THE ODYSSEY: BOOK REVIEW

Homer's Odyssey is an epic poem written in the 8th century BCE which

describes the long voyage home of the Greek hero Odysseus. The mythical king

sails back to Ithaca with his men after the Trojan War but is beset by all kinds

of delays and misadventures where he battles monsters and storms but also

resists (eventually) the advances of beautiful women in the knowledge that, all

the while, his faithful wife Penelope is awaiting him. For the Greeks, the story

occurred sometime in the 13th century BCE during the Bronze Age, in a heroic

golden era much better than today's sorry state of affairs.TheOdyssey is one of

two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is, in part, a sequel

to the Iliad, the other Homeric epic. It is about cunning, a difference that

becomes apparent in the very first lines of the epics.

The setting of the story is in the Mediterranean Coast during the Bronze

Age (approximately the 12th century B.C.E.).The poet imagines this time as a

golden age in which kings enjoy extraordinary wealth, warriors possess almost

superhuman strength, and women are supernaturally beautiful. The gods walk

among humans. Monsters pose a threat to any traveler who strays off the map.

The book was originally written in hexametric verse - a style common to

that time, when all renditions were oral in nature. As a result, there has been

much embellishment upon the original works. The Odyssey begins in the

middle of the plot, following a broken, semi non-linear plot pattern with details
interspersed as flashbacks and reminiscences. Side narratives are included in

the story itself in the form of bardic narrations.The Odyssey features many

extended similes, as when Homer compares Circe’s mountain lions to “hounds

that fawn around their master, coming home from a feast, who always brings

back scraps to calm them down.” These comparisons are known as epic

similes. Dactylic hexameter, epithets, and epic similes became conventions of

epic poetry after The Iliad and The Odyssey.

The Odyssey is narrated from a third-person point of view by a narrator

who has invoked the divine authority of the Muse, which allows the narrator to

know everything and understand all the characters’ thoughts and feelings. The

poem shifts between narrative passages and direct speech, sometimes quoting

one character within another character’s speech, such as when Menelaus

includes several direct quotes from other characters in his lengthy speech to

Telemachus in Book 4.

The Odyssey begins after the end of the ten-year Trojan War (the subject

of the Iliad), and Odysseus has still not returned home from the war because

he angered the god Poseidon. Odysseus' son Telemachus is about 20 years old

and is sharing his absent father's house on the island of Ithaca with his mother

Penelope and a crowd of 108 boisterous young men, "the Suitors", whose aim is

to persuade Penelope to marry one of them but she refuses to give them a

chance because she is faithful to her husband.

 The Odyssey was an amazing tale of a journey through the famed Trojan

Wars in ancient Greece. Meeting all the gods and goddesses, understanding the

genealogy and family structure, and the plots between all their games. The

images and the metaphors are pretty. And if you know enough about Greek

history, you almost feel as if you're in the story.Unlike the Iliad, this book is

not focused on grand ideas or a grand stage. The characters do not base their

actions on heroic ideals but on their emotions, their pains and joys, their

grumbling bellies. It is less concerned with the fate of nations than the state of

the family and friendship.

What is most remarkable about Odysseus is not merely that he comes up

with these tricks, but that he passes them off on proud, honorable men

without incurring their wrath. Moreover, he does all this while having a famous

reputation for being tricky.

“Men are so quick to blame the gods: they saythat we devise their misery.

But theythemselves- in their depravity- designgrief greater than the griefs that

fate assigns.”We love this line so much because it is true that we shouldn’t rely

our fate on someone else, since we are the one making our own destiny.

Absolutely brilliant. We have given a rating 4 out of 5stars to The

Odyssey because it is very interesting to read specially if you are an

adventurous individual and fond of Greek gods and goddesses. This story will

be suitable for you. And you can learn a lot of lesson by just reading this book.

We highly recommend it to everyone, because The Odyssey isn't just an

ordinary book, but it is also an adventurous book and a masterpiece in the

field of literature.