TITLE: The PenelopiadAUTHOR: Margaret Atwood
STARTED: June 1, 2009
FINISHED: June 3, 2009
PAGES: 199
GENRE: Fiction
FIRST SENTENCE: [From the introduction] The story of Odysseus' return to his home kingdom of Ithaca following an absence of twenty years is best known from Homer's Odyssey.
SUMMARY: [From barnesandnoble.com] Homer’s Odyssey is not the only version of the story. Mythic material was originally oral, and also local -- a myth would be told one way in one place and quite differently in another. I have drawn on material other than the Odyssey, especially for the details of Penelope’s parentage, her early life and marriage, and the scandalous rumors circulating about her. I’ve chosen to give the telling of the story to Penelope and to the twelve hanged maids. The maids form a chanting and singing Chorus, which focuses on two questions that must pose themselves after any close reading of the Odyssey: What led to the hanging of the maids, and what was Penelope really up to? The story as told in the Odyssey doesn’t hold water: there are too many inconsistencies. I’ve always been haunted by the hanged maids and, in The Penelopiad, so is Penelope herself.
THOUGHTS: I worked in a book club read during my marathon of children's books. The mental change needed to focus on this book took me a few pages.
I enjoyed this book - I do tend to love alternative tellings of classic stories. (Why I've never read Gregory Maguire is beyond me.) I've actually never read The Odyssesy so I found this book acting, in some ways, as a reminder of the old Wishbone episode. I enjoyed the way Atwood made Penelope a strong and clever character. I don't know if I particularly liked her, but I admired her. I do, however, think this book makes Odysseus and their son, Telemachus, look like completed and utter jerks.
Atwood does a fantastic job of incorporating bits and pieces of Greek myth - there were moments I found myself saying, "Oh yeah! I forgot about that." Atwood clearly did her research on this one.
The part of the book I enjoyed the best was Atwood's telescoping to the present day. The people's characters did not change, just their situation. It was pretty darn fascinating.
RATING: 6/10 [Good]
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