A must-read from a literary standpoint, but not as good as India's two major epics. I will admit, it is a good classic. ( )

Reviewed by Nell (Class of 2010) ( )

I'll never read it all, so I'll cheat and use David Bader's haiku version from One Hundred Books in Haiku (Viking 2005):

The Odyssey

Aegean forecast –
storms, chance of one-eyed giants,
delays expected ( )

I checked out a Playaway at the library. Very enjoyable. Loved listening to it rather than reading.
The interactions between the characters, the social graces and ritual, the sheer improbability of the adventure, it never gets old. ( )

I'm not sure, but I think this was the edition I read & liked the best - I've read several over the years. I liked the 'full' or 'best translated' versions & the highly edited versions the least. There's a happy medium in there. The full versions have a lot characters & stuff going on that doesn't add to the story & just confuses me. When edited too much, the story loses its flavor.

The story line, plot, can't be beat. Much of the motivation of the characters seems weak or over-used, but that's only because it is the great-granddaddy of so much of our current literature, of course. ( )