Reviews - Oedipus Rex | The StoryGraph

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1.73k reviews for:

Oedipus Rex

Sophocles

3.57 AVERAGE

yolo11's review against another edition

4.25

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

spiderlily's review against another edition

dark reflective sad fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

reaganalana's review against another edition

3.5

dark emotional sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: N/A

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

dyaspara's review against another edition

4.0

I actually really liked this book. Especially the incest. Woah, mind blowing.

alexiajackson's review against another edition

4.0

Hard to process play. In the end, you can’t avoid destiny and the more you do to avoid it, the more it solidifies itself.

lleullawgyffes's review against another edition

4.75

dark emotional 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

“voice voice voice
voice who knows everything o god
glorious voice of Zeus
how have you come from Delphi bathe in gold
what are you telling our bright city Thebes
what are you bringing me
health death fear
I know nothing
so frightened rooted here
awed by you
healer what have you sent
is it the sudden doom of grief
or the old curse the darkness
looming in the turning season”

*

I was ready to just go through the motions of rereading this for class but this translation (Berg and Clay) is actually...really good? I’m not used to thinking of Oedipus Rex as a poetic text, aesthetically pleasing at the level of language — all anyone ever talks about (tediously, endlessly) is the content. I especially love the way they’ve handled the choral odes (as in the example above).