Most Interesting Books of 2006
The Adventures of Mr Marigold
a novel by Michael Tobias
Craig Potton Publishing
www.craigpotton.co.nz
“Tobias's work glows with humor and surprises and wild adventures ... ”
In ancient Greece, the works of the blind poet Homer — the Iliad and the Odyssey — humanized the gods, and nobly educated every citizen. Michael Tobias — in one book of 1,800 pages — has blessed us with a masterpiece equally significant for our own lives and troubled times. Featuring a cast of characters led by Achilles and Odysseus, Homer illuminated the minds and arts of the canny Greeks. Through his idealistic hero Murillo ("the Commander") Marigold and his earthy sidekick Sannazaro, Tobias meditates on everything that matters: poetry, art, philosophy, alternative technologies, environmentalism, human wrongs, animal rights, sustainable living, and utopias future and past.
And what style! Passage after passage of inspired prose, from a mind on fire that sees every moment and encounter as holy and unique. This is a thought-provoking book, a novel brimming with extraordinary ideas, as moving in its hymns to nature as the very best in W. H. Hudson and Henry Thoreau. Like the writing of Cervantes, Tobias's work glows with humor and surprises and wild adventures and good cheer. The heart of the book is the author's sublime vision, imbued in every line: the sacredness of all living beings, the reverence for life, the passionate commitment to social and environmental change. It is this beautiful vision -- that reminds us who we are, and points the way to what the new world could one day be — that makes Mr Marigold the book of the year, a modern classic at once entertaining, and nourishing, and revolutionary, and profoundly wise.
— Michael Pastore
