Aach! This could have been such an amazing product as a historical fiction novel from Penelope's point of view (a la Adele Geras' Troy or Ithaka). I would have liked--loved-- to see a tome in verse, mirrored in Homer's language (or similarly). In short, I expected a more "traditionally-written" femi...
As this was my first ever Margaret Atwood novel, I do have to say that it was a fairly quick, easy and enjoyable one. I do plan on reading more of her work, as I probably will get the chance doing a English/Gender Studies double major. As someone who had never read Homer's The Odyssey, all of the in...
Penelope aka 'The duck' wife of Odysseus tells her story. She is spending her life either locked in her fathers palace in Sparta, puking on a ship or finally locked up in a rather plainer palace on a stony island with goats and gluttonous pubertal suitors. She likes to whine a lot about her cousin,...
I love Margaret Atwood's writing (for the most part) so perhaps my expectations were a little high but I was quite disappointed with this one. This being such a thin book, I felt like it should have packed more of a punch (or any punch at all) but there really wasn't enough meat, so to speak. The bi...
This was so beautifully written. As someone who's fairly familiar with the myth of Penelope and Odysseus, it was quite fascinating to see how a modern-day writer would spin the story. Atwood did this brilliantly. I love stories that write from the perspective of the main character, especially when t...
Initially, I was intrigued by the premise of this book. A modern-day retelling of Homer's The Odyssey, the book is narrated by Penelope, the loyal and steadfast wife who waited for Odysseus's return for twenty years. Atwood shifts the focus to the marginalized female "others," particularly the 12 ...
The Penelopiad isn’t bad but there’s little to engage the reader. Atwood throws up myriad ways to reinterpret Penelope’s role in the legends of Odysseus but doesn’t take them anywhere. It’s only toward the end that we see where this could have gone when the two are canoodling in Odysseus’s famous be...
This is a retelling of the famous myth of Odysseus and Penelope. But it wouldn’t be Atwood if it was just a simple retelling of events. We get to see the other side of the story. The part where Penelope sits at home for more than twenty years waiting for her husband. The story is actually told by Pe...
Penelope gets the shaft. Come to think of it so does Clymmenstra. Let’s get that clear before we go any further.Homer was on to something when the he composed the most famous of all ancient works in the forms of the Iliad and the Odyssey. I doubt he even knew how long the story would last and how...
Quite a tale here, of Penelope's side of things during her childhood and marriage to Odysseus. Very sly, very tongue in cheek, and the twelve maids! Oh my goodness. Not very long, just over a hundred or so pages, but worth it, especially if you've read Homer. For the longer review, please go here:ht...
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