Odyssey

Audiobook

English language

Published Sept. 26, 2024 by Penguin Books Ltd..

Sometimes the hardest journey is the way back home…

Wily Odysseus, King of Ithaca, has won Troy for the Greeks - after a decade of brutal, bloody warfare. But now this warrior remembers he is a husband and father - and his gaze turns longingly towards home.

Setting sail with a small fleet, Odysseus dreams of soon lying in the arms of his beloved wife Penelope, and of teaching his son Telemachus the ways of a warrior. However, the gods laugh at the foolish hopes of mortals. And, angered by this upstart, Poseidon - God of the ocean realms - curses our hero to wander the seas for ten long years.

Encountering one-eyed giants, six-headed monsters, terrible storms, titanic whirlpools, hypnotic sirens, seductive witches and jealous goddesses, Odysseus is tempted and tormented beyond any man’s endurance.

Yet he is no mere mortal - and the lure …

3 editions

reviewed Odyssey by Stephen Fry (Stephen Fry's Great Mythology, #4)

A fine finish to Fry's tetrology of Greek Myth

Because he draws as much from the Aeneid and other sources as from Homer, this takes a long time to properly get to the telling of the Odyssey itself. I could perhaps have done with less of the context, though given it's those aspects of the story I had little if any knowledge of, it's certainly those I've learned most from!

The books rounds out the telling of the ancient Greek myths, and gently, lovingly explores the transitions of humanity from awe and fear of the world to hard work and negotiation both with the world and with other people. The grand canvas of the myth woven of very personal, often selfish, individual stories. I guess like the titular hero, it takes its time, but it does get there in the end.

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Subjects

  • Homeric cycle, greek mythology, Odysseus, Trojan war

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