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adventurous
funny
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
medium-paced
It's the Odyssey. You have to have read it, right? I missed it somehow in school. (The Iliad too, but that's a book for another day; I've seen the movie Troy, does that count?) I found it relatively engaging, with exciting parts interspersed with talky, descriptive sections. I didn't like Ulysses very much, especially after the ending scenes. (I liked James Joyce's version of the character much more.) I found it very sexist (the few women, if you don't count Minerva/Athena - she's a goddess, not an actual woman - don't have much to do, and when one of them does something bad, it reflects badly on all women "even the good ones." This point is made more than once.) I listened to the audiobook, ably read by Simon Prebble, and I read along with the ebook. This version is not in poetry form, but in a prose translation, which some scholars argue is closer in meaning to Homer's intent than the poetry translations are, but who can say? Maybe someday I'll get around to a poetry translation.
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Not my favorite translation— Lattimore or Fagles for future reads.
adventurous
challenging
hopeful
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
read the Fagles and Wilson translations side by side as an experiment. didn't really get anything out of it, except maybe appreciating how punchy Wilson's translation is by comparison (and Fagles as I understand is a little tighter than Fitzgerald).
also this was my first time reading The Odyssey and my guy gets back to Ithaca at like the halfway point, then just fucks around in disguise for a while??
also this was my first time reading The Odyssey and my guy gets back to Ithaca at like the halfway point, then just fucks around in disguise for a while??
adventurous
challenging
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I think I respect it more than I actually enjoy it? Odysseus being a rape victim who cries at Calypso and is coerced by Circe is fascinating though. Not to get into “is this ancient book feminist” discourse or anything, but something about it (as well as Ovid giving his rape victims sympathy and interiority) makes me feel a little less alone.