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The Woke Iliad

By: George Boreas
Publication Date: February 2022
ASIN: B09MSC981W
Reviewed By: Barbara Bamberger Scott
Review Date: January 27, 2022

Drawing from Greek mythology and the latest socio/political trends in the US and elsewhere, author George Boreas has created a new epic, centered on a modern Helen of Troy - in this case, "the least agreeable woman in America...the Ambassador of Woke."

Noted not for her beauty, for that would be contrary to her principles, the overly large Helen's reputation stems from her ability to identify shame. She takes on national duties like overseeing the annual flogging of the private parts of men who have been found guilty of such toxic crimes as flirting and over-achieving. Her outspoken woke-ness is so powerful that when an international crisis threatens, she is called on to exercise her skills in the art of arguing. It seems that the tiny region of eastern Europe known as Moldova has discovered a cave in which sit hundreds of vintage Soviet missiles, carrying atomic payloads, locked away for decades but still entirely functional.

Moldova's President Bagrayev finds himself the most powerful man in the world - but how will Moldova, a thoroughly retro, un-woke culture, use its destructive potential? Sent to reason with Bagrayev, Helen will be captured and imprisoned in Moldova, and forced to go on a strict regimen of diet and exercise. Meanwhile the Pentagon spins a plot masterminded by General Womack, to make Moldova, locked as it is in old-fashioned values, more woke and therefore more pliable. Womack forms a militant group called the Coalition, challenging Moldovan soldiers to frustrating bouts of hand-to-hand combat. When Moldova seems to have won, everyone celebrates, little realizing that the Coalition has left behind a secret weapon that will turn their society upside down.

Every page of Boreas’s lively parody provides hilarious, inventive takes on societal quirks represented by Coalition activists who refuse even to say where they're from because that would be too specific and possibly offend someone, versus retrogressive values of Moldova where men are men and women are, well, totally obedient to men - with neither side looking perfect in the final analysis. Even Helen, by the end of her imprisonment in the presumably unenlightened but surprisingly intriguing Moldovan confines, will begin to wonder where she'd like to wind up. Boreas is a Canadian residing in China, with skills in engineering, business, teaching and boxing. His book is both thought-provoking and mirthfully ironic, displaying a unique gift for satire that is bound to capture and enrapture a wide readership.

Quill says: Boreas’s readers will appreciate the rolling action, sociological savvy, and rollicking humor that pervades The Woke Iliad, an imaginative look at how we humans might evolve in a slightly skewed future time.

For more information on The Woke Iliad, please visit the author's website at: www.georgeboreas.com