but if you are going to do swords and sandals, this is the way. 

Doerr weaves together stories from 1492 Babylon, modern day Idaho, and a space station on the far future. In each, the power of words and story are what get the characters through and help them find meaning and insight. The book is expectedly paced - I was never annoyed when switching from one storyline to another. A common “lost” book is a thread deeply woven into each story. I was immersed in the worlds, taken in by each perspective character, and fascinated by the common thread of the story of “Cloud Cuckoo Land”, and how it came to be lost and found. Loss, knowledge, change (big and small), and the nature of truth and power are key thematic elements. Even though this book is quite a tome, the writing style is actually quite spare. Each paragraph is so evocative. I drew out reading the last 50 pages because I didn’t… show more.