Gil Marsh
By A.C.E. Bauer (2012)
High school track star Gil Marsh comes to terms with the loss of his
close friend and teammate, Enko, and his own mortality while on a
journey to find Enko's grave in this modern retelling of the ancient
Sumerian tale of Gilgamesh.
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3 thoughts on “Gil Marsh”
If Gil Marsh was to be described in one word, I have to say that it was beautiful.
Utterly beautiful. (that’s two, I know)
In my perspective, the elements of friendship and loss, also the basic components of The Epic of Gilgamesh, came together perfectly in this modern rendition of this tale.
Plus, I found that is was interesting that the most “magical” parts of the story took place in Quebec, mostly because I’ve never read many books based in Quebec.
Gil Marsh has potential. I could see the epic behind the book just waiting to emerge. Although the story’s first chapter didn’t make a great first impression on me, I patiently waited for the poignant and touching feelings that the book’s description promised. Gil Marsh did have its moments, yet the overall result failed to amaze me.
Let’s begin with the positive aspects. The story was well-written, descriptive, and sweet. The plotline was original and unpredictable. The characters had a sense of depth to them. So what went wrong? After puzzling over my unsatisfied feeling for a solid half hour after I finished reading, I came to the conclusion that the book was too short. Most of the time I prefer a hasty ending rather that a drawn-out one, yet in this case I was left annoyed. The entire story was too abrupt. On one chapter Gil and Enko meet, in the next they’re enemies, in the next they’re best friends, and in the next Enko’s dying. My mind wasn’t allowed time to process these changes. Thus, all character development seemed flat and unrealistic. I know that some people met and they just know that they will be great friends, some people can fall in love within seconds, but that’s usually before or after hours of communication and bonding. In Gil Marsh, Gil and Enko went on a few runs, stole some apples after prom, and had a sleepover before they decided they were meant to be close friends. To me, it just didn’t make sense.
I wish I was in possession of other evidence as to why Gil Marsh failed to amaze me, but all I can add is that the description on the back of the book gave away half the story (just like the back of Almost Perfect). I wouldn’t really recommend this book to anyone unless they’re complete suckers for modern-day retellings of myths. People who also have commitment issues with long books might also enjoy this more than I did.
Gil Marsh by Bauer was a very interesting novel and I’m not quite sure how or what to think about it. Personally, I think that it was too short to really get anything out of but overall, I really enjoyed it. It is a modern twist on the oldest written tale, the legend of Gilgamesh and I’m not quite sure how Gil Marsh follows the original tale because I have not heard of Gilgamesh beforehand but on the other hand, you don’t need to have read the original to understand what’s going on in Bauer’s version. I enjoyed how realistic the novel is and how the way it’s written doesn’t sugar coat Gil’s situation because I feel as if it made a very large impact and I was so sympathetic towards Gil. It’s a touching and heartwarming novel that really sends the message that not everything is sparkles and rainbows and that the world is not always a fair world. As far as the writing is concerned I really had no problems with it, the writing flowed and was nicely descriptive but it was not anything special or something that should be pointed out. I definitely recommend this novel to everybody because it’s so short that there is nothing to lose if you didn’t enjoy it and if you did then it’s a nice, sweet, simple story that is both well written and captivating.