Reviews tagging 'Infidelity'

The Odyssey by Homer

16 reviews

timmytunter's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I found The Odyssey a difficult one to review. On the one hand, I recognize that this story, or indeed, poem, is one of the first pieces of Western literature. As such, and given its scope and scale, it deserves a huge amount of praise. There is adventure, drama, tension, fantasy, and heroism. Factual elements are mixed in with the fiction, creating a vivid narrative.

On the other hand, as a product of its age (it is approximately 2,800 years old!), the poem is riddled with chronic sexism and hyper-masculinity. Worst of all is the unironic presentation of a “hero” character in Odysseus, who is constantly touted as “godlike” and “noble,” yet he is dishonest, prideful, arrogant, unfaithful, and I would argue selfish. Nonetheless, the poem justifies Odysseus’s ruthless and barbaric acts in the final scenes by framing these as justice.

I want to pause here and let my boiled blood simmer, as I recognize that the context I live in is entirely different from that of Homer’s hero almost three millennia ago. I live in a democratic society, where the people have appointed a leader who is held accountable by said people, and whose government enforces the law. In this ancient Ithacan context, the king holds the power and authority, and it is up to him to determine justice for crimes. And there is no doubt that crimes have been committed: the suitors have imposed themselves on Odysseus’s household in his absence, consuming his food and drink, abusing his staff, slaughtering his livestock, harassing his wife Penelope, and attempting to kill his son Telemachus. They pray for Odysseus to not return and want to make sure he has nothing to return to if he does. When they fail to recognize Odysseus, they hurl verbal and physical abuse upon him, seeing only a decrepit old beggar. No doubt, justice is warranted. Nonetheless, Odysseus’s bloodthirsty desire for vengeance is severely at odds with my own ideology of love, peace, forgiveness, and mercy. There is certainly a need for justice to be meted out, but as the wronged, Odysseus is not in a position to be an impartial judge and is unable to apportion appropriate punishment.

Having said all this, I want to set the jarring contextual differences aside and recognize this work for what it is: a complex, beautiful tale, with countless characters including gods, people, gods-who-pretend-to-be-people, mythical creatures, and animals. The tale is ingeniously spun, taking us to both real and fictional locations. The fact that the entire work is in fact poetry was frequently lost on me, as I read the English translation by Rieu. Rendered as prose, it is highly readable and accessible, and from what I understand, accurate to the story, but entirely lacking in most of the poetic content of the original. To have told such a lengthy and complex tale in beautiful, flowing poetic language, Homer—and indeed, The Odyssey—is worthy of all the accolades bestowed. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Violence, Murder, and War

Moderate: Gore, Infidelity, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

maddie_0930's review against another edition

adventurous informative tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Infidelity

Minor: Violence

miguelito_juanito's review against another edition

adventurous challenging reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Gore, Misogyny, Slavery, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Ableism, Child death, Confinement, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Rape, Torture, Cannibalism, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Incest

therealslimkatie's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Gore, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cannibalism

Minor: Incest

mariakureads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I've read a different version of Homer's work but I was intrigued by this one and I have to say that I do love Wilson's translation of this epic poem.
Her use of modern language and choice of iambic pentameter for her translation felt new and contemporary and it was easier to read and visualize for me. This alone was a challenge as she managed to keep the same number of verses from the original Greek!
I never saw the big hero that others did in Odysseus, yes he had adventures and some were heroic indeed, but the man himself ...no I never truly saw it and in Wilson's translation I get some vindication as here we see a complicated man, an unreliable narrator to his own quests, a mischief maker, a doubter of his wife who he left alone for 20+ years while he himself is a huge flirt.
Wilson's translation is quite honestly a great read and a challenging one that makes you wonder about previous translations but even the violence is felt to be more violent and brutal and I can't tell if that's the modernized wording or if it was always there just worded differently so that it didn't come across as such.
All in all, I'm tempted to read Wilson's take on the Illiad.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Sexism, Violence, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Animal death, Infidelity, Abandonment, and Alcohol

bones_jackson's review against another edition

adventurous challenging slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

É um livro bem denso e cansativo de ler, e por ser poema, tu avança bem mais devagar do que em prosa(incrivelmente). Me perdo muitas vezes porque além de ter linguagem rebuscada, na minha cabeça eu não consigo formar uma imagem tão boa da história do que quando eu leio um livro normal. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Violence, Grief, Sexual harassment, and War

puntifexmaximus's review against another edition

emotional slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and War

Moderate: Animal death, Body horror, Death, Gore, Infidelity, Misogyny, Rape, Slavery, Blood, Grief, and Medical trauma

mxpringle's review against another edition

informative slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

I found this interesting to analyze because of the ways that rhetoric is used to have a more powerful analysis of what it means to share stories through poetry. I appreciated having read this because it's a classic that is referenced so often in other works. However, it is relatively boring and dense for the things that happen within the poem, and the characters are incredibly unlikeable. If you're interested in Greek mythology for the plot, this may not be what you're interested in, but it can be more enjoyable in more of an academic setting. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Infidelity, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Classism

Minor: Suicidal thoughts

admiralsmall's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny inspiring sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

It's hard to express how perfect this book is. Wilson's achievement democratises this classic text and makes it not just accessible but also exciting and readable. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Slavery, Violence, Murder, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Infidelity, Rape, Torture, and War

khymihr's review against another edition

adventurous informative reflective medium-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Slavery, Violence, Abandonment, and War

Minor: Infidelity and Rape