MoAn Inc. | Penelope Being Bitter For 198 Pages Was NOT For Me. (Margaret Atwood THE PENELOPIAD Book Review) @MoAnInc | Uploaded September 2022 | Updated October 2024, 2 hours ago.
I know I'm late to the party reading this book ... But finally, the day has come when I've read The Penelopiad!
The book retells the life of Penelope - wife of Odysseus and queen of Ithaca - from start to finish. We hear of her life before marriage, her tumultuous relationship with her cousin Helen, the complications she faced when moving to Ithaca, and even how she dodged the suitors during the 10 years she waited for Odysseus to return from Troy. Interestingly, Atwood does not choose to tell us this story in real-time, instead opting to have Penelope recount her life in hindsight while she sits in the Underworld. A truly interesting premise for a book, but the intrigue doesn't stop there. Atwood takes this one step further, having Penelope's maids from Ithaca (who were killed by Odysseus upon his return from battle) take on a chorus role to break up the narrative with their songs.
Unsurprisingly, Atwood's care for the character of Penelope is incredible. She retells each mythological episode with truth and clarity, allowing any reader of The Penelopiad to leave its pages with a solid knowledge of the source material. But that seems to be a given with Atwood's writing, as she is notorious for being well-researched and respectful to the writing that came before her.
However, I gave this book a 3-star rating simply because I felt that Penelope was a little too bitter for my liking. Given that she's now in the underworld and has had time to reflect on her life, I would have hoped someone as smart as she would be able to be a tad more differentiated about the hardship she faced in life. It seems as though everything that went wrong for her in life was either blamed on Helen, Eurycleia, or Odysseus. Not that I think Penelope is at fault for her troubles in the Odyssey - she is obviously not - but the constant need for her to point a finger at someone else grew tiresome to read.
Further (and I really can not stress this enough) I absolutely hate the character of Melantho from The Odyssey and therefore hated how Atwood attempted to rectify her character throughout The Penelopiad. Melantho is horrendous to Odysseus and flat-out rude to just about everyone in The Odyssey, so the idea that I was suddenly supposed to like her just didn't do it for me. I mean, we are talking about the woman who was having a raging affair with one of the men attempting to steal Odysseus' throne and marry Penelope, right? The same woman who also spoke poorly of Penelope, her queen? THIS is the person I was supposed to be like "oh no wait, it was all a misunderstanding!" ... yep, that's a solid no from me.
Not that that takes away from the gorgeous work Atwood did with retelling the Odyssey and the entire Trojan War fiasco from Penelope's perspective. Her dedication to the source material is obvious and she should be praised for that 100%. Her writing is wonderful and the story itself was a compelling read ... I just wish Penelope was a tad more mature in her afterlife and wish Melantho wasn't the character we were all supposed to leave suddenly supporting.
Check out the article here: moaninc.co.uk/books/the-penelopiad-margaret-atwood
My GoodReads: goodreads.com/moaninc
Margaret Atwood GoodReads: goodreads.com/book/show/17645.The_Penelopiad
Grab The Book Here Using My Affiliate Link - amzn.to/3QSd4GW
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#TrojanWar #BookReview #GreekMythology
I know I'm late to the party reading this book ... But finally, the day has come when I've read The Penelopiad!
The book retells the life of Penelope - wife of Odysseus and queen of Ithaca - from start to finish. We hear of her life before marriage, her tumultuous relationship with her cousin Helen, the complications she faced when moving to Ithaca, and even how she dodged the suitors during the 10 years she waited for Odysseus to return from Troy. Interestingly, Atwood does not choose to tell us this story in real-time, instead opting to have Penelope recount her life in hindsight while she sits in the Underworld. A truly interesting premise for a book, but the intrigue doesn't stop there. Atwood takes this one step further, having Penelope's maids from Ithaca (who were killed by Odysseus upon his return from battle) take on a chorus role to break up the narrative with their songs.
Unsurprisingly, Atwood's care for the character of Penelope is incredible. She retells each mythological episode with truth and clarity, allowing any reader of The Penelopiad to leave its pages with a solid knowledge of the source material. But that seems to be a given with Atwood's writing, as she is notorious for being well-researched and respectful to the writing that came before her.
However, I gave this book a 3-star rating simply because I felt that Penelope was a little too bitter for my liking. Given that she's now in the underworld and has had time to reflect on her life, I would have hoped someone as smart as she would be able to be a tad more differentiated about the hardship she faced in life. It seems as though everything that went wrong for her in life was either blamed on Helen, Eurycleia, or Odysseus. Not that I think Penelope is at fault for her troubles in the Odyssey - she is obviously not - but the constant need for her to point a finger at someone else grew tiresome to read.
Further (and I really can not stress this enough) I absolutely hate the character of Melantho from The Odyssey and therefore hated how Atwood attempted to rectify her character throughout The Penelopiad. Melantho is horrendous to Odysseus and flat-out rude to just about everyone in The Odyssey, so the idea that I was suddenly supposed to like her just didn't do it for me. I mean, we are talking about the woman who was having a raging affair with one of the men attempting to steal Odysseus' throne and marry Penelope, right? The same woman who also spoke poorly of Penelope, her queen? THIS is the person I was supposed to be like "oh no wait, it was all a misunderstanding!" ... yep, that's a solid no from me.
Not that that takes away from the gorgeous work Atwood did with retelling the Odyssey and the entire Trojan War fiasco from Penelope's perspective. Her dedication to the source material is obvious and she should be praised for that 100%. Her writing is wonderful and the story itself was a compelling read ... I just wish Penelope was a tad more mature in her afterlife and wish Melantho wasn't the character we were all supposed to leave suddenly supporting.
Check out the article here: moaninc.co.uk/books/the-penelopiad-margaret-atwood
My GoodReads: goodreads.com/moaninc
Margaret Atwood GoodReads: goodreads.com/book/show/17645.The_Penelopiad
Grab The Book Here Using My Affiliate Link - amzn.to/3QSd4GW
Donate Here: ko-fi.com/moaninc
Follow us on -
Facebook: facebook.com/moaninc
Instagram: instagram.com/moaninc
Twitter: twitter.com/moaninc
#TrojanWar #BookReview #GreekMythology
