Item: Son of Nobody
Rating: 3.5
Author: Catherine

Son of Nobody by Yann Martel
Published by W.W. Norton
Publication date: March 31, 2026
Genres: Fiction, Historical, Literary

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Yann Martel, author of The Life of Pi has a new novel, Son of Nobody and it’s safe to say his unique narrative style has not changed. Instead of a lone lifeboat adrift for 227 days, Son of Nobody takes place in two distinctly different settings, the Trojan War, and the Bodleian Library at Oxford. Despite being separated by distance and millennia this is essentially a story of two men: Psoas, a Greek commoner and Harlow, a PhD candidate. Both hope to gain wealth and/or fame for their work. For Psoas, it’s the promise of a quick war that will bring him riches beyond anything he could ever attain in his ordinary life. For Harlow, it’s about acclaim as he chooses to leave his family behind in Canada while he goes to England to translate the story of Psoas’ life. Both men pay a high price for their choices.

Through Psoas Son of Nobody scrubs away the veneer of glory, of gods and heroes from Homer’s Iliad, revealing the brutality and tedium of a war lasting a decade. A war in which there were no riches left for the soldiers who survived. As Harlow tunnels deeper into extracting the shards of this hapless soldier’s life he becomes more and more disconnected from his own, despite having a young daughter he adores. His marriage has frayed and in the same way Psoas convinces himself that his time in Troy will save his family Harlow convinces himself that burying himself in the mythical war will save his family. He slides Harlow’s desire for achievement and recognition alongside the realities of being a parent and loving a child to devastating effect. Like Psoas, his pursuit of some amorphous glory is delusional and comes to nothing except incalculable loss.

The scope and depth of Son of Nobody feels almost academic, inviting exploration, analysis, and dissection from countless angles. This is a carefully constructed morality tale—never heavy-handed, yet equally impactful. The novel is unusual even in its structure, with Harlow’s thoughts interspersed throughout Psoas’ story, creating a jarring juxtaposition between modern and ancient voices. It demands attention and reflection, and while the ending delivered a strong emotional impact, it was ultimately a book I admired more for its creativity and ambition than one I would broadly recommend. However, readers who enjoy dense, complex stories that grapple with universal themes will find much to appreciate in Son of Nobody.

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