The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood
Title: The Penelopiad
Author: Margaret Atwood
Genre: Parallel Novel
Rating: 2.5/5
# of pages: 216
Date read: April 2007
Sypnosis: (from Chapters.ca) Margaret Atwood’s Penelopiad is a sharp, brilliant and tender revision of a story at the heart of our culture: the myths about Penelope and Odysseus. In Homer’s familiar version, The Odyssey, Penelope is portrayed as the quintessential faithful wife. Left alone for twenty years when Odysseus goes to fight in the Trojan Wars, she manages to maintain the kingdom of Ithaca, bring up her wayward son and, in the face of scandalous rumours, keep over a hundred suitors at bay. When Odysseus finally comes home after enduring hardships, overcoming monsters and sleeping with goddesses, he kills Penelope’s suitors and-curiously-twelve of her maids.
Review: This really actually seems like a lot better of a book than I give it credit for. I just gave this score based on how much I enjoyed the book when I read it. And a lot of the reason I didn't like it THAT much was because I had no idea what the Illiad, Odysseus, or Penelope were. I knew pretty much zilch about greek mythology. I feel that now that I know a lot more than I used to when I was seventeen (and stupid), I would probably enjoy this A LOT more than I did then. Stuff I did like about it when I first read it, was that it was written in the form of a play at parts. That was interesting. And also, I liked the story, I just didn't understand some stuff that was going on because I didn't know the WHOLE story. So, this is one I plan on re-reading in the future, to see how my perspective on it changes after getting a little educated.