Reviews - Oedipus Rex | The StoryGraph

1.73k reviews for:

Oedipus Rex

Sophocles

3.57 AVERAGE

wangdanny's review against another edition

3.25

dark sad fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

libellus's review against another edition

4.0

The Theban Plays #1 Oedipus Rex by Sophocles
September 2016
4/5

*Read in French as part of my grade 12 (cegep 1) literature class*

Oedipus Rex surprised me. Usually I don’t expect “class books” to be good simply because having an exam on a book cuts out all the pleasure that I find in reading a good book, however this one was very entertaining. For those who have heard the expression “Oedipus Complex”, you could already guess a bit of the intrigue, but the story itself can still be very entertaining if you take into consideration the journey and not only the ending. The language level is not as difficult as you might imagine, in fact it is quite easily understandable especially if you have an edition with footnotes or notes at the end of the book, if you are just getting into literature I think Oedipus Rex is a good starting point. The story is entertainingly tragic, with a moral typically grec: never try to mess with your destiny. You feel as sense of pity for those characters who are punished by the gods, but also sadistic because you love seeing those poor souls being the victims of their own actions. As usual with tragedies in general, nothing ever ends well and that is definitely the case with this story, and that is morbidly awesome.