The Odyssey by Homer

If I didn't have to read this for my Advanced World Lit class, I probably would never have read it. Even though I love to read, the classics have never really appealed to me. I went in thinking that this will be just another boring book that I have to read, blah, blah, blah this and that, symbols and crap like that. But as I got into the story, and stopped thinking of it as a required read, I realized just how amazing it really is.

I will admit, it does get a little repetitive sometimes, and don't even try to pronounce the Greek names, my English teacher who is an actor and has been teaching for 20-something years can't even try on some of them.

If you don't have at least a basic knowledge of Greek Mythology, you wouldn't understand a great majority of the story. But once you read this, you will start seeing mythilogical references everywhere you look, I know I did. Take the song Wrapped Around Your Finger by Police. There are at least 2 different parts indicating knowledge of The Odyssey.

The characters in the Odyssey all seem to act the same. They don't really have personalities of their own. Odysseus seems no different from Telemachus. Which may have been done on purpose, to further indicate the father-son relationship the two share. Multiple times during the story Homer uses the same lines to describe both Telemachus and Odysseus;

And so he let a tear fall from his eyelids to the ground... but his hands held up his purple cloak before his eyes.

One of my favorite parts in the story (And my class') was when it seemed like Homer was reminding his audience that he was still human and needed sustanence. Repeatedly, he would randomly talk about a blind poet who is given food. Hmmm, sound like Homer anyone?

All in all, this was a pretty decent book. Between the battle scenes and the funny parts (brouhaha) it was much more enjoyable than I thought it would be.