A review by courtneyfalling
The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood

challenging dark tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I had to read this as a high school freshman right after my English class finished The Odyssey, and I really loved it then. It has a very second wave feminist approach to Penelope's story and Odysseus's brutal slaughter of her twelve maids, alongside all Penelope's suitors, and it made me realize how much of an aside, an afterthought, the maids were treated as in The Odyssey itself, as well as all the ethical and gendered issues present in classical mythology. I was at an age where I felt like I was constantly given conflicting advice about girlhood then punished no matter what advice I took, and so the main framing of the story hit home. But looking back now, it's... very second wave. In a cliche and kind of predictable way. And I wish we'd gotten more perspectives from the maids themselves, not only their generalized and preachy choruses and Penelope's external, often patronizing take on them. And there's so much crap Margaret Atwood keeps doing that I really only revisited this to see what I think now, and I don't plan to read any more Margaret Atwood after this. 
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