Title Lion's Honey Series --- Author David Grossman Cover Art Shonagh Rae Publisher Alfred A. Knopf - 2006 First Printing 2005 Category Mythology Warnings None Main Characters Samson, Delilah Main Elements Mythology Website ---

"Let my soul die with the Philistines."

Samson the hero: a brave warrior, leader of men and Nazarite of God? Or a misfit given to whoring and lust, who failed to fulfil his destin? In Lion's Honey, award-winning writer David Grossman takes on one of the most vivid and controversial characters in the Bible. Revisiting Samson's famous battle with the lion, his many women and his betrayal by them all including the only one he ever loved - Grossman gives us a provocative new take on the story and its climax, Samson's final act of death, bringing down a temple on himself and three thousand Philistines.

In exhilirating and lucid prose, Grossman reveals the journey of a single lonely and tortured soul who never found a true home in the world, who was uncomfortable in his very body and who, some might say, was the precursor of today's suicide bombers.

I'll admit I'm a little shaky on the Biblical tales so didn't understand the title at first, remembering only the last bit about the hair and the temple, thus this was a decent addition to my year of mythologies. The book starts with the actual Biblical passages. I must admit, taken alone, the story is every weird. Here's a guy with a great prophecy about his life, who, totally randomly ends up killing a lion with his bare hands as he's out for a stroll. He returns some time later to find bees have made a nest in the carcass (hence the lion's honey) and takes some home to his parents. He keep going "The Hulk" on people, killing 30 Philistines initially to steal their clothes. Then killing a thousand with the jawbone of an ass. Then another three thousand in his suicidal demolishig of a temple. At lot happens in three Biblical chapters but since the Bible rarely describes what people are thinking and why they are doing it, the guy just seems a little crazy. And definitely doesn't act like some great hero that will lead his people to freedom, in fact the only interaction he has with them is when they come begging him to give himself up before the Philistines punish all of them for his actions.

After the initial introduction, Grossman then almost goes line by line, trying to fill in the gaps. What was Samson's father thinking thinking when he wife runs home with the prophecy that her barreness is now over and she will bear a son? Is the angel a divine being or just some guy she has a fling with? Why doesn't Samson mention "Oh by the way, I just killed a lion with my bare hands" to his family or his wife? Why does he keep flipping out and massacring his neighbours? Was the guy a great warrior, or just a puppet to further God's plans?

I found the book interesting enough, although it wasn't technically a retelling of the myth but an analysis of it. However, because of that, because we are trying to psychoanalyze Samson and his family and his wives, he still doesn't develop a realistic personality. Trying to rationalize what was actually going on, given the small amount of text in the retelling and what we know of history, doesn't result in anything concrete. And telling of the tale from Samson's point of view would have been more the kind of thing I was hoping for. On the other hand not sure I want to be inside the head of someone who thinks tying flaming torches to the tails of three hundred foxes is a good way to get revenge, I mean the foxes never did him any harm, why did they have to burn? I did however feel good filling in one gap in my knowledge of Biblical lore.