The Odyssey: The Story of Odysseus

As a novel, The Odyssey reads well as a great tale picking up where The Illiad left off; full of rich detail, beautiful imagery and an incredibly elaborate mythology that one neednt be familiar with to understand. I was worried beforehand about knowing so little about Greek Mythology but Homer incorporates exactly enough information of the Gods to provide insight to the characters and traditions of their culture necessary to understand the story, while teaching you about them along the way. There is an abundance of reference and connection with religion, culture and traditions (actually, as you read youll find a lot of modern words or expressions that originated from the text) to be studied at length, but the story is also excellent as a stand-alone tale if you dont want to analyze it.

The plot is that of Odysseus, after the Battle of Troy (described in The Illiad), who is stranded on an island as his house and family are plagued by ignorant men who are slowly consuming his wealth and resources while awaiting his thought-to-be-widowed wifes decision on which of them she will marry. As his much-abused young son comes of age, he is set upon a journey by the Gods to find his father and restore his household to proper order. The tale is weaved around this and lined with themes of love, loyalty, honour and revenge in such a way that no author Ive read has even come close to. Homer is perhaps comparable to Shakespeare only in the sheer breadth of his scope, but surpasses him in his intuition for storytelling.

If you genuinely like to read but havent read this yet, buy it now (after The Illiad, of course) or get it from the library. Considered to be the first Novel, youre reading a piece of history, a dead society, and an amazing tale as well.