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zbmorgan's review against another edition
4.0
It had been years since my teenage self read this and I thought it was time to revisit it. While it is indeed an epic adventure and worthy of reading for anyone, in hindsight, Odysseus was actually kind of a jerk. What he lacks in mercy, however, he makes up for in cunning and persistence, and at times throughout history, those qualities have been much more prized than the forgiveness he lacks when he gets home, grumpy after his long trip.
The Fagles translation is a good one, however, as the language is beautiful yet can easily be understood. Worthy of a read,or in this case, listen - the Audio version of this is narrated by Sir Ian McKellen. (yes, Gandalf.)
The Fagles translation is a good one, however, as the language is beautiful yet can easily be understood. Worthy of a read,or in this case, listen - the Audio version of this is narrated by Sir Ian McKellen. (yes, Gandalf.)
koemia808's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
danagraph's review against another edition
4.0
quién diría que empezaría a leer este libro por un proyecto musical (gracias epic: the musical i guess).
estuvo piola, me gustó mucho el final y el relato de Ulises.
estuvo piola, me gustó mucho el final y el relato de Ulises.
imoran's review against another edition
adventurous
inspiring
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Gore, and Blood
Moderate: Death, Murder, and War
Minor: Rape
ida03a's review against another edition
3.0
The beginning of this was very enjoyable, as it first is a "coming-of-age" sort of story about Odysseus son, then we get to see Odysseus journey to his home, where it gets a bit repetetive. The last 100 pages where kind of hard to get through, because it's obvious what will happen, and it takes so long to get there. Still, it was interesting to fully read Homer, which is praised so highly through history.
venla_reads's review against another edition
2.0
An impressive piece of literature and important part of the Western canon, but it just wasn't for me. While I appreciate it, I found the text too boring and repetitive. The phrases "wine-dark sea" and "When young Dawn with her rose-red fingers shone once more" might never leave my brain and I hate that. Also I'm not familiar with any other translations - I just happened to own the one by Robert Fagles - so I can't tell if some very questionable choices were made by the translator or if it actually was faihtful to the original work. I found some words and phrases to be waaaayyyy too modern and every-day-language.
I didn't have high expectations, but the main story is interesting, and I'm overall into Greek mythology (thanks to Percy Jackson books), so I was actually disappointed by the book. It just focused on the wrong things and all the recaps and fake stories were totally unnecessary. Going into this I thought the book would be about Odysseus' biggest obstacles (Circe, Calypso, Scylla, the Cyclops, etc.) but those things were covered in like three chapters.
Also none of the characters were particularly interesting, and Odysseus least of all. It was honestly painful how everyone around him seemed to hold him in such high regard - he was just a whiny dude.
I didn't have high expectations, but the main story is interesting, and I'm overall into Greek mythology (thanks to Percy Jackson books), so I was actually disappointed by the book. It just focused on the wrong things and all the recaps and fake stories were totally unnecessary. Going into this I thought the book would be about Odysseus' biggest obstacles (Circe, Calypso, Scylla, the Cyclops, etc.) but those things were covered in like three chapters.
Also none of the characters were particularly interesting, and Odysseus least of all. It was honestly painful how everyone around him seemed to hold him in such high regard - he was just a whiny dude.