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980 reviews for:
Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes, 75th Anniversary Illustrated Edition
Edith Hamilton
3.97 AVERAGE
980 reviews for:
Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes, 75th Anniversary Illustrated Edition
Edith Hamilton
3.97 AVERAGE
informative
medium-paced
adventurous
informative
medium-paced
Got it into my head I wanted a refresher on mythology and this was perfect for it. She's delightfully snarky about which poets she does and doesn't respect, and her handling of the absurd misogyny of the myths is blunt and matter of fact in a way that I appreciated. Important to remember she wrote in 1942. The random lineage tales at the end lost me, but a brief look at Norse myths at the end was interesting.
Also I really enjoyed Suzanne Toren's narration.
Also I really enjoyed Suzanne Toren's narration.
This book has been taught in American schools since the beginning of time. It is still taught today solely because it is extremely comprehensive. It does well to flesh out all the famous characters to their full extent, along with the characters' storylines and backstories. However, it is deeply boring. Edith Hamilton is quite rambly and writes the book like an encyclopedia or an extremely boring dissertation. If any person wants to introduce themselves or their children to mythology with the intent to enjoy it, I would recommend [b:D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths|79626|D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths|Ingri d'Aulaire|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1425703433s/79626.jpg|891861] or novels like the Percy Jackson series. However, if someone needs an understanding of Greek Mythology for academic purposes, such as analyzing literature, this book is perfect.
Nothing against the book at all, I was just reading something else at the time and was really busy so this got left to the side. Hopefully will return to this some time soon
informative
medium-paced
Although I love Greek mythology, I was just beginning to think how monotonous these myths are. I won't get into the details, but towards the end of the book, you begin to notice that the existing relationships between family members or of lovers seems the same. And they all meet their demise in a very predictable way.
I appreciate Hamilton's attempt at uniting the different myths together; some stories, such as The Odyssey, don't give you the full details, but Edith always seemed to get the reader up to speed. However, I felt like the myths overall were sporadically placed throughout the book; if one myth had an event that happened in another, she'd write it there and then come back to it later when she would explain the whole story. I found this somewhat confusing and always had to remember family trees in order to understand.
I loved that she introduced Norse mythology in there too, and the way she wrapped up the book, explaining where our culture and race comes from, was a nice way to piece it all together.
I appreciate Hamilton's attempt at uniting the different myths together; some stories, such as The Odyssey, don't give you the full details, but Edith always seemed to get the reader up to speed. However, I felt like the myths overall were sporadically placed throughout the book; if one myth had an event that happened in another, she'd write it there and then come back to it later when she would explain the whole story. I found this somewhat confusing and always had to remember family trees in order to understand.
I loved that she introduced Norse mythology in there too, and the way she wrapped up the book, explaining where our culture and race comes from, was a nice way to piece it all together.