Bull: A Novel

By David Elliott

Much like Lin-Manuel Miranda did in Hamilton, the New York Times best-selling author David Elliott turns a classic on its head in form and approach, updating the timeless story of Theseus and the Minotaur. A rough, rowdy, and darkly comedic young adult retelling in verse, which NPR called “beautifully clever,” Bull will have readers reevaluating one of mythology's most infamous monsters. 

SEE THE STORY OF THESEUS AND THE MINOTAUR
IN A WHOLE NEW LIGHT
 
Minos thought he could
Pull a fast one
On me,
Poseidon!
God of the Sea!
But I’m the last one
On whom you
Should try such a thing.
The nerve of that guy.
The balls. The audacity.
I AM THE OCEAN!
I got capacity!
Depths! Darkness! Delphic power!
So his sweet little plan
Went big-time sour
And his wife had a son
Born with horns and a muzzle
Who ended up
In an underground puzzle.
What is it with you mortals?
You just can’t seem to learn:
If you play with fire, babies,
You’re gonna get burned.
  
  

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
• Release date: Mar 28, 2017
• ISBN: 9781328698933

David Elliott

David Elliott is the award-winning author of more than twenty-five books for young people, including the picture books On the Farm and the New York Times bestselling And Here’s to You! He is the author of the critically acclaimed verse novels Bull, which received six starred reviews, and Voices: The Final Hours of Joan of Arc, which was shortlisted for the American Library in Paris Book Award and is the recipient of the Claudia Lewis Award for poetry. A native of Ohio, David now lives (and writes) in New Hampshire with his wife and their Dandie Dinmont terrier, Quiggy. Learn more about David by visiting davidelliottbooks.com.

Book preview

title page

Contents

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Title Page

Contents

Copyright

Dedication

Cast of Characters

Prologue

Book I

Poseidon

Daedalus

Poseidon

Pasiphae

Poseidon

Pasiphae

Poseidon

Minos

Poseidon

Book II

Asterion

Poseidon

Pasiphae

Poseidon

Asterion

Poseidon

Asterion

Poseidon

Asterion

Poseidon

Asterion

Poseidon

Asterion

Poseidon

Minos

Pasiphae

Poseidon

Asterion

Poseidon

Asterion

Poseidon

Ariadne

Poseidon

Ariadne

Asterion

Poseidon

Minos

Poseidon

Daedalus

Poseidon

Minos

Poseidon

Asterion

Poseidon

Ariadne

Poseidon

Pasiphae

Poseidon

Asterion

Poseidon

Book III

Asterion

Poseidon

Daedalus

Poseidon

Ariadne

Asterion

Ariadne

Poseidon

Minos

Poseidon

Ariadne

Poseidon

Asterion

Poseidon

Daedalus

Poseidon

Ariadne

Poseidon

Asterion

Poseidon

Ariadne

Asterion

Poseidon

Asterion

Ariadne

Asterion

Ariadne

Theseus

Poseidon

Theseus

Asterion

Poseidon

Asterion

Epilogue

Poseidon

A Word About the Myth

A Word About Poetic Form

Sample Chapters from VOICES

Buy the Book

More Books from HMH Teen

About the Author

Connect with HMH on Social Media

Copyright © 2017 by David Elliott

All rights reserved. For information about permission to reproduce selections from this book, write to [e-mail] or to Permissions, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, 3 Park Avenue, 19th Floor, New York, New York 10016.

hmhbooks.com

Art and title lettering by Teagan White

Cover illustrations © 2017 by Teagan White

Cover design by Sharismar Rodriguez

The Library of Congress has cataloged the hardcover edition as follows:

Names: Elliott, David, 1947– author.

Title: Bull / by David Elliott.

Description: Boston : Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, [2017]

Summary: A modern twist on the Theseus and Minotaur myth, told in verse.

Identifiers: LCCN 2016014200

Subjects: LCSH: Minotaur (Greek mythology)—Juvenile fiction. | Theseus, King of Athens—Juvenile fiction. CYAC: Novels in verse. | Minotaur (Greek mythology)—​Fiction. Theseus, King of Athens—Fiction. Mythology, Greek—Fiction.

Classification: LCC PZ7.5.E43 Bu 2017 | DDC [Fic]​—​dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016014200

ISBN 978-0-544-61060-6 hardcover

ISBN 978-1-328-59633-8 paperback

eISBN 978-1-328-69893-3

v2.0219

To Barbara,

my light in the darkness.

Cast of Characters

POSEIDON, King of the Sea

He may be a god but he’s not

unreasonable, and when he is, so

what?

MINOS, King of Crete

All tender hearts despoiled, trampled, broken.

The king has spoken!

DAEDALUS, The Royal Engineer

Like a good dog, he is patient,

waiting for the day

when he and his son will fly away.

PASIPHAE, Minos’s wife, Queen of Crete, mother of Asterion

. . . she named her boy

Asterion,

Ruler of the Stars.

ASTERION, head of bull, body of a man, a.k.a. Ruler of the Stars, a.k.a. the Minotaur

Fish? Fowl? Beast? Man?

Tell him, tell him if you can.

ARIADNE, daughter of Minos and Pasiphae, half sister to Asterion

Minos calls himself a king

and her brother a monster.

She knows who the monsters are.

THESEUS, heir to the throne of Athens, future father of democracy

In time, they all forgive him.

Prologue

There beneath the palace walls

the monster rages, foams, bawls,

calling out again and again,

Mother!

Mother!

No other sound

but the scrape

of horn

on stone,

the grinding cranch of human bone

under callused human foot.

Book I

Poseidon

Whaddup, bitches?

Am I right or am I right?

That bum Minos deserved what he got.

I mean, I may be a god, but I’m not

Unreasonable, and when I am, so

What?

Like I said,

I’m a god.

Reason’s got nuthin’

To do with it.

But let’s get back to where it all started:

Minos comes to me,

Mewling like a baby,

Frowny-faced, heavy-hearted.

He’s got a hunger, he says,

A hankering, a jones, a thing.

But not for a woman!

This jerk wants to be king!

Of CRETE!

An island so dazzling

It could cure the friggin’

Blind. But it’s not the friggin’

Scenery this friggin’

Minos has in mind.

Not the harbors or the shores,

The god-possessed waters.

Not the sheep, the trusty shepherds,

Their warlike sons, their lusty daughters.

Not the olives or the figs,

The sacred, long-lived trees.

Not the amber honey

Or the honey-making bees.

Not the thyme-drunk lovers

Who sigh among its flowers.

No,

All this clown wants

Is a little power.

He’s got an appetite for obedience,

But no imagination.

And he doesn’t ask for much—​

Just his own private nation.

So he wonders

If I’d give the people

An omen,

A sign,

Something impressive,

He says, something

Reviews for Bull

[readingbeader · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

What a wickedly delicious version of the Minotaur. Many points of view in varying poetic styles, give a rather sympathetic portrayal of Asterion, ruler of the stars, as our minotaur is named.

I'd not recommend this one for middle grade, as there is language and discussions of just how the minotaur came to be, rather crudely. But I do think that those who love mythology will find it quite fascinating.

[taralentz · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book caught my eye for me to read because of the title and the cover and for having read Circe by Madeline Miller recently. After that I started reading the blub and wanted to read this book since it was about Greek Mythology, The Minotaur. The book started out with Poseidon telling the story then it swithes to each chapter having a different narrator. One of the seven chapters is told from the Minotaur himself. The book is written in Verse Novel and sticks very closely to the origianl story, but gives more background on certain characters. There is some adult language and each person has their own type of verse and style.

[lispylibrarian · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Bull was nothing short of BRILLIANT! It is a retelling of the myth of the minotaur, written in verse. Each character has their own voice and form of poetry that mirrors their personality. Poseidon does what he wants, entering the novel with "Whaddup, bitches?" (Elliott 3). Minos, the king, uses couplets; Pasiphae, his queen who gives birth to the minotaur, doesn't really have a rhyme scheme as she slowly goes insane. Daedalus, the engineer who designed the labyrinth uses a very rigid four stanza scheme; Asterion, the minotaur, uses eight line rhyme schemes, and Ariadne, his sister, uses traditional end rhyme scheme.

Poseidon very brashly interjects and narrates the story as the reader learns how the minotaur was born to Pasiphae and how he came to be locked in the labyrinth-at the king's revenge seeking hand. Elliott makes Asterion, the minotaur, come across as very simple minded and gentle; readers will feel sorry for him as he is cast away from his family for nothing of his own doing. His sister, Ariadne, secretly plans to help him escape and the two of them are going to fly away and be free, but **SPOILERS** Theseus, a jock-resembling prince of Athens slays the minotaur and ruins her plans.

Readers who have grown up on Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson series will LOVE this book, and those of us who don't remember the myth of the minotaur as well as we should will LOVE it as well. Poseidon's narration is everything. It adds humor and life to a slightly disturbing story. This book is NOT for small children, I wouldn't put it in the hands of anyone younger than freshman only because of the language that Poseidon uses as well as his imagery. Overall, I highly recommend this novel-in-verse to anyone looking for a good laugh and refreshing take on mythology.

[rdwhitenack · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A book in verse. Truly hilarious, and a great retelling of an thousands-year-old myth.

[ecataldi-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

One of the most fun novels in verse I have ever read. David Elliot does an amazing job retelling the story of Thesues and the Minotaur in hilarious down to earth prose. The book literally starts out with "Whaddup, bitches?" and just rolls from there. It was soo much fun and it breathed so much life into this classic Greek tale. I wish I would have read this adaptation in high school! The prose is broken into sections; Poseidon breaks the third wall and talks to the reader and the other characters have their own little sections. I can't get over how inventive and fun this us. FUCKING READ IT! I had no expectations based on the cover and the one sentence summary I saw of this book but I am SOOO SOO glad I picked this up. A true gem!

[allison_krajewski-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

"PROLOGUEThere beneath the palace wallsthe monster rages, foams, bawls,calling out again and again,Mother!Mother!No other soundbut the scrapeof hornon stone,the grinding cranch of human boneunder callused human foot."David Elliott’s Bull is a modern retelling of the story of the Minotaur, relayed in verse.I thought this retelling was original and funny. It has a similar feel to “Hamilton” in the fact that it has a distinct beat, and I constantly heard Lin-Manuel Miranda’s voice narrating the part of Poseidon. I also thought it was interesting to read it in this format, trying to figure out the unique rhyming style the author chose for each character.While the author sought to stay true to the original myth, he did invent some of the behind-the-scenes motives and actions of some of the characters, which I wasn’t really a big fan of. Because of this, it made Asterion (the Minotaur) come off as whiny kid who wanted his mommy instead of as a ferocious beast, Adriadne (King Minos’ daughter) come off as well-meaning but naïve instead of as brave and rebellious, and Theseus (the Athenian hero) come off as an arrogant jerk rather than as a fearless, brave hero.It was a short and quick read, though almost a little too short. I don’t think this format lent itself well to strong plot or character development, and I felt it was lacking in both. I also don’t think that adequate time was given to the actual myth of “Theseus and the Minotaur” – it felt glossed over and lacking in heft.However, I enjoyed it. I don’t usually read YA books, and I felt that it was refreshing and has an appeal to a rather broad audience. And it was really, really funny.Overall, I’d give this book three stars for originality and humor.Thank you to NetGalley and HMH Books for Young Readers for an advanced copy of this eBook in exchange for an honest review!