Don't Miss

• NYRB Classics: Save 30%
• Paperback Favorites
  for Book Groups
• Subscribe to Indiespensable

More at Powell's

• Featured Signed Editions
• Rare and Collectible Books
• eBooks | Audio | DVDs | Blu-ray

---

Powell's Q&A, Q&A | December 10, 2009

Powell's Q&A: Sam Stephenson

0 comments By Sam Stephenson

Describe your latest book/project/work. I've been studying the life and work of photographer W. Eugene Smith for 13 years. My first book (Dream... Continue »

---

1. 
   $28.00 Sale Hardcover add to wish list

   The Jazz Loft Project: Photographs and Tapes of W. Eugene Smith from 821 Sixth Avenue, 1957-1965

   Sam Stephenson and W. Eugene Smith

Report Comment

---

You are reporting a comment on the following title:

---

You are reporting the following comment:

Larkin P., April 5, 2007

I recently read The Mists of Avalon by Marion Bradley Zimmer as a school assignment. I think that the author, Marion Zimmer Bradley had a creative idea in telling the life story of King Arthur from the perspective of the women in his life. However, I also think that because there were so many women the plot gets extremely confusing. The Mists of Avalon is very well written, and gives a descriptive picture of what life in the Middle Ages was like for nobles and knights. The Mists of Avalon follows the life of King Arthur’s mother, half sister, aunt and wife. All of the woman with the exception of his wife, battle with being devout Christians or following their age old pagan beliefs. It deals with the woman’s marriages, childbearing, and jealousy toward each other.
As I earlier said, it was my personal opinion that The Mists of Avalon was quite confusing. I had to keep track of the three women who all had similar names, how they were related to each other, how they were related to Arthur, if they had magical powers, who they were married to and who they wished that they were married to. In the end readers only find out the end of three of the probably fifteen women whose lives we had been working so hard to keep straight. The author Marion Zimmer Bradley did a wonderful job of incorporating the dialect of the Middle Ages and the vocabulary that they used. I got a detailed picture of the lonely lives led my noble woman in the Middle Ages. Even the High Queen led a quite isolated life. Noble woman were forced into marriages at an incredibly early age to men they had never seen that were usually the age of their fathers. The Mists of Avalon describes these women as being completely petrified and often taken advantage of by these older men.
These past few months my class has been studying the Middle Ages. So often in reading The Mists of Avalon I was able to make connections from my studies with that of the characters lives. I learned that nobles of the Middle Ages lived lives that we would now consider impoverished. The author describes the characters as eating various roots and a lot of porridge, even the High King and Queen rarely feasted on meats except during holidays. They might get the weekly boar or small birds. The castles they lived in were cold, damp and completely filthy.
In sum, I think that The Mists of Avalon is confusing at times, but gives a brutally honest picture of the life of nobles in the Middle Ages and the conflict between the Church and peoples old religions. I would recommend this book to women middle school age and up.

---

Your email address:

---

Reason for report:

---

Are you a robot? We didn't think so. But just to be sure, please type what you see in the following image into the box below.

---

Confirmation:

Are you certain you wish to report this comment?

---

Terms and Conditions

We welcome your comments and ideas, but we ask that you refrain from:

• Obscenity
• Spam
• Illegal content
• Copyrighted material
• Commercial solicitations

By posting your comments you are granting the good people of Powells.com the right (but not the obligation) to make your comments available to others over the Internet, and to copy and distribute your comments via other media, in each case on a royalty free basis. These terms govern the rights and obligations of the person posting comments and Powells.com; there are no intended third party beneficiaries of these terms.

Posted comments are subject to monitoring, editing, and removal at any time. Please see our Terms of Use for our complete terms and conditions.

---

Children's Online Privacy Protection Act

In accordance with The Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, you must be at least 13 to submit comments on Powells.com.