Take a photo of a barcode or cover
getajeevan 's review for:
The Iliad
by Homer
On reading the first few books, I was fairly certain of an impending fate to abandon this glorious book I've been meaning to read for about 5 years. I was patient enough to get through the dry bits and I'm glad I did, for how much I loved the rest of it, despite a predesposition to dislike gory things, surprised me.
This epic poem isn't about the Trojan War as I was under the impression while equipping myself with contextual information pre-read. It is a saga of rage, pride, heroism, honour, revenge and tragedy set amidst the war. From the beginning, it is known that Troy is destined to fall, the fate of the characters who die through the course is also predetermined and so it isn't so much focused on building suspense around the plot but rather how the characters respond and react to the fated events, and how they develop and evolve which explains the start of the epic with Achilles' rage and the end with him pacified to an extent, rather than the start and end of war.
My favourite part of the epic is that Homer does not paint any character as good or bad, not does he uphold either the Trojans or the Achaeans as being the better or rightful side. He explores each character and allows us to empathize with them, thus highlighting the complex nature of humans and the subjectivity of morality.
Another thing I particularly enjoyed reading was the humanizing of the gods; their flawed actions and petty conflicts amongst themselves over mortals provided some great comic relief to this intense drama!
This epic poem isn't about the Trojan War as I was under the impression while equipping myself with contextual information pre-read. It is a saga of rage, pride, heroism, honour, revenge and tragedy set amidst the war. From the beginning, it is known that Troy is destined to fall, the fate of the characters who die through the course is also predetermined and so it isn't so much focused on building suspense around the plot but rather how the characters respond and react to the fated events, and how they develop and evolve which explains the start of the epic with Achilles' rage and the end with him pacified to an extent, rather than the start and end of war.
My favourite part of the epic is that Homer does not paint any character as good or bad, not does he uphold either the Trojans or the Achaeans as being the better or rightful side. He explores each character and allows us to empathize with them, thus highlighting the complex nature of humans and the subjectivity of morality.
Another thing I particularly enjoyed reading was the humanizing of the gods; their flawed actions and petty conflicts amongst themselves over mortals provided some great comic relief to this intense drama!