Take a photo of a barcode or cover
4.01 AVERAGE
4.01 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
N/A
I read some of them just for a project. I loved this translation.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment
adventurous
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
read books 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9, 10, 11 (so i basically finished the book).
from the books that i read, i really enjoyed it! i think my favorite stories were salmacis and hermaphroditus, and tereus and philomela. maybe it’s because i wrote a paper contrasting the two stories. maybe im biased. i do enjoy how the characters at the end of each story go through a change (a metamorphosis, if you will!). very good introduction to ancient roman texts. one star off because why did ovid love writing about rape?
from the books that i read, i really enjoyed it! i think my favorite stories were salmacis and hermaphroditus, and tereus and philomela. maybe it’s because i wrote a paper contrasting the two stories. maybe im biased. i do enjoy how the characters at the end of each story go through a change (a metamorphosis, if you will!). very good introduction to ancient roman texts. one star off because why did ovid love writing about rape?
adventurous
challenging
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Oh how sad this book made me! I wanted to love this book because I love history and mythology. I knew all these stories but had never heard of a collection of all of them before Ovid's Metamorphoses. When it turned out to be one of the few Roman novels still around, I knew I had to read it. Starting the epic, I was very excited but rapidly became disenchanted. Personally, I dislike that with so many characters and events that happen in each of the 15 books that there were no subtitles or notice of a change in the stories. It made the overview in the beginning of each book pointless because I'd always forget what story I was reading. The change from one story to the next, while staying in the epic style, ended up confusing me. I constantly had to reread sections because I was not sure if I had missed anything. The stories that held my attention the most were in Volume II, but I still didn't enjoy reading this epic as much as I have others. There were stories I really liked but I had already read them from Greek Mythology or found them elsewhere. My frustration grew so much that I had to write myself helpful description notes on the side in a completely different copy of the book. I'm glad to cross this book off of my "read before I die" list and that I'll never have to read again.
Jag läste Ingvar Björkesons översättning. Hittade den inte bland alla utgåvor.
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
It's been a while since I've dabbled in some classical literature, and I'm always down for a refresh of my Percy Jackson-based mythological knowledge. I thought Ovid's theme — of metamorphosis — was quite interesting, and while I found his verse much more readable than Homer, I was overall a little disappointed.
I think it was down to this translation. I was expecting something much more lyrical and flowery — something, I realized, a lot like Paradise Lost, an obvious comparison. Again, I found this very readable, but the language itself was disappointing.
I find Penguin Classics to generally be very reliable as far as definitive texts go, but I was not impressed with the commentary of this version. For example: "The mysterious atmosphere of this passage," writes Denis Feeney (I believe) in the opening summary for Book 6, "is particularly good." Particularly good? I would not have been able to get away with a sentence like that even in my first-year university English course! I was baffled to find it included so matter-of-factly in a Penguin Classic.
This text also made me realize just how much of Greek/Roman mythology is focused on sexual assault, usually at the hands of Jupiter/Zeus or another god. In fact, I think there were only one or two out of fifteen books that didn't include some kind of sexual assault narrative. After the first few, it just felt like I was being hit over the head with them. I didn't find any of these passages particularly graphic, but I definitely think this is something to keep in mind, especially if you're planning to read the whole text through, as at times, these stories felt just relentless. Some were handled more deftly and ended more justicially than others, but none, in my opinion, are handled with the sensitivity we'd expect in the twenty-first century, not even in the commentary.
Overall, this was definitely an interesting read, especially in thinking about how it has influenced two millennia of art and literature, but I was less than impressed with the text itself and especially this edition.
I think it was down to this translation. I was expecting something much more lyrical and flowery — something, I realized, a lot like Paradise Lost, an obvious comparison. Again, I found this very readable, but the language itself was disappointing.
I find Penguin Classics to generally be very reliable as far as definitive texts go, but I was not impressed with the commentary of this version. For example: "The mysterious atmosphere of this passage," writes Denis Feeney (I believe) in the opening summary for Book 6, "is particularly good." Particularly good? I would not have been able to get away with a sentence like that even in my first-year university English course! I was baffled to find it included so matter-of-factly in a Penguin Classic.
This text also made me realize just how much of Greek/Roman mythology is focused on sexual assault, usually at the hands of Jupiter/Zeus or another god. In fact, I think there were only one or two out of fifteen books that didn't include some kind of sexual assault narrative. After the first few, it just felt like I was being hit over the head with them. I didn't find any of these passages particularly graphic, but I definitely think this is something to keep in mind, especially if you're planning to read the whole text through, as at times, these stories felt just relentless. Some were handled more deftly and ended more justicially than others, but none, in my opinion, are handled with the sensitivity we'd expect in the twenty-first century, not even in the commentary.
Overall, this was definitely an interesting read, especially in thinking about how it has influenced two millennia of art and literature, but I was less than impressed with the text itself and especially this edition.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual assault
Definitely not my favorite translation of Ovid but the index is very useful for the classroom