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slushiexix 's review for:
The Iliad
by Homer
I'm not sure exactly where my thoughts sit with this one, though I have some rapid fire ones that I can easily get off:
- where's the horse ((I didn't realize that this book didn't cover the end of the war))
- I didn't realize how absent Achilles and Patroclus are for so much
- 'that's my bestie <3' every time Odysseus was mentioned
- Dawn is personified as more than just 'rosy-fingered' (like in The Odyssey) though words often flew on wings ((I will be trying to look up why or wrestle with that myself, if I can't find anything, bc I find it such an interesting phrase that likely means a lot in Ancient Greek culture))
I think this book is even more an interesting reflection in the changes in storytelling between Ancient Greece and today than The Odyssey was - referring back to my comment about not realizing prior to reading The Iliad that it only covers a handful of days - and isn't a recount of the end of the war or even the beginning: the story itself feels incomplete, seeming to speak to a collaborative culture of oral stories that get told by many people at many times in many ways but always trying to keep the heart the same ((also, arguably, the ancestor of translation [and that is a direct reference to the Wilson vs other translators discourse that had bene going on around the time of Nolan's Odyssey movie announcement])). There were plot threads mentioned or begun that never dissolve in the 500ish pages of actual story (the back matter is a beast with notes and a glossary, so progress felt very slow looking at page count); this is, of course, not a critique of the translator or Homer or even the story itself. Still, I find myself disappointed at not seeing some of the more iconic moments of greek mythology that pervade pop culture, though I'm not mad at what I have gotten. Though, admittedly, I'm not as keen on this one as I am on the Odyssey ((I just personally don't connect with as many themes in the Iliad)).
The Iliad is also a lot gorier than I had initially expected; while I knew it was about the Trojan War, I was surprised by how brutally war was actually portrayed. I also found the first few chapters mind-numbing in how they're essentially just rosters of who killed whom with backstory for both killer and killed often accompanying the vivid description of death (though I do appreciate how these moments humanized the victims and impressed that they were human with their own lives and legacies and not just nameless canon fodder in what feels like a meaningless war - it made the deaths feel more visceral and real, even if I still didn't really care about them on any deeply personal level).
(((okay so maybe I did have some actual thoughts to share)))
- where's the horse ((I didn't realize that this book didn't cover the end of the war))
- I didn't realize how absent Achilles and Patroclus are for so much
- 'that's my bestie <3' every time Odysseus was mentioned
- Dawn is personified as more than just 'rosy-fingered' (like in The Odyssey) though words often flew on wings ((I will be trying to look up why or wrestle with that myself, if I can't find anything, bc I find it such an interesting phrase that likely means a lot in Ancient Greek culture))
I think this book is even more an interesting reflection in the changes in storytelling between Ancient Greece and today than The Odyssey was - referring back to my comment about not realizing prior to reading The Iliad that it only covers a handful of days - and isn't a recount of the end of the war or even the beginning: the story itself feels incomplete, seeming to speak to a collaborative culture of oral stories that get told by many people at many times in many ways but always trying to keep the heart the same ((also, arguably, the ancestor of translation [and that is a direct reference to the Wilson vs other translators discourse that had bene going on around the time of Nolan's Odyssey movie announcement])). There were plot threads mentioned or begun that never dissolve in the 500ish pages of actual story (the back matter is a beast with notes and a glossary, so progress felt very slow looking at page count); this is, of course, not a critique of the translator or Homer or even the story itself. Still, I find myself disappointed at not seeing some of the more iconic moments of greek mythology that pervade pop culture, though I'm not mad at what I have gotten. Though, admittedly, I'm not as keen on this one as I am on the Odyssey ((I just personally don't connect with as many themes in the Iliad)).
The Iliad is also a lot gorier than I had initially expected; while I knew it was about the Trojan War, I was surprised by how brutally war was actually portrayed. I also found the first few chapters mind-numbing in how they're essentially just rosters of who killed whom with backstory for both killer and killed often accompanying the vivid description of death (though I do appreciate how these moments humanized the victims and impressed that they were human with their own lives and legacies and not just nameless canon fodder in what feels like a meaningless war - it made the deaths feel more visceral and real, even if I still didn't really care about them on any deeply personal level).
(((okay so maybe I did have some actual thoughts to share)))