Author: Homer; edited by Robert Fagles; forward by Bernard Knox
Pages: 541
Published: 1997 (first published around 800 BC)
Genre: Classics, Epic Poetry
Edition: Paperback
Source: Personal
Description: If the Iliad is the world's greatest war epic, then the Odyssey is literature's grandest evocation of everyman's journey though life. Odysseus' reliance on his wit and wiliness for survival in his encounters with divine and natural forces, during his ten-year voyage home to Ithaca after the Trojan War, is at once a timeless human story and an individual test of moral endurance. (via Goodreads)
Thoughts: I read this as a book club selection this past fall and honestly felt that book was okay, even though I could see what made this book this particular classic one of the greats. I had taken a university English course with this text and The Orestia being our primary texts (it was a course on classic literature). And having notes throughout various points in my copy really aided in helping me understand various sections in the book.
But it was a book that I would have not easily completed had it not been for the audiobook that I borrowed from the library, which was narrated by Sir Ian McKellan (Gandalf in The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings movies) and really helped me understand the epic nature of the book.
Bottom line: Even though I probably won't read this book again, I got to appreciate the epic nature of The Odyssey and this book would appeal to those readers that enjoy reading Greek tragedies. Recommended.
Rating: 3.25/5
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