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A review by mollyrook
The Iliad by Homer
adventurous
challenging
emotional
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
This was not a book I ever really expected to read, but Emily Wilson's translation was so engaging and accessible that I surprisingly really enjoyed it. I love Wilson's whole premise that an English translation of Ancient Greek should be as readable to modern readers as the original would have been for ancient Greeks.
This is nothing to do with Wilson's translation, but I was really surprised that the end came without Achilles' death, considering that that was the explicitly stated conclusion to his character arc. It certainly doesn't function as anything like a modern story arc; unlike the Odyssey, there is basically no conclusion to the story, except for Hector's funeral. The war isn't over, Achilles isn't dead, and we as readers have no sense of how that will occur.
Very fun to wrap it up on the last day of the year, and now on to Wilson's Odyssey!
This is nothing to do with Wilson's translation, but I was really surprised that the end came without Achilles' death, considering that that was the explicitly stated conclusion to his character arc. It certainly doesn't function as anything like a modern story arc; unlike the Odyssey, there is basically no conclusion to the story, except for Hector's funeral. The war isn't over, Achilles isn't dead, and we as readers have no sense of how that will occur.
Very fun to wrap it up on the last day of the year, and now on to Wilson's Odyssey!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, and War