Reviews - Odyssee | The StoryGraph

7.19k reviews for:

Odyssee

Homer

3.71 AVERAGE

paul_fiction's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous challenging mysterious medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

Translated from the Greek by Robert Fitzgerald

Read during summer break during clerkship transition (4th year)

I preferred The Iliad: more consistent in tone. The latter parts of The Odyssey drag after the emotional high of the homecoming.

“Nobody is killing me” is so clever istg

Achilles randomly shows up just to trauma-dump in the underworld 😭

Odysseus’ sea voyage is surprisingly short. the real epic is on shooing away Penelope’s suitors

The goodest dog, Argos, recognizes his master after 20 years… then fucking dies?? Fuck off. Don’t talk to mee istg

kruspersille's review against another edition

4.25

slow-paced

corygrimes's review against another edition

3.0

adventurous reflective slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

_dosia_'s review against another edition

3.75

adventurous challenging funny inspiring slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Surprised at how enjoyable this was, considering it was first published almost 3000 years ago. Despite the amount of death, violence and the stakes being high, it never really felt that tense and was quite amusing most of the time. I mean c'mon, Athena giving Odysseus a perm every time he needs to look intimidating is so unserious. Even knowing the story previously it was still an entertaining read.

I do wish we had got to know the crew more before they were all quickly murdered, because the story did miss some emotional weight, and the actual voyage was over surprisingly quickly. The chapters and chapters of build-up to Odysseus' revenge on the suitors got a bit dull with SO much repetitive dialogue and feasting, though the climax itself was suitably bloody and satisfying though.

Overall it was a fun journey and it was interesting to read the original source material for so many other books. I probably would've given it 3 stars if it was a more modern publication, but for how well it holds up over time it gets the 4.