Hey Yall Listen Up | Book Review & Discussion - Iron John: A Book About Men by Robert Bly @HeyYallListenUp | Uploaded July 2020 | Updated October 2024, 5 hours ago.
I don't have a lot of nice things to say about my English teachers. They kept asking this silly question, "What do you think the author is trying to say?". My thoughts at the time where along the lines of "If the author wanted to say something, he or she should have written an essay". It wasn't until I read this book that I understood the utility of storytelling.



Written in 1990, Bly explores the Grimm fairy tale Iron John (more commonly translated as Iron Hans) with respect to what it can teach us about how boys become men. If you read this book, I would recommend reading the entire fairy tale first, which his translation is at the back of the book. If you have another translation, I would recommend reading that as well. I don't agree with everything he says, but there is plenty to chew on.


I read this book before I read The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger and I am certain it affected my reading of that novel. My review for that novel is here: youtu.be/CoUdL4Qy-bw