Review: The Epic of Gilgamesh

The Epic of Gilgamesh by Anonymous
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

While short, The Epic of Gilgamesh is quite boring. I expected much more from it. What's boring about it is that all throughout, lines are repeated over and over and over again, and for no real reason whatsoever. I don't blame the translator, since they were just doing their job, but it's just a bit much. I grew tired of it after awhile. It's so damn repetitive.

Besides that, I also wanted a great deal more from it. Being that this is the oldest epic poem on record and also the basis for the hero's journey, I thought it would be much more drawn out and specific, but it wasn't. It meandered quite a bit, and it didn't leave me satisfied. Later epic poems, like The Illiad, would nail what we call "plot" much better than this early snooze-fest.

That said, given its history and legacy, I can't grade it too low. This started it all, so it definitely deserves credit for that. Overall, an unsatisfying classic. At only 63 pages, you might as well give it a read.

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