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A review by ktbee123
The Odyssey by Homer
5.0
5 stars specifically for this translation... less stars if I was reviewing the story itself. Emily Wilson, the first woman to translate the Odyssey into English, is supremely talented and created a very approachable translation; even her translator's note at the beginning was super entertaining and enlightening!
Now, obviously it's The Odyssey and is truly an epic tale that was originally performed rather than read, and it's worthy of fame and respect. But just for fun if I was to review this as a modern novel, I think I'd have to give it 2.5 stars. Odysseus is not a worthy hero but rather an aggressive, arrogant brute who is lucky to have assistance from gods. All of the cool things about the story (like the sirens or Scylla) are told sort of passively; a lot of the emphasis is on the scenes of just a bunch of guys talking and eating dinner. Talking about those cool things sometimes, sure, but the book is mostly made up of a lot of "these guys wanted to go home really badly and wept," and "here's a list of names and how they all know each other and who their dads are." As an aside, I never want to see the phrase "The rosy fingers of dawn approached" or any of those variants again. When the last chapter finally came, I could not believe my eyes when the spirits are randomly just summarizing the events AGAIN.
Now, obviously it's The Odyssey and is truly an epic tale that was originally performed rather than read, and it's worthy of fame and respect. But just for fun if I was to review this as a modern novel, I think I'd have to give it 2.5 stars. Odysseus is not a worthy hero but rather an aggressive, arrogant brute who is lucky to have assistance from gods. All of the cool things about the story (like the sirens or Scylla) are told sort of passively; a lot of the emphasis is on the scenes of just a bunch of guys talking and eating dinner. Talking about those cool things sometimes, sure, but the book is mostly made up of a lot of "these guys wanted to go home really badly and wept," and "here's a list of names and how they all know each other and who their dads are." As an aside, I never want to see the phrase "The rosy fingers of dawn approached" or any of those variants again. When the last chapter finally came, I could not believe my eyes when the spirits are randomly just summarizing the events AGAIN.