jazzlw 's review for:

The Iliad by Homer
3.0

I thought Emily Wilson did a great job translating a book that, overall, I find much less interesting than the Odyssey. The 3.5 hour long intro and translators note were super interesting for gaining historical setting, and for understanding the choices that Wilson made in taking on the translation. I thought that the iambic pentameter worked very well overall, using a meter with a long history in English to bring the work to flowing life, evoking the poetical and song-like qualities of the original. That said, the Iliad is so much of this person killed that person and spilled his guts etc etc etc, that it was hard for me to get too attached to the story or the characters. I was also surprised by how many things that we think of as part of the Troy story that don't happen in The Iliad. I'm definitely going to read Wilson's Odyssey soon.