A review by laurenjpegler
The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood
2.0
Erm, well, this was a disappointment.
I really didn't like the way Atwood wrote Penelope. She was soooo annoying! It wasn't even like her thoughts/feelings were unwarranted, but the way she spoke/thought really got on my nerves. She felt, in all honesty, like a child.
I also didn't like the way Atwood framed the narrative. It felt so disjointed and fragmented. It's the present Penelope reflecting on her life, from the initial stages of her marriage till she's in the underworld. I thought the jump from past-to-present Penelope, alongside the constant switch from prose to verse, made the narrative feel so jumpy. It just didn't work.
This would have been so much better if Atwood drew it out a little - probably as a novella or even a novel. She could have given a bit more of a backstory to Penelope and convinced me of her feelings for Odysseus. It just didn't work!
I really didn't like the way Atwood wrote Penelope. She was soooo annoying! It wasn't even like her thoughts/feelings were unwarranted, but the way she spoke/thought really got on my nerves. She felt, in all honesty, like a child.
I also didn't like the way Atwood framed the narrative. It felt so disjointed and fragmented. It's the present Penelope reflecting on her life, from the initial stages of her marriage till she's in the underworld. I thought the jump from past-to-present Penelope, alongside the constant switch from prose to verse, made the narrative feel so jumpy. It just didn't work.
This would have been so much better if Atwood drew it out a little - probably as a novella or even a novel. She could have given a bit more of a backstory to Penelope and convinced me of her feelings for Odysseus. It just didn't work!