Into her version of Ragnarok, surely one of the most thrilling and apocalyptic of myths, A.S. Byatt weaves the story of a young girl evacuated to the British countryside during the Second World War.
Struggling to make sense of her life, she is given a book of Norse myths, and her inner and outer worlds are transformed.
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There was a thin child, who was three years old when the world war began. A THIN CHILD IN WARTIME
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(@canongatebooks, 6 August 2011, 193 pages, ebook, borrowed from @GlasgowLib via @OverDriveLibs)
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I've avoided reading AS Byatt for years, having the impression her work is too dense and literary for me. It's a misconception I once had about Barbara Kingsolver and Joyce Carol Oates who are now among my favourite writers. I really should know better. Ragnorak is a short book so I felt it was a good choice for trying out a new, slightly intimidating author. Plus I love Norse Mythology so the book seemed a fair bet. I thought this was a fantastic book. Byatt writes her own version of Ragnorak featuring our favourite gods Odin, Loki and a host of familiar characters and locations from Norse mythology and weaves this with a story of a young girl who stumbles across a book called Asgard and the Gods and discovers the power of story-telling. If anything Ragnorak was too short. I will try something meatier by the author next time.
