The Odyssey by Homer (4/5)

The Odyssey by Homer captures a hero’s return journey from the Trojan War, plagued with hardship the whole way home to his now-grown son and his faithful wife who was surrounded by suitors in his absence. He faces the lotus eaters, Cyclops, Poseidon’s fury, Scylla the several-headed monster, and Charybdis. His comrades anger Helios and are punished severely after traveling to the Underworld and back in search of a path to Ithaca his hometown. He loses his comrades but does not give up although home has long been out of sight. Odysseus is then held captive by Calypso and finally arrives home by the grace of Pallas Athena only to find that more trouble awaits him. While he is overjoyed to see his son he must remain disguised until he picks off the suitors who have crowded his home, plotted the murder of Odysseus’s only son Telemachos, and stolen the fortune Odysseus had set aside for his son before the war.

I enjoyed reading this classic novel although it was difficult to start. When I finally reached Odysseus’s part of the story it began to pick up the pace and be more interesting, plus, I can now say I have read the Odyssey and will be moving on to the Illiad. I learned a good deal about Greek mythology and I think that this is a good book to read as a guide to mythology as there are several retellings of adventures within the book.

I found this book to be a good read if a bit challenging. As it was written down a long time ago and translated more recently, some of the language was confusing and information on gods or allusions had to be googled, but I would suggest the copy translated by W.H.D. Rouse as it was not reworded to fit a poetic form (it was a near direct translation) and has some explanations of confusing passages that make the book easier to read and understand. And now a word to the wise: this is a book for a patient reader, you must be able to endure somewhere around 100 pages before Odysseus is brought into the story. I suggest both reading the Illiad first (which I did not do but is the correct order of the novels) and trying to power through Telemachos’s journey as it can be fairly repetitive and slow going.