Bright Air Black: A Novel

Vann's beautiful and intense language creates a formal distance that successfully carries the reader into a realm of myth while the story itself portrays its very human characters with a demystifying precision. This is a bloody, unflinching account of Medea's story, extreme because she is, and because her circumstances are--a brilliant, elementally fierce woman born into a world that can only see her as a subordinate, when it sees her at all. She embodies a furious compulsion to assert what's denied her. Why should the seemingly arbitrary rules of mortal deification bend to avoid her? Vann's Medea is relatable, almost feels like a modern character but without a hint of anachronism--modern because we can believe we understand her. The world she lives in is a meticulously rendered antiquity that lives and breathes and creaks like the galleys in which much of the action takes place. A great book, wondrous and frightening.

4.5 stars “One of the men comes to the stern near Medea to fish in last light. A rough net weighted with stones…. He… flings the net overboard, beautiful pattern in flight, a practiced throw, the stones swirling out a perfect circle just as they hit the water… The surface becomes silver, opaque, molten, as if the sea could be reforged every day, great ingot of tin melted down each night, this fisherman casting his net to capture impurities” Bright Air Black is the fifth novel by American author, David Vann, and is a retelling of the story of Medea. Vann begins his story with Medea, Jason and the Argonauts fleeing Colchis on the Argo, Golden Fleece in their possession, her father Aeetes in pursuit, Medea throwing pieces of her murdered brother Aspyrtus overboard to delay her father’s progress. Their flight from Colchis to Iolcus, taking the daring step of sailing at night, is fraught with danger, both from Aeetes and the elements: “Fear living in close. In the hull and mast that might break, in the rudders, in the air that somewhere holds land, but mostly in the water. Rock and every creature unknown. No limit to the size of what can grow below. All animals on land known but always something new coming from the depths” The sailors are wary of Medea, priestess of Hekate, rightly so, but her power over them holds no sway once they reach Iolcus and meet Pelias, the king Jason intends to usurp. Her grandfather may be Helios the sun, but Vann presents the infamous Medea, magical and monstrous, as a wholly human woman, if a determined, intelligent, tenacious and vengeful one. Vann’s descriptive prose, as always, is stunning: “The sail no inanimate thing. Terrible in high wind, rigid and merciless and powerful beyond imagining, a thing of fear and will. But even now, in lighter winds, filled with desire, a restlessness, capable even of regret and sorrow, falling along an edge, hunching down, refilling but not entirely, some cost to the past. Only with no air, when it hangs fully slack, does it seem like linen. At all other times, this is impossible to believe”, and his personal experience with sailing is apparent on every page. Vann’s evocative title comes from Euripides’s Medea; the beautiful cover shows the type of ship that Argo would have been; his interpretation of this legend from over three thousand years ago is powerful, enthralling and atmospheric.

This book was absolutely riveting - I couldn't put it down. Reading the classic tale of Medea as she flees from her father after having committed an atrocious act told from her perspective was incredible. Every chapter is a moving, living, breathing painting. The author's word choices and characterizations are so vivid you can taste them. Some of the chapters made me nauseous. Some chapters brought tears to my eyes. I can't remember the last time I was so moved by a story I already knew. I cannot recommend this book more highly. It's truly a wonderful read.

Medea: hero or villain? Either way, she’s magnificently whiny and with precious little bite behind her bark despite all the gore. First half is full of excellent poetic excursions and discourses on the deep and cleansing madness of the night and the purity of ambiguity, but Medea’s “war with the sun” never acquires focus or true agency. Her judgments are hypocritical and her crimes senseless or bizarrely haphazard. A pathetic megalomaniac by the end, I could not tell if the ambition of the author was to present a surreal portrait of a psychopath, a mockery of a childish rebel, or a laughably sincere yet misguided revolutionary feminist. Unfortunately, this lack of clarity does not work in the books favor, as I had little sympathy for her but also failed to understand whether the book even wanted me to. However, the author’s poetry is too excellent for me to avoid picking up another of his books, with hopefully better result. I cannot say I did not enjoy long portions of Medea, but I also cannot call the character or the book a success.

4.5 Stars Vann’s telling of his story of Jason and Medea begins aboard the Argo, with Medea’s father in pursuit. She has ripped out all their hearts, she knows. Her father’s crew crippled to see him made smaller. She will humble him until there’s nothing left, until his men don’t know why they’re rowing. They will collect the pieces of the son and wonder that demigods can fall so easily. Vann’s Medea is fiery, a quick-tempered, passionate, feisty descendant of gods and royalty. A sorceress. She falls in love with Jason, leaves her home to travel with him on the Argo to his home, Iolcos, where they will marry and then rule – it is Jason’s birthright. The prose is spellbinding. Vann has such a way with weaving his spell around horrifying scenes with some of the most gorgeous, crafted imagery. Violent, dark and disturbing, Medea is, as Jason says to her, rage personified, and when her rage is unleashed… well, hell hath no fury like a sorceress scorned. Be prepared to read this when you aren’t pressed for time. With very few breaks built in, it’s a bit more difficult to find a place to stop – but don’t let that stop you from reading this, because the truth is, you won’t want to stop. Many thanks for the ARC provided by Grove Atlantic / Grove Press, Black Cat

worst book I've read for years. doesn't even deserve one star.

In addition to its engaging and artistic style, this book is also a most enjoyable read. Brings you the antiquity to life. Will remember this while sailing next time in Greece. Looking forward to reading some more of David Vann's adaptations. SM Veres

The first half was an evocative imagining of Medea's journey from Colchis with Jason. I was disappointed with the later part which focused on an unlikely kidnapping of Orestes.

Enigmatically poetic yet grittily direct. Speaking from ancient ages of power and blood struggles to a modern world ,just as brutal.

Quite hard work due to the stule