I found this 2001 book on the free display at a local coffee shop (thank you Forte for your community book shelf), and I grabbed it based on the title. I love “The Epic of Gilgamesh,” and I enjoyed the references to Gilgamesh in a recent book “There are Rivers in the Sky” by Elif Shafek. 

So, with “Gilgamesh” as this book’s title, I was expecting something a bit more related to the adventures of the Sumerian king and his friend Enkidu. But it seemed quite a stretch to tie this novel to the ancient epic other than two guys who travel together, spending some of their time in Iraq, near the city of Nineveh. 

In short, this is a story of a young couple in London at the end of WWI, looking for a place to start a new life. They head to the Australian bush as homesteaders, trying to make a go of farming. This part of the book reminded me a lot of Willa Cather’s “My Antonia”: a tough outdoor life, no music or arts, dad struggles to succeed, mom can’t acclimate, and the daughters grow up trying to make it on their own. 

When a London cousin, Leopold, and his Armenian friend, Aram, show up for a visit, life gets better for the 2 teenage daughters, Edith and Frances,–or at least a bit joyful with swimming, dancing, stories of world travel, and an introduction to “Gilgamesh,” a book the young men carry with them. Edith ends up pregnant, and the rest of the novel is her story of motherhood, provision, isolation, work, travels across the world in search of Aram, and eventual acceptance of raising her son in a place that is the most practical. 

References to Gilgamesh get tossed in periodically, but they feel forced and flat, though I suppose overall this is a book about journeys, risk, and acceptance that “life which you look for, you will never find” (a line from the ancient epic).  

I can’t say I really liked this book, but I did appreciate it: its meandering pace, Australian bush scenery, okay but not memorable characters, and the travel challenges of getting across the world pre and post WWII. 

I’ll return it to Forte, so other readers can take it home for a bit.