The Odyssey - Homer

You probably remember that about a month ago, I posted my thoughts after reading the Iliad. Now, after reading the Odyssey, here are some more thoughts are opinions.

Again, the point of this post is not to help you decide whether or not to read the Odyssey. With a classic like that, you can come to that decision on your own. This post is simply a collection of my thoughts on the book, immediately after reading it.

I enjoyed the Odyssey far, far more then the Iliad. For one thing, it's a lot shorter. For another, the Iliad is a lot of detailed killing, while the Odyssey is more of his deception of his family, and the telling of his stories.

I must admit, preconceived expectations really do shape how we perceive books, and this one was the same. I expected it to just be his stories, the ones we all know, starting when he left Troy, and ending when he killed all the suitors in Ithaca, and to some extent, that was the case. However, what we think of as the Odyssey: the Cyclopes, the Sirens, Circes, ect, only took up about three of the twenty four chapters of the book. Most of it was Telemachus trying to find information about his father, or Odysseus telling his stories to foreign rulers in the last few months before he arrives home, and hiding out in his court, pretending to be a beggar.

In fact, I enjoyed the book more because of this novelty. I thought I knew exactly what I was getting into, but I was wrong. It was the same story, told in a new way. Actually, told in a very old way. :)

That's it. My thoughts on Homer are now collected.