The Penelopiad (Canongate Myths)

About 600 BCE, the Lydians of ancient Turkey (which was then called Anatolia) began forming lumps of a natural alloy of gold and silver called electrum and stamping them with official symbols. Thus the "striking of coins" began and within 50 years most major trading cities were issuing coins, especially the cities of ancient Greece. An interesting development in this regard was the two-sided coin, with an "obverse" side (H), deemed the most important and usually decorated with the head of a ruler or god, and the "reverse" side (T), which was considered the less important one.

If one were to examine the enormous amount of research literature that has been generated by the study of Homer's Odyssey one will find a two-sided Greek coin, both sides of which are stamped with the figure of Penelope. One side, the obverse side, represents the figure of Penelope as presented by Homer. The reverse side represents Penelope as presented by the author of this book (and possibly many other researchers also). The Penelope of Homer (H-Penelope) is very different from the Penelope of the author (T-Penelope).

Homer, embedded in a culture that displayed a high degree of misogyny, speaks of H-Penelope as passing her days "mourning for the best of husbands." But H-Penelope can sew (as "most" women can or should), as she must complete the shroud of Laertes before she chooses a suitor. And H-Penelope is deemed very capable of running the household when Odysseus is gone. But H-Penelope is a member of a "deadly race" who "live among mortal men only to their great trouble", and who offer no help in poverty, but only in riches. After all, H-Penelope tricked and deceived the suitors (but Homer still wants the reader to believe in her virtuousness). H-Penelope was therefore the ultimate diplomat, skilled in the inherent evasiveness of tact and prudence, and did not hesitate to engage in deception (but again Homer wants the reader to believe in her virtuousness).

And what of the T-Penelope of the author? She is witty and capable, highly intelligent, and sometimes sarcastic. In telling her story, T-Penelope does so as a disembodied spirit inhabiting Hades, the Greek version of hell. She wanted all individuals to be true to themselves, to not put on a useless show. T-Penelope though is proud of being self-sufficient, of being able to "look out for herself" in the world. For a woman this is a characteristically twenty-first century attitude, definitely a virtue, and definitely non-Homeric.

T-Penelope makes it a point to say that she still appreciates the small white flowers of the asphodel of Hades, thus offering "proof" of her femininity. But she does not want to thought of as too much of a prude: she has always been "secretly attracted" to pickpockets, stockbrokers, and small-time pimps (who occupy Hades with her). Even more importantly, T-Penelope was not a Helen, and completely uninterested in the repeated conquests of men. And her beauty, if any, was not to be compared with Helen's, for the result of the latter was the deaths of many men (and whose deaths Helen regarded as a tribute to herself). T-Penelope rightfully despised Helen, for Helen ruined her life (as she did many others). There are still many Helen's walking around these days but thankfully even more T-Penelope's.

So it is clear that both Homer and the author offer different pictures of Penelope, and both issue biased coins in this regard. If one throws the coin of Homer it will usually come up H, whereas if one throws the coin of the author it will usually come up T. Such is the nature of historians, whether they are literary or otherwise: they always seem to issue a biased coin. With care, astute observers can always find the bias in the coins they issue. Such observers though must be careful not to themselves issue a biased coin when presenting their findings.

I don't know why Margaret Atwood is praised as a feminist author - she seems to like perpetuating the "woman is forever downtrodden" narrative. The Penelopiad has an interesting premise- a retelling of the Odyssey from the viewpoint of Penelope, the clever and crafty wife. Too bad the story Atwood tells is of the weeping and put-upon homebody, not a heroine outwitting numerous foes.
She promised to tell us the story of the twelve hanged women, which is precisely what she doesn't do! We still don't know why Odysseus killed them. And why does Penelope not even get a satisfying story in death? All she does is watch from Hades while her faithless husband goes off on adventures yet again. Here Atwood is particularly cruel - she blames the lack of reunion and companionship on those twelve murdered women, who "keep Odysseus away", not by their enticing charms, but by their shrill moaning. Great - with this Atwood commits that sin that keeps feminism from succeeding - finger pointing and squabbling amongst women. (Like Odysseus is some great prize, anyway...why can't Penelope have some fun or even a life of her own?)
I personally would have rewritten the story so that Penelope was running a coven who lured those greedy suitors to their deaths, and wimpy Odysseus conspired to murder the witches to claim he was the hero who slew the suitors and to send a warning to "harpies who don't stay in their place!" He then agreed to send Penelope home, where she could live amongst her own people and she wouldn't have to wait for his useless and faithless butt to come back all the time. She went along with it for her freedom, content in the knowledge that her sisters would haunt Odysseus for his crime.
Now there's a better story!

Ah, Atwood. I've been reading her works since my eighth grade teacher gifted me her Journals of Susanna Moodie with an inscription telling me that she looked forward to the day when I would bring her my own published work. I've had a love/hate relationship with Atwood ever since.

But The Penelopiad was new to me. My daughter is reading it for her AP English class and she asked me if I could hold on to it for her when we were out this past weekend. It was one of those moments when I found myself early for a meeting and sitting there with my Americano. I had a choice: I could either read the literary book my kid just gave me, or play the Dot game incessantly. I chose to read.

And that was it. I was hooked.

Now if you've read some of my other reviews, you'll know I'm a huge fan of fractured fairy tales. And while Greek mythology and a retelling of the Odyssey isn't exactly a fairy tale, it has elements of what I love. Atwood tells the story completely from the point of view of Penelope and the twelve maidens. It is classically Atwood and absolutely brilliant.

The academic in me, recommends reading The Odyssey before The Penelopiad but it isn't really necessary. If you've seen Odysseus: Voyage to the Underworld (a really sh*tty movie) or had a peek at Percy Jackson (a really good series) you'll recognize some of the stories. But the real treasure in The Penelopiad is that it is told from Penelope's point of view (after her death).

Only Atwood would take the quintessential hero story and say, wait a minute! What about the 15-year old girl he married and dragged off to his remote island and then left there with a baby while he gallivanted around the countryside for TWENTY years? What about HER story?

This telling is a feminist re-imagination of the legend. In classic Atwood style, it re-imagines the tale we think we know and forces the reader to question what the true telling of The Odyssey might be. (If you are unfamiliar with Atwood's work, shame on you! Get reading! But she has taken many, many texts and dug the subtext out and ran with it.)

This book has rekindled my love affair with Atwood's work. I highly recommend you check it out.

Margaret Atwood sets out to rewrite "The Odyssesy" from Penelope's point of view. She points out Odysseus wasn't such a great hero after all as he killed Penelope's 12 faithful maids when he returned home. This small book is written somewhat like a Greek Tragedy and the 12 maids are the chorus. It is quite humorous in places and a very delightful retelling of "The Odyssesy." Penelope is Helen's, yes Helen of Troy, whose face launched 1,000 ships, cousin and to say Penelope and Helen don't get along would be an understatement. To further make this book unusual Penelope is telling her story from beyond the grave, in other words, from hell. So not only does Atwood turn this patriarchal story into a matriarchal one but that old saying "dead men tell no tales" does not apply here.

The story tells of Penelope's birth and young life, then her marriage to Odysseus, and becoming his Queen. It further tells of her long waiting for him to return from the Trojan war and all the rumors she hears about him as she waits. It tells from Penelope's point-of-view her undoing of the shroud, with help from her maids, every night which she redid every day and how the maids only got close to the suitors on Penelope's instructions as spies. She even tells us about life in Hades.

This is a funny and well written book something you can count on from Atwood.

The Penelopiad tells the story of Penelope and the twelve maidens while Odysseus was making his way home from Troy. Full disclosure here, while I am familiar with The Odyssey, I have not yet actually read it, though it is on my TBR List. I found this novella to be a very interesting, if brief, take on Penelope and the twelve maidens who met their death at the end of The Odyssey. The deaths of the twelve maidens are an afterthought in the narrative, briefly mentioned and then forgotten. The Penelopiad focuses on these twelve deaths and by doing so, highlights how horribly the maidens were treated not only in life, but in death as well. I did find that the novella was too short for me and in spots appeared to be rushed. Possibly due to the speed that the narrative unfolded, the final act with the court trial felt somewhat tacked on. Still, I found I did truly enjoy this novella and will most likely re-read it once I finally read The Odyssey, if only to compare.

For some reason, the bookstore where I saw this shelved it with academic books on myth, but it is really a novel, and a racy one at that. The sensuous Art Deco lady on the more recent cover is very much to the point, although Atwood moves Homer's Penelope (who addresses us from the underworld) even closer to our own time, when people cluster around "the flat, illuminated surfaces that serve as domestic shrines" to watch athletes, now as then, win with the aid of performance-enhancing drugs.

This is one of a series of short books published by the Canongate Press in Edinburgh, in which celebrated authors retell ancient myths in their own way. I have already reviewed and enjoyed AS Byatt's version of an Icelandic saga in RAGNAROK. Other authors in the series include Chinua Achebe, David Grossman, and Donna Tartt, so it has some range. Atwood's take, not surprisingly, is distinctly feminist. Her Penelope, clever rather than pretty, is not prepared just to wait patiently at her loom for the twenty years that Odysseus is away. She knows perfectly well that the suitors are after her money rather than her body, but at the same time she has needs of her own. The lines that close the scene in the marital bed after Odysseus has returned may give some of the flavor:

The two of us were -- by our own admission -- proficient and shameless liars of long standing. It's a wonder either one of us believed a word the other said.
But we did.
Or so we told each other.

Atwood is also concerned about the fate of the twelve maids that Odysseus and Telemachus hanged for sleeping with the suitors. Not only does she make them the favorites of Penelope, and in fact doing her bidding, she gives them a role in the manner of a Greek chorus, popping in from time to time with satirical commentary, each section in a different style, from blank verse to rhyming doggerel:

Sleep is the only rest we get;
It's then we are at peace:
We do not have to mop the floor
And wipe away the grease.

We are not chased around the hall
And tumbled in the dirt
By every dimwit nobleman
Who wants a slice of skirt.

The book, though light and very funny, has its serious side too. There is interesting information on how dynastic marriages really worked, and a splendid disquisition on how the story of Penelope and the twelve maids may represent the remains of a moon-goddess cult. But the greatest delight is Penelope's witty obiter dicta on the subject of the sexes, such as "It's always an imprudence to step between a man and the reflection of his own cleverness." The book cover is right to compare Atwood to Dorothy Parker and "Desperate Housewives"; it is both praise and limitation. For we do not get the depth of Ursula Le Guin's partial retelling of Virgil in LAVINIA, or the sheer range of Zachary Mason's even more radical deconstruction of Homer THE LOST BOOKS OF THE ODYSSEY. Atwood is briefer, more off-hand, more user-friendly. But that was her intent. [4.3 stars]

The Penelopiad is a retelling of the myth of Odyssus and Penelope. Its a rather short book in comparison to most of Margaret Atwood’s books. And having always been impressed with her writing beginning with the Handmaid’s Tale, I took it home from the library to indulge in.

Its a well written tale, as one would expect from Margaret. She tells the tale from the voice of Penelope, which gives it a very different flavor than the original myth. Helen is not painted in the most complimentary air. She is a pompous, vain and spiteful creature. Though the story only touches on her for a few short spots.

Though I do have to say that I scratched my head when it came time for the slave girls to tell their part of the tale. The tone and style were totally out of context from my perspective and it struck me more as a place to throw in a soapbox diatribe. As far as I was concerned, it put a sour flavor to the story and should have been written in a very different way.

The tale is interesting, but not as enjoyable as I have come to expect from Margaret’s more “original” tales. It is not on one of my highly recommended book lists, which is unfortunate as she has always been one of my favorite authors.

http://sephipiderwitch.com/penelopiad-margaret-atwood/

The Penelopiad is a retelling of the Iliad and the Odyssey from Penelope's point of view. It is told in first person by Penelope, thousands of years after the event as she drifts through Hades, and by the twelve maids who serve as a sort of Greek chorus, telling their version in a variety of ways from poetry to rhyme to courtroom drama. Atwood turns the traditional story of Odysseus around on it's ear, when she makes Penelope the center of the tale. New angles and possibilities arise, both from Penelope's telling and from the accusations of the maids. Odysseus's twenty year absence becomes, not a rousing adventure tale, but a burdensome trial for a wife to bear and Atwood skillfully takes the reader through a spectrum of emotions as Penelope and the maids deal with this ordeal.

A knowledge of Greek mythology and Homer's original tale is a must to appreciate the changes, both subtle and dramatic, that Atwood has made. Without that background, I doubt the reader would find any enjoyment in this novel.

Atwood's talent is clear in The Penelopiad as she deftly uses a variety of narrative styles. The result is a retelling that is at times shocking in it's difference, and believable enough to become entangled with the original, leaving the reader questioning.

Atwood's choice of material from "The Odyssey" does not come as a surprise, considering her penchant for drawing focus on the disenfranchised. "The Penelopiad" throws light on the darker and less prominent aspects of the Greek myth. Atwood is concerned not with the adventures and exploits of Odysseus, but rather his long-suffering wife, Penelope, whom he leaves behind in his palace to lend arms to the Trojan War, as well as the twelve maids whom Odysseus hangs with the help of his son Telemachus, when he returns to reclaim his palace (and Penelope) from the ravenous Suitors. These last are noblemen who descends on his kingless abode to contest for Penelope's hand in marriage, and enjoy wanton access to Telemachus's inheritance that they slowly drink and feast away in his absence.

The story is told from Penelope's perspective and interspersed with the choruses of the twelve hanged maids (Penelope's closest and most trusted and the youngest and prettiest, as the narrative soon reveals) from the netherworld, as she revisits her guilt at not being able to stop this heinous act from happening. With the advantage of retrospection from Hades, Penelope corrects some glaring errors to the myth. For example, she recounts her own unfortunate childhood (victim of unsuccessful drowning by her father, King Icarius of Sparta) and informs the reader that contrary to the popular retellings that held her up as a model for modesty in her reticence as she pulled down her veil in answer to her father's plea for her not to follow her husband Odysseus back to Ithaca, it had been an attempt to hide her mirthless laughter: "You have to admit there was something humorous about a father who'd once tossed his own child into the sea capering down the road after that very child and calling, 'Stay with me!'."

The story, complete with the bitchiest exchanges between Penelope and her cousin, Helen of Troy, who is cast as a self-centred vamp here, as well as Penelope's own tenuous relationships with both her icy mother-in-law and resentful teenage son, Telemachus, sets the background for a rather domestic and intimate look within the much-loved myth. Penelope's own rather irreverent perspective of the gods and deities belies her desperate circumstances as a powerless woman in those times, as she says: "I wanted happy endings in those days, and happy endings are best achieved by keeping the right doors locked and going to sleep during the rampages". Clever, eloquent and biting.

Aptly named, THE PENELOPIAD is a feminist retelling of THE ODYSSEY and THE ILIAD, as only Margaret Atwood could imagine it.* Narrated by Odysseus's long-suffering wife Penelope, the events in Homer's epics are reexamined from her perspective. Now residing in modern-day Hades, Penelope tells of her early life; her "courtship" by Odysseus (read: being won in a contest like so much livestock, after which time the winner's spoils, bride included, was quickly whisked away to Odysseus's own kingdom); the hardships she endured while her husband was off fighting the Trojan war and then making his way home; and ending with his fatal, bloody return, which culminated in the deaths of Penelope's twelve maids. Among their crimes? Allowing themselves to be raped by Penelope's suitors. Penelope's accounts are interspersed with occasional choral interludes from the doomed maids - who, like their mistress, cannot be silenced, even in death.

Even if your knowledge of THE ODYSSEY begins and ends with 10th grade English class (guilty as charged!), there's still much to enjoy in THE PENELOPIAD. (Though the greater your background, the more improved your reading.) A novella, THE PENELOPIAD is a disappointingly slim volume - my paperback copy weighs in at just 193 pages, with generous margins. Given the heft of the source material, I wish Atwood's retelling was bit longer. For example, the years of the Trojan war - when Penelope was managing Odysseus's kingdom on her own, at a time when it was unusual for women to do so - was glossed over in just a few pages. It would have been nice to visit Penelope during this period in her life, to see how she "done the impossible," so to speak. (Any Browncoats in the house?)

Ditto: the maids. Maligned as they were by Odysseus and his son Telemachus, they deserve more of a voice than they were afforded.

While I'm tempted to deduct one start for brevity, I can't seem to bring myself to do so. THE PENELOPIAD has quickly become one of my favorite Atwood books, right behind the Mad Adam trilogy (to be fair, I'd rather the author spend her limited time working on the third installation, as opposed to a longer version of THE PENELOPIAD!) and THE HANDMAID'S TALE. After suffering through both THE ODYSSEY and THE ILIAD in high school, I hope more teachers add THE PENELOPIAD to their course outline. Had women's perspectives been more prominently featured, I might have taken a greater interest in some of these "classics."

* Though it's interesting to note that Atwood herself doesn't consider THE PENELOPIAD "feminist": "I wouldn't even call it feminist. Every time you write something from the point of view of a woman, people say that it's feminist." Touché, Margaret!

As only Margaret Atwood can write . . .. Will be of particular interest to those who a fascination with Greek mythology, the time of the gods.. Take Penelope's journey from her home to her marriage at age fifteen to, oh, yeah, Odysseus. You know, the devoted husband who took off for twenty years for parts known and unknown. He returns to let poor Penelope know how much he missed her, only to leave a short time later with some lame excuse. Anyway, even if you have no interest in Greek mythology, this one's worth a read. (Her maids did WHAT? With WHOM?)

Margaret Atwood was asked to venture into the area of Greek mythology and craft a story from that time. She chose Penelope, the long suffering wife of Odysseus of Trojan War fame. She picked Penelope because mythology has painted her as the faithful wife who waited for twenty years for her husband to return. While Odysseus was away and seemingly lost, numerous suitors descended on Ithaca to try to win the hand of Penelope. She managed to withstand the siege and stayed true to her lord and husband. But the thing about this story that captured Ms. Atwood's attention was the return of Odysseus and the bloody slaughter he committed. He and his son Telemachus killed all the suitors, and for some reason, strung up Penelope's twelve young maids because they had been cavorting with the suitors. But it is Margaret Atwood's genius that turns the story of Penelope and her twelve hapless maids into something that is poignant, sad and funny all at the same time. In true Atwood style, she makes the character of Penelope real and vibrant. From myth to reality in one snappy little novella.

Margaret Atwood gives voices to Penelope and her twelve hanged maids in this feminist retelling of Homer's The Odyssey. Alternating between Penelope and the Chorus Line, the book is written for an easy stage adaptation. The Chorus Line: A Rope-Jumping Rhyme" sets the mood for the accusations brought forth from the maids.

Penelope tells of her upbringing (her father tried to kill her and then attempts to smother her with affection.) Penelope discusses her lifelong rivalry with her cousin Helen, her marriage to macho jock / philanderer Odysseus, and her role as Telemachus's mother. Beyond the weaving of the shroud we were not given any background to Penelope's house arrest in the original story. Here we are given modern viewpoints to many inequalities of the time, such as rape:

This plan came to grief. Several of the girls were unfortunately raped, others were seduced, or were hard pressed and decided that it was better to give in than to resist.

Set in a 21st century Hades, the novella ends in a courtroom. All of the inconsistencies and unfair judgements of the original story are presented. This will be enjoyed by anyone that enjoys a new spin on a classic story. Also a must read and necessary edition to the feminist canon.

The story of the famous Odysseus and his ten year battle at Troy to help rescue the absconding/kidnapped Helen and his ten year voyage home is told by a man, Homer, in his Iliad and Odyssey; so who in the world would expect to get the true facts about his faithful wife Penelope. The entire world knows that during his twenty-year absence Odysseus' wife Penelope kept herself from her many suitors, men who were besieging her palace to marry her so that they could get their hands on her wealth, not her, men who Odysseus killed together with his wife's twelve maids by hanging. But Homer, apparently uninterested in female matters, gives us no clue why Penelope was so faithful or why Odysseus felt the need to kill the twelve maids. Now along comes Margaret Atwood and reveals all in a hilarious fashion.

We learn what a liar Odysseus was, that his chest was barrel shape but his legs were abnormally short, that Penelope was not that beautiful, but the two of them were pretty smart, at least they thought so. We learn that Helen had a need to flirt. If no human was present she would flirt with an animal or a bed post or a tree, for she was the most beautiful woman in the world, or so she believed. In fact she told this to so many people so many times that they believed it as well.

We learn whether Odysseus really battled supernatural monsters, was loved by a goddess who turned his men into pigs, whether the sea god Poseidon actually had it in for our hero; did he really visit the land of the dead. Were these simply artful depictions of visits to various bars, whorehouses, and similar establishments? These are facts that intelligent readers want to know. All of this is told to us by Penelope herself, after she is dead, while she is down below; and surely she would not lie, not any more. She also reveals what happens to people after death, again something most people want to know, and she knows because she is there, so what better witness could we ask for.

We learn as well whether Penelope really remained faithful for twenty years, from age 15 to 35, how she was at fault for Odysseus killing her twelve maidens, whether they were raped, seduced, or were just looking for fun, about the trial of Odysseus for the murder of the maidens, and how they hounded him as he tried to escape them by becoming alive again, time after time, in disguises.

Well, this turned out to be an unexpected delight. Told in first person -- with Choir joining in between chapters -- "The Penelopiad" tells the story of what was going on back on the craggy home isle of Ithaca while Odysseus was traipsing around the world.

The story begins with Penelope explaining how she came into the world, and how being the daughter of a king and a Naiad isn't as great as it might seem. Having set the familial background she quickly moves on to the point where she is a young Spartan girl of 15. With Helen labeled 'the pretty one', Penelope's basically left with the 'smart as a whip' label, something she's not entirely happy with. None-the-less it's true, and she makes a rather good match for the older Odysseus who has shown up to compete for her hand in marriage.

We get to follow the couple as they break tradition and go to his home. And it's sweet to see how they become friends and lovers. This affection is what sets the backdrop for the tragedy that follows. Odysseus if you remember, was called away to support Menelaus in his fight to get Helen back from the Trojans. And while he's away actually fighting it's bad enough for Penelope, but nothing compared to when he vanishes while trying to return home. Then the suitors show up, bully her and the staff and... well you no doubt know the rest. (By the way, if you don't know, you should find out before reading this book.)

Penelope relates her tale from the better fields of the Underworld. This afterlife perspective allows Atwood the widest possible leeway in telling the tale. Penelope has, afterall, the advantage of having the final perspective on her life.

Now some people are just not going to 'get' this book. The ancient tale as told after-the-fact, like a post-mortem, just isn't going to appeal to those who need a straightforward story to be entertained.

I however thought the writing and the narrative was not only insightful (in a human sense), but downright hilarious at points.

The people who I think are going to like "The Penelopiad" are readers who are familiar with Homer's classic. And who are open to the idea of a backstory.

Finally, I can't not say something about the commentary about the symbology of the myth which is at the end of the book: simply brilliant!

Great book. Quick read. I enjoyed it thoroughly.

Pam T~
reviewer here and at PageinHistory

This book was a very easy read and quite interesting, too. I have never read The Odyssey, (though that would be an ideal goal to keep in mind) but I am familiar enough with the plot to keep up with the many subtle references throughout The Penelopiad. This book was told from the point-of-view of Penelope, Odysseus's eternally-loyal wife, with the Chorus of maids chiming in with their opinions every other chapter.
Margaret Atwood does an excellent job of portraying the character of Penelope in a unique way without disrupting what we know of her from the original text. In this book, Penelope tells her story from beyond the grave, interspersed with her interactions with other known characters of that time, such as her self-involved cousin, Helen of Troy. Penelope balances many opposing traits into one body - from the bitter housewife, to the scheming seductress, to the self-sacrificing devotee - and still comes out as an admirable woman and wife that few could emulate so convincingly.
The chorus of maids served as both a comedic interlude in a rather tragic story and as further commentary of Penelope's story and their shared fate. Irony played a large part in the maids' story and final demise. Margaret Atwood's explanation for their cumulative death following the deaths of the numerous suitors made perfect sense according to the arrogance and bravado attributed to Odysseus from Penelope's account.
In many ways, this book bears strong themes of feminism, despite Penelope's loyalty to Odysseus. Though I imagine that The Odyssey portrays Odysseus as a grand hero worthy of respect, Penelope's narrative of him both in life and in death makes him out to be at times a philandering womanizer with immeasurable luck and other times a melodramatic little boy with an overactive imagination and an insatiable appetite for adventure. The ones who seemed to endure the most suffering in this plot were the ones that were shown the least respect and recognition - the women.

I remember, after reading the Odysseus myth, of being quite singularly impressed with the wife - but no more than that. Penelope was depicted as the quintessential faithful, quietly steadfast mate while the husband `struggled' to come back home. She was a vital character in the story, but her voice seemed to have still been largely ignored.

Atwood, however, twists the story around in "The Penelopiad". Penelope's character is made to have a silently sarcastic wit, able to pierce through the shenanigans surrounding the legend that was her husband and his famous journey back home. Her views on the Greek gods and other divinities were quite impertinent as to be mocking. (She, of course, admits to being able to make fun of them *now* as she's...well...dead.)

She also paints Helen in an altogether unsavory light. Their faintly barbed remarks against each other were quite enjoyable to read.

There's a contemporary spin, as well, in this story. Her existence as a `bodiless' entity after death `down there' is spared from monotony whenever there's an attempt (often idiotic) by the living to contact the dead - from the ancient rites of offering animal blood to call upon the souls in Hades to the more `new age' practice of crystal globes and tarot. In a way, her depiction of `life' after death is made to appear less than intolerable than most. And the `judicial court' scene near the end reinforces the contemporaneity of the narrative.

The more emotional part of this story, however, is her anguish in the deaths Odysseus dealt to her 12 maids, who were originally depicted as disloyal and in collusion with the `suitors' who pestered Penelope. She lays down the truth behind the actions of these 12 young girls and, in so doing, places the Odyssey myth in shaky grounds.

All in all, Atwood presents an entertaining story from the point of view of one of the more underrated heroines from the legends of old. With lots of attitude, told in an engaging voice, "The Penelopiad" is a refreshing read.

The story of Odysseus is well known. We've heard about the way he went to fight the Trojan War, his heroics there, and his long journey home. We especially know about the way he was detained by a wide variety of supernatural forces on his way back to his loving and loyal wife, Penelope, who never gave up hope or fidelity.

The story told here is the same. This time, though, it is from the point of view of that devoted wife, who had to struggle with her husband's creative truth-telling, his admiration of the beautiful Helen, and the stories she heard of his voyage home and the decidedly un-supernatural forces that kept him from her for so many years.

Penelope is a great narrator, and speaks to us from the afterlife where she wanders around, reflecting on her life and occasionally interacting with the other dead she used to know. She is wry and self-aware, and doesn't try to make excuses for her husband's behavior or for the things that she did in her life. She regrets the fact that her husband killed twelve of her favorite maids, but they are also within this book and able to tell their own sad tale, and Penelope doesn't concern herself much with them.

I enjoyed reading this famous story of Odysseus from another point of view, although I do wish this book had been longer and had more depth to it. It was nice to get to know Penelope, and I would have liked to have spent more time with her.

I have always enjoyed Greek Mythology and was introduced to this book by my teacher in my Literature of Ancient Greece class. This book was a fantastic idea and was brilliantly executed.

Characters

This book is the story of Penelope that takes place during the 20 years that Odysseus was away during the Iliad and the Odyssey. Penelope is a fantastic character in this book and has a wonderful snarky/sarcastic attitude.

Setting

Oddly enough, this book is set in modern times. The story is set with Penelope being a shade in Hades and after 3,000 years of being largely ignored by all of history. She is telling you her story as she remembers it, the story that no one has told for 3,000 years.

Plot

For the overall plot, if you've read the Odyssey or are at all familiar with the story, you know what is going to happen. But hearing it from Penelope's perspective is new and different and interesting. The author focuses on Penelope's struggles with dealing with her lack of power and trying to control what she can from behind the scenes. The author also focuses on the maids that Odysseus killed after first killing the suitors who had been courting Penelope.

Another fantastic aspect of the story that the author does is that she cuts to a chorus part (usually the 12 maids) who will sing a small song or tell a short story throughout the book. If you've ever read any plays from Ancient Greece (which we just finished in my class) you'll notice that the writers commonly had chorus parts that were used to help fill in the backstory to the play. This is very well done in this book and doesn't feel out of place at all, even though it is something that is very strange to most people reading modern literature.

Enjoyment

I loved the book and didn't want to put it down until I finished reading it. It was a brilliant concept beautifully executed.

Overall Grade

If you enjoy Greek Mythology at all go find this book, it's well worth your time.

10/10

As always, all of my reviews are first published on my blog. Check out my profile for the link.

Well, this turned out to be an unexpected delight. Told in first person -- with Choir joining in between chapters -- "The Penelopiad" tells the story of what was going on back on the craggy home isle of Ithaca while Odysseus was traipsing around the world.

The story begins with Penelope explaining how she came into the world, and how being the daughter of a king and a Naiad isn't as great as it might seem. Having set the familial background she quickly moves on to the point where she is a young Spartan girl of 15. With Helen labeled 'the pretty one', Penelope's basically left with the 'smart as a whip' label, something she's not entirely happy with. None-the-less it's true, and she makes a rather good match for the older Odysseus who has shown up to compete for her hand in marriage.

We get to follow the couple as they break tradition and go to his home. And it's sweet to see how they become friends and lovers. This affection is what sets the backdrop for the tragedy that follows. Odysseus if you remember, was called away to support Menelaus in his fight to get Helen back from the Trojans. And while he's away actually fighting it's bad enough for Penelope, but nothing compared to when he vanishes while trying to return home. Then the suitors show up, bully her and the staff and... well you no doubt know the rest. (By the way, if you don't know, you should find out before reading this book.)

Penelope relates her tale from the better fields of the Underworld. This afterlife perspective allows Atwood the widest possible leeway in telling the tale. Penelope has, afterall, the advantage of having the final perspective on her life.

Now some people are just not going to 'get' this book. The ancient tale as told after-the-fact, like a post-mortem, just isn't going to appeal to those who need a straightforward story to be entertained.

I however thought the writing and the narrative was not only insightful (in a human sense), but downright hilarious at points.

The people who I think are going to like "The Penelopiad" are readers who are familiar with Homer's classic. And who are open to the idea of a backstory.

Finally, I can't not say something about the commentary about the symbology of the myth which is at the end of the book: simply brilliant!

Great book. Quick read. I enjoyed it thoroughly.

Pam T~
reviewer here and at PageinHistory

In a retelling of recognizable classical myth, Atwood tells the story of Penelope, the patient wife of Odysseus, and her twelve maids, who Odysseus hanged on his return to Ithica. Alternating between Penelope's narrative, the musings and conclusions of a intelligent but jaded woman from her afterlife, and the chorus of the maids as they sing, chant, and perform plays, Penelopiad tells the story in multiple ways while still maintaining a coherent narrative. It questions and redefines how much Penelope knew, and tackles the issue of guilt--both Penelope's and Odysseus's--in the matter of the maid's deaths. For all of these contrasting and complex issues, the text is short, straightforward, and swiftly readable. However, it is not particularly satisfying: the book's theories and the way that they are laid against each other are all very interesting, but with so many ideas in so little length, none are addressed in detail or fully realized. An original, thoughtful text and a much-needed feminine retelling, but somewhat lacking--too short and too simple. Moderately recommended.

As is customary with Atwood, this text is a fresh, irreverent, often frank look at female issues; the difference here is that the subject is the well known and often told story of Odysseus. However, no matter how much he defines it, Odysseus does not overshadow his wife's story. Rather, the story of Penelope and the issue of the maids are given the book's full attention. It is not a simple story: in the alternating chapters given to Penelope and to the maids, they tells different, often contradictory stories. Penelope's story runs the body narrative, although even she recognizes that there is no one single truth--or, if there is, it is impossible to identify with certainty. The maids provide alternate interpretations and counterpoints that complicate the subject and illustrate their own role, innocence, and suffering. The result is a honestly complex text that accepts nothing at face value and refuses to simplify the situation or to accept traditional, easy interpretations.

Despite the mass of points and counterpoints, of contradicting ideas, the book remains short, straightforward, and readable. In her afterlife, Penelope sums up her own life very swiftly, and does so with a jaded dry wit that makes her honest and keeps her from wallowing in the details. The maid's chorus, often appearing in short play or in rhyme, is also short and swift, presenting concepts and emotions but not taking the time to delve deep into them before moving on to the next. The result is a text that is short, highly accessible, and swiftly readable--it takes one sitting, perhaps two. In many ways, this is the book's strength: it retains all it's good qualities without becoming heavy, lengthy, or turning from a piece of art into a history text. In other ways, however, this is the book's greatest failing: the ideas are presented so swiftly and so baldly that there is no time to engage any of them in depth. As such, they lie flat and remain unexplored, and the reader is left surprisingly empty for all of the complex content: it is something like sampling the first bite of every dish at a buffet but being allowed to load none onto one's plate. There is so much potential, but none is truly investigated, understood, or enjoyed.

The Penelopiad is relevant, creative, and accessible. The subject is familiar, and so it's female/feminist retelling is meaningful to a wide audience. Atwood complicates the issue, bringing new questions and doubts to light that will inspire thought in the reader--the ideal for almost any book, but especially one of this sort. Although the characters lived thousands of years ago, their story remains relevant and, through the unconventional narratives, accessible to contemporary readers. As such, I recommend this book: it is a worthwhile and interesting read that communicates much while still remaining highly accessible. However, I only recommend it moderately, as the book's swiftness and lack of depth left me feeling empty and disappointed. This book is good, and worth the read, but it still pales in comparison to Atwood's other novels.

There are ways in which a writer can borrow a story and yet it will not be his/her's and there are ways in which a writer borrows a story and it completely becomes her's and there is no looking back then. This is what Ms. Atwood does with "The Penelopiad". The story is known to all - that of Odysseus and Penelope and how she had to wait for the longest time for his return from the Trojan War.

While I found Homer's tale to be nerve-wrenchingly boring (apologies though that is just not what I intend to ever go back to), Atwood's tale is definitely from Penelope's perspective. More so from the 12 maids' minds and eyes who Odysseus and his son hang mercilessly when he returns. Penelope and her maids are dead and they are telling the tale from the underworld.

What I loved about this short piece of reconstructed Myth is the way it is written. It reads almost like a poem in bits and pieces (of the 12 maids' lives and what they had to endure) and it does not bore you for a minute. It took me barely a day to finish it and I went back to it purely because in my mind I also compared it to a portion of "The Ramayana" where Ram doubts Sita's purity while she was kidnapped by Ravan and was a prisoner at his palace.

My favourite part hands down in the book has to be the one where both Odysseus and Penelope meet after years and are aware that both have not been faithful to the other and yet pretend as though nothing changed. As though love survived it all. There are a lot of portions which I have loved while reading this book. However, one of them has also been the way Margaret Atwood set it out to be a farce and that's exactly what it has become. A brilliant farce on one of the greatest myths ever! Please read it! Do yourself a favour.

Atwood's retelling of Homer's, "The Odyssey", provides a glimpse of the epic poem from the perspective of Penelope, the fateful wife of Odysseus. Through Penelope's interpretation of events (from Hades) the reader is exposed to a feminist perspective that appears to transcend the late eighth century BC period in which the epic is thought to have been written. Penelope's gaze provides a view of women as property, unable to make decisions, personal or otherwise, without the approval of a male. Telemachus' treatment of his mother during his father's absence is a prime example of how patriarchal rights of the time supersede those of women, even when the woman is a parent. The fate of the twelve maidens provides another example of how women fall victim and prey to the patriarchy. The fact that the maiden's judgment was upheld in a modern court of law serves to further Atwood's assertion of an oppressive patriarchy; one that remains, albiet to a lesser extent, in existence today.

"The Penelopiad" is structured in the style of a Greek tragedy where song, dance and poetry are integral to the narrative. This is a very creative and highly accessible novel. It has certainly increased my interest in "The Odyssey" (although I have no intensions of reading it) and could serve as an excellent introduction to that work. This read came by way of recommendation from a co-worker (thanks Ms. B!. I probably wouldn't have read this under any other circumstance. I'm glad that this was my first experience with the author; I'm looking forward to more. Highly Recommended!

There are many tales of Odysseus, ruler of Ithaca, who left his home to fight in the Trojan War, and than proceed to wander the seas a further ten or more years before returning home. We all know the stories of monsters fought, goddess bedded and treasures won, but what of his family at home. What of his young wife and newly born son?

This is the story of Penelope, Princes of Sparta, Queen of Ithaca and young woman, forced to take on the responsibilities of a man, without the respect and title.

Penelope was a virtuous wife, and also a cunning woman, but everyone makes mistakes. Although she was able to save herself from the greedy and selfish suitors come to take her husbands place, she was unable to save those she loved and the innocent blood spilt still stains her conscience.

Twelve young maids were hung, strung up by their necks, there little feet dancing in the air. They were Penelope's most beloved maid, she raised them herself and they shared her strictest confidence. They trusted Penelope; she was their mistress, their friend. But Penelope failed them; they were raped by her suitors and killed by her husband. How could Penelope have let this happen?

Any lover of myths or anyone who has ever taken in interest in mythology, or history, or tales of heroes and war should read this book; as should any woman. This is a hunting and absorbing story that shines new light on an old tale. The Penelopiad is a book that cannot be left unread.

Penelope gives HER version from Hades for a contemporary audience.
So, here's my question. Why were the twelve maidens killed?
No, really, I want to know. Because the book doesn't give me enough clues or tell me outright.
The best I can do is a bad pun: The Hanged Maids Tale. sigh.

It's written well because it's Margaret Atwood and I finished it because it was short, but I realized that when I had to go I didn't mind stopping in the middle of a sentence.. I enjoyed Penelope's wry humor but there wasn't all that much of it Not enough gods and other mythology stuff. It would probably be a good book to read on commutes because there's little enough plot that you can't really lose your place in the story. And yet, as I said, the writing is always good.

This is the story of Penelope and Odysseus but told from the point of view of Penelope. Not only is Penelope telling the story but she tells the story (with special appearance by the twelve dead maids) from the underworld using wit and dry humor.

The big question revolves around the inexplicable hanging of Queen Penelope's 12 young handmaidens and her unsuccessful suitors. This question is not answered in the Odyssey but Queen Penelope has lots of thoughts about the matter and they revolve around the character of Penelope's husband Odysseus. "I knew he was tricky and a liar, I just didn't think he would play his tricks and try out his lies on me," Penelope says of him. As for Penelope, she struggles with keeping her life in contact during her husband's 20 year absence.

This story will make you laugh out loud but only if you are vaguely familiar with the story of The Odyssey. It is also a great book for the classroom. It is an easy quick read appropriate for a 9th grade classroom.

2 and 1/2 Stars.

'The Penelopiad' is a sharp and clever novella, infused with Atwood's usual wit and charm. But beware: this is merely Atwood-lite.

Let me first start by saying that I am a huge fan of 'The Odyssey', it's one of the earliest books I've read and, as such, will forever occupy a small corner of my heart. So when I found out that one of my favorite authors, Margaret Atwood, would be putting her own personal twist on Homer's classic tale I became ecstatic. But I think anticipation for the book created a bit of over-expectation on my part.

The book primarily focuses on the tragedy of Penelope's twelve maids. Here in lies the problem for me, the character of Penelope is fairly well developed while the twelve maids seem one-dimensional. Their death is a major emotional arch in the story but since the maids are so underdeveloped it's hard to find empathy for them by the time the tragedy comes about. I get it and I think it could have worked if Atwood gave us more time between Penelope and the maids, or even just the maids by themselves. On the other side of the coin, I think using the maids as a chorus was clever and worked, for the most part.

Recommended to fans of 'The Odyssey'

Ore from the mine:
Penelope: 'What more do you want from him?' I ask them. By this time I'm crying. 'Just tell me!'
But they only run away.
Run isn't quite accurate. Their legs don's move. Their still-twitching feet don't touch the ground.

An emotional up and down ride, with the contrasting sections by Penelope and the 12 hung maids. Penelope offers an intriguing untrustworthy narrator--was she or wasn't she complicit in the hangings? Her depiction of the famed Helen is priceless. Sometimes the 'chorus line' comes off a bit cheap, as when Melantho of the Pretty Cheeks passes the hat. Mostly though, the irony is devastating. Well worth the read.

The Penelopiad is Margaret Atwood's take on the story of Odysseus and his wife Penelope, but from the perspective of Penelope. It was a fabulous recreation of the Odyssey, with a slightly modern twist. I like how Penelope explains how Odysseus's famous exploits could have been explained by myths, or could have been normal but exaggerated experiences.

It kind of reminded me of The Liars' Gospel in that way, making you think about whether or not the Greek mythology (or Jesus's legend, if we're talking about The Liars' Gospel) is truth or situations that were created. I highly recommend if you enjoyed The Liars' Gospel and/or The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller!

Thanks for reading,

Rebecca @ Love at First Book

Ms. Atwood attempts to bring to life an overlooked heroine in history by giving voice to Penelope, the wife of Odyssseus, of Trojan war fame. The tale is told in first person by the long-suffering woman who for twenty years faithfully awaits the return of her wandering husband. She has a wry sense of humor, a sense of rebellion and is keenly aware of the dangers that surround her in her court. I was drawn to this book because I attempted to give voice to Ka'ahumanu, the favorite wife of Kamehameha the Great (the two best loved figures in Hawaiian history) in my novel Wai-nani, High Chiefess of Hawaii. Ms. Atwood is very clever in her imaginings and brings a believable voice to her character. I have much to learn from this brilliant writer. [...]

I've seen this book described as witty, sly, smart, and wry...and how very true that description is. My faith in Atwood is somewhat restored...after my last experience with her writing (which I found particularly loathsome), I must admit I really, really enjoyed The Penelopiad a great deal! This really is a "sly" retelling of the Odysseus from the perspective of his wife, left behind...extremely well done and highly entertaining. I particularly enjoyed the use of the 12 hanged maidens as a chorus...sad, poignant, but also comedic in many ways. Interesting and fun also was the portrayal of Helen as an extremely vain, stuck up woman obsessed with her own beauty and also quite vicious in her own way. I say well done, a fun retelling with a spark all its own. The only thing I don't "get" about this particular series is why they insist on making the books appear longer than they are...both this one and Weight (Heracles) are small volumes with HUGE margins...I utterly hate that...just make it normal and have it be slimmer, I'd pay for it either way the story is worth the cost

I had to read this book as a school assignment, and I liked it a lot! Our class had already read the Odyssey and this was a refreshing, feminist take on a character not in the spotlight. I would have read this book in my spare time!

The book follows Penelope, the wife of Odysseus, and the twelve maids that were hung after the slaughter of the suitors *spoiler, sorry!*. It was intense at some times, but overall I really enjoyed this read.

I have never been much of a fan of Greek mythology, so when a friend gave me Margaret Atwood's The Penelopiad: The Myth of Penelope and Odysseus, I let it languish on my desk for a couple of months. But being desperate for something to read this week, I decided to give Atwood a try. I was charmed and delighted by her witty and creative work!

Most of us know the story of the long suffering Penelope from the Odyssey. Odysseus left to fight the Trojan War and was gone 20 years. During those years, the faithful Penelope waited for her husband, despite the fact that over 100 suitors were clamoring for her hand. When he finally returned, he murdered the suitors as well as 12 of Penelope's maids. Atwood writes Penelopiad in the first person, and lets Penelope tell her own story from the grave. She describes her childhood and her parents, her marriage and her husband, living in the kingdom of Ithaca and her wayward son. Interspersed throughout are chapters that are labeled "The Chorus Line" and are poems and verses sung by the 12 maidens. These chantings are fun, clever but also at times, sad.

Atwood's Penelope is not a great beauty but she does possess an observant and intelligent mind. About marriage and children, she writes "Marriages were for having children, and children were not toys and pets. Children were vehicles for passing things along. These things could be kingdoms, rich wedding gifts, stories, grudges, blood feuds. Through children, alliances were forged; through children, wrongs were avenged. To have a child was to set loose a force in the world." Unfortunately, Penelopiad is a very short book and I while I really enjoyed what she wrote, I thought the author could have given us more. Still, I like a book that piques my curiosity about something, and Atwood has certainly done that with Greek mythology. I just might have to give this topic another try.

Canongate publishers have had the excellent idea of commissioning writers to write modern versions of ancient myths, and they invited Margaret Atwood to retell the myth of Oedipus and Penelope; and she has chosen to do this from Penelope's point of view as she tells it from the Underworld - in a very 21st century idiom and with a 21st century sensibility, for instance only half-believing in the gods towards whom she has a nicely sceptical attitude. It is an excellent tale even if you don't know the Homeric original; and if you do, there are of course additional reward as you realize what she has done - and above all, what she has added - to the Odyssey. She has delightfully filled out some of the characters - especially Helen of Troy and Odysseus' old nurse Eurycleia. Her main addition is to explore Penelope's relationship with the twelve maids whom Odysseus hanged after his victory over Penelope's Suitors and the consequences of this for the rest of Odysseus' life. In addition, the spirits know something about modern scholarship, and the twelve maids can produce an anthropological lecture about the symbolism of twelve and thirteen, about the Great Mother and the Year King. Atwood has also used the twelve maids as a Chorus who speak in verse; but I don't think that is a successful part of the book, since the verse is undistinguished and slangy doggerel; and there is also a rather feeble 21st century trial of Odysseus, presided over by a sniggering judge. The humour here is coarse, and takes away, I think, from the subtler wit that informs the rest of this most enjoyable book.

I was really disappointed in this novel. It's the sixth Atwood novel I've read. All the previous ones I've liked, some more than others, but this one really felt like a failure to me. It was an interesting idea, trying to give Penelope's perspective on the Odyssey, but it just didn't work. How much can you really write about a woman who stays home and plays the good wife, even if she is clever and takes good care of the household? I found the prose in this book a lot weaker than in Atwood's other novels. It was a very quick read. I finished it in a day, which isn't always a bad thing. But I just felt like I couldn't really sink into it the way I did with some of her other novels. I loved The Blind Assassin, Oryx & Crake, and The HAndmaid's Tale. I couldn't get them out of my head when I was reading them and they've stayed with me long after I finished them. I don't think The Penelopiad will do that. Penelope struck me as a very bland character. The chapters with the chorus of maids seemed rather juvenile to me. Like something that would seem innovative and creative to a high-school student, but in reality just detracts from the work more than adds to it. None of the characters were well-developed. I actually ended up wishing the book was about Helen. She was made out to be a very flat character in the book, but she seemed more interesting than Penelope. I found myself wanting to hear her side of things. In short, this was an interesting idea for a novel that just didn't pan out. Definitely not Atwood's best work.

I should have read the reviews about this book. I was expecting a more serious treatment of the telling of the Odysseus myth from Penelope's viewpoint. That could be worthwhile, I think. So I was initially surprised that Ms. Atwood was giving me a light-hearted romp through the halls of Hades, but once I got over the initial shock, I got a lot of laughs out of it, so I'm giving it 4 stars. No 5 stars because I thought there were a few times that the author was taking the easy approach to humor by using some modern slang and/or referring to modern fixtures and gizmos. Perhaps a few efforts to get a laugh were a little overdone. But do buy it or borrow it from the library. It's short, a quick read and a showpiece for Atwood's renowned wit, and if you say you never got some chuckles out of it, I won't quite believe you. The chorus of the hanged maidens is delightful. Just be realistic in your expectations, which I obviously wasn't.

I am not normally a fan of Margaret Atwood's writings. I often find that she is too dark or has too much edge. Not that it is not good writing, and she is probably currently the most famous of the living Canadian authors, she just isn't usually my thing. I cannot say that for this book.

The Penelopiad is a hilarious romp through a story that most of us know, but told outside of time. There is an old saying that "dead men don't tell tales" and that may be true, but in this inventive retelling, a dead woman and her chorus of dead girls do just that.

Atwood has turned this myth on its head and told it from the female perspective. Unfortunately, our heroine is dead and in Hades, retelling her story from across the river Styx. She is telling her whole story but especially the events around Odysseus' long absence during the war against Troy and that unfortunate event with her cousin Helen.

The story is written in the format of a Greek Tragedy but with the humor and temperament of a comedy. Our chorus is the twelve dead maids, hung strung together on a ship's rope by Odysseus. They appear from time to time, in song, dance, or mock plays and trials to re-enact events from their lives to punctuate Penelope's story.

The twists and turns in this story will make you laugh out loud. A friend of mine who read it stated, `It begs to be read aloud.' And I could not agree more. Pick up the book, get some friends together and read it aloud, over an evening or two together. Much fun will be had with the ghosts of our 13 dead ladies.

(First published in Imprint 2005-11-05 as `Myth Novels')

This is my first Margaret Atwood book and I hope it is not indicative of the writing she normally produces. I've heard many great things about this author and the story just doesn't live up to the hype.

"The Penelopiad" starts out nicely - a rather interesting albeit superficial retelling of various myths about Penelope, famous Odysseus' wife. The story is told from Penelope's point of view and attempts to modernize the image of a meek and ever-faithful and honest wife we know from Greek mythology. The book is also aimed to address the injustice of slaying of Penelope's 12 maids who are accused of consorting with Penelope's unwelcome suitors.

The majority of the book recounts widely known myths and this part is entertaining enough. Atwood's Penelope is if not likeable at least engaging character. She is smart and adaptable, but at the same time snarky, jealous and uncaring (mostly of her female servants), she is envious of her cousin Helen and blames her for all her misfortunes. However when the narrative finally approaches the center issue of the book - examination of the reasons for slaying of Penelope's maids, the book takes a strange if not awful turn. We are presented with a bizarre explanation (something about Penelope being a matriarchal goddess and her maids her faithful cult followers or some such nonsense) followed by a pointless mock trial of Odysseus. What starts as a fair retelling of well-known myths, becomes, as Atwood rather astutely calls it herself, a "feminist claptrap."

From what I know about Atwood, she is one of those writers with a strong feminist agenda, which I am fine with. I just didn't expect it to be so in your face. I'll give her books another try, hopefully they are better.

I was intrigued to read a woman's point of view focused upon one of the great heroines of Homer's "Odyssey" in Penelope. Homer's work is, of course, an epic masterpiece which has endured for more than two milennia and it is nearly impossible to do justice to this legend of incredible, ancient genius. I was disappointed in several places by Atwood's brief and somewhat shallow depictions of the characters of Odysseus and Penelope who were both courageous and brilliant in their own ways in Homer's epic. The depiction of Penelope in "Penelopiad" deems herself as bright enough but has issues with her self-image as Helen's cousin and, relatively, what woman wouldn't? Compared to Helen, whose outer beauty heaped a decade of massive carnage upon two great ancient civilizations, Penelope considers herself as virtually a hag. Penelope is in her mid- to late-thirties, a woman's prime, and chased ardently by 120 young suitors who sought her for political advantages and because in my view she was a true, classic beauty. Homer's Penelope was totally loyal to her unfaithful husband, extremely intelligent, shrewd in her knitting and unknitting of the shroud, a loving mother and managed to keep her enemies at bay until the return of Odysseus after 20 years fighting in and returning from the Trojan War. Homer treats Penelope respectfully and heroically but Atwood in the first-person singular diminishes her perhaps to project the virtue of modesty. However, when she narrates as a Shade in Hades, Atwood's Penelope pulls no punches. I wish that I could have retained the heroic idea of Penelope from Homer, which Atwood diminished for me in a way that Joyce in "Ulysses" despite Molly Bloom's infidelity brilliantly managed to mantain. Atwood exagerates the economic advantages in the suitors' pursuits of Penelope and, thereby, diminishes their pure physical ardor for her beauty. Odysseus of Homer is utterly mad for Penelope. Atwood seems a bit too coy, self-absorded and even cute, at times, in her rendering of this heroic, epic tale: the artifice of the narration overcomes the art. As for Odysseus he is, of course, massively flawed and utterly flayed in Atwood's "Penelopiad" and criticized for his short legs and barrel chest a few too many times. In Homer remember that Odysseus is the genius strategist behind the Trojan Horse who helps to turn the trajectory of the Trojan stand-off. Odysseus ultimately honors his oath to place himself at mortal risk to stand with Menelaus who was wronged by Paris and the Trojans. Odysseus is courageous, resourceful, strategically gifted, charismatic, articulate, martially skilled as a warrior, powerful in battle, decisive, adept in the crises of battle, inventive, fit and a king of Ithaca. Atwood rather summarily blows him off as a second-rate demi-god to diminish Odysseus, Penelope and herself as an author. Of course, there is the killing of the 120 suitors and the hanging of the maids. The suitors conspired as deviously as possible to steal the wife and property of Odysseus and kill his son while Odysseus was away fighting a war and so I have little sympathy for the suitors in this ancient tale. But the hanging of the maids in typically Greek tragic fashion cannot be forgiven or even properly explained either by Atwood or her Penelope. Nevermind that Odysseus was lied to by other women of his family and unaware of their complicity with Penelope in her ruses to fend off the suitors. Tragically, Odysseus must live forever with his tragic mistake as he walks the regions of Hades seeking to avoid these maidens with whose plight we very much sympathize. Their killing reveals a tragic flaw in Odysseus which, again, Atwood never fairly addresses. Although Atwood has been rather scholarly in most of her depiction of the "Odyssey," she seems to have failed to study "The Iliad" nearly half as well. The reason that Odysseus is so tragically flawed as regards to the 12 maidens is "The Iliad" itself -- the brutal, barbaric, inhumane and extended decade of war against the Trojans. Homer's catalogue of the epic brutality of this war is clearly evident throughout "The Iliad" and Odysseus cannot escape its tragic effects upon himself. Call it post-traumatic stress disorder and consider its impact upon our own heroic American soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan after a decade of brutal war on foreign soil. Odysseus survives tens years of war with Troy and ten years of peril wandering upon the sea but cannot escape the effect of two decades of war upon his own psyche and Penelope/Atwood have no clue about this reality. The sheer, utter tragedy of Odysseus in the hanging of the maids is evident among American heroes returning from war with post-traumatic stress disorder. The epic hero becomes a colossal fiend and, although he survives the war, even in victory he cannot ultimately evade its inhumanely tragic after-effects. These layers of tragedy reinforce Homer as a true genius and in my estimation render Atwood guilty of literary hubris. The novel just does not begin to do justice to the epic poem and seems cavalier, coy and cute in attempting to do so without real respect for the heroic figures of Homer in a way that Joyce so competently manages to advance with his genius. I very much respect Atwood for her work in "The Handmaid's Tale" but my best advice to readers is to pass on this one in favor of reading Homer's original "Odyssey" and Joyce's "Ulysses," as well as Atwood's most worthy "Handmaid's Tale."

For this novel, Margaret Atwood takes the myth of _The Odyssey_ and tells it through the perspective of Penelope, the long-suffering wife of Odysseus who, in the original tale, is one who is praised for her faithfulness to her husband and is somewhat strategic herself in the way she handles the suitors who think Odysseus is dead, but is certainly second-chair to the man himself.

Of course, Atwood takes this as an opportunity to turn things in a new direction and make Odysseus not as great (or tall) a man as the original story makes him out to be, but try to humanize him somewhat, as Penelope tells her tale from the Underworld.

Atwood sets up a great strategy, and though some of her moves are a little predictable in redefining Odysseus (though she does keep faithful to the legend of Odysseus as a schemer and conniver), part of Atwood's masterful work here is in developing the idea of death and the Underworld, where Penelope is more of a voice than a spirit, though she is able to be brought forth by those who still believe in the old ways. Atwood also poses a wonderfully wise conundrum when Penelope complains of the noise nearby from the modern type of underworld (heaven)--the place for souls and spirits after death becomes one dictated by the fad and belief of the age.

But the most ingenius move in this book is to have Penelope's story broken up at times by a chorus of slaves, the same slaves Odysseus had hanged in his household for sleeping with the suitors, a move that is unusually cruel and violent even in the original. With this stroke of genius, Atwood makes it clear that she is feminizing a very male story and bringing in elements that were marginalized in the original and examines the real implications of the events of _The Odyssey_ to EVERYONE involved, not just the big, male heroes.

This year Canongate Books, along with two-dozen other international publishing houses, is launching an ambitious, multi-year myths project. Featuring renowned authors such as Jeanette Winterson, Chinua Achebe, A. S. Byatt, Donna Tartt, and many more, the series aims to retell classic myths in inventive, sometimes startling, new ways, to reawaken these great stories for a modern audience.

One of the first entries in this impressive undertaking is THE PENELOPIAD by Margaret Atwood. And what a splendid introduction to the project it is. Almost everyone knows the story of Odysseus, the warrior and king of Ithaca who fought in the Trojan War and then took a really, really, really long time to get back home. It's easy to forget about his wife Penelope, who (if you'll recall) was always best known for her modesty, her patience, and her virtue. She was also known for being clever, for (according to Homer's ODYSSEY) she spent her days weaving and her nights unraveling, in order that she might never have to finish her project and marry one of the numerous suitors who surrounded her in Odysseus's absence.

But Atwood, well known not only as a novelist and poet but also as a feminist writer, was not satisfied with this portrayal of Penelope. Nor could she stop thinking about the disturbing scene in THE ODYSSEY in which Penelope's son Telemachus hangs Penelope's twelve handmaidens for sleeping with the suitors. Atwood's retelling, then, shows us a very different side of the story.

The narrative is presented by Penelope herself, from the fields of Hades. Penelope has been dead for eons, and she tells her story for a modern audience. Through her retelling, we discover much more about Penelope's childhood (much of which Atwood reconstructed from other mythic accounts), her jealousy of her cousin Helen's beauty, her loathing of life in Ithaca, and her combined love and resentment of her husband. We also learn that Penelope herself is haunted by the gruesome murder of her twelve youngest, most beautiful handmaidens --- most of whom had been raped by Penelope's greedy suitors --- at the hands of Odysseus and Telemachus.

Penelope is accompanied by a chorus of the dead maids themselves, inspired by the choruses of Greek drama. Although their satirical commentaries sometimes rely on groan-inducing puns ("kiddie mourn"), their voices also have a poignancy that will speak to modern readers, particularly as their story unfolds in Penelope's narrative.

Although Atwood's brief novel can appeal to readers regardless of their familiarity with Homer's more familiar tale, the two versions do enrich each other in any number of ways. Atwood's sensitive and humane portrayal of Penelope will inspire many readers to return to Homer's ODYSSEY with a more appreciative, but also more critical, eye.

--- Reviewed by Norah Piehl

The Penelopiad is a clever, beautiful, and sad book. It tells the story of the Odyssey from the viewpoint, not of the wandering Odysseus (aka Ulysses), but from the viewpoint of his left-at-home wife, Penelope. She is speaking in retrospect from her abode in the land of the dead.

The focus is mostly on the cruel slaughter carried out by Odysseus upon his return home. The slaughter is exacted upon suitors who have been wooing Penelope during his absence--and then upon twelve maids who had sex with the suitors (or perhaps were raped by them) during the ten years in which Odysseus was gone. Odysseus and his son, Telemachus, order these maids to clean up the blood and entrails of the slain men. Then they hang the maids from an overhead beam, strangling them to death.

The twelve maids (also in the land of the dead) appear as a chorus throughout the story--and their songs are sometimes sad, sometimes perky, often a mixture of the two:

we danced in air
our bare feet twitched
it was not fair

Perhaps the saddest aspect of this cruelty is the implicit, pompous approval that comes through Homer's narration. It makes me remember that this degree of barbarism was the norm of the time--so alien when seen from the perspective of 21st century democracy.

Margaret Atwood was not the first to comment on the cruelty. In "Ulysses" James Joyce's modern Odysseus, Leopold Bloom, returns home to his wife, Molly--and he contemplates the list of her lovers (some actual, most imagined) and the "slaughter" that Bloom commits is merely to regard the series of lovers as insignificant.

"The slaughter of the suitors," said Joyce, talking with his confidante, Frank Budgen, "always seemed to me unUlyssean."

Atwood's presentation of Penelope is clever, but not great. The intermittent chorus of the maids (sarcastic, playful, jaunty, sad, and despairing) is great. These sections appear in many forms--the first of their choruses is titled "The Chorus Line: A Rope-Jumping Rhyme." Another section, in which the maids try to bring Odysseus to justice is titled: "The Chorus Line: The Trial of Odysseus, as Videotaped by the Maids."

Most of us had to read The Odyssey in high school, a long epic poem about gods and warriors and the ultimate Trophy Wife. In the Penelopiad, Margaret Atwood spins this tale on its head.

The Penelopiad is a very slim volume- not even reaching 200 pages, with very wide margins. The Trojan War takes up only two pages of the book. And yet, Atwood's simple phrases get the job done.

We see Penelope as a real person, not as the flatly-characterized, devoted wife millenia of storytellers have given us. She has a wry sense of humor, she is self-depracatory, she is clever, she has a difficult son and an unfaithful husband. And she makes a great effort to do the best she can in the twenty years her husband is away.

We get her perspective from Hades, as she walks through death, meeting people such as her cousin Helen (presented brilliantly as a stuck-up young woman obsessed with her own beauty). She gives great commentary about modern life by telling us she sometimes shows up at seances to learn about life today, and wonders why people are so obsessed with this "Marilyn" woman.

But the most moving parts of the story, in my opinion, is in the chorus of the twelve hanged maids, and in the ways they attempt - by way of a 21st century court, and a college lecture - to be granted justice for what was done to them by Odysseus and Telemachus, and in the haunting way they choose to go after Odysseus, after death.

With The Penelopiad, Atwood brings to life the other side of The Odyssey- that of the many women left behind to tend hearth and home. She revitalizes the character of Penelope, making her a solid, practical woman who loves her husband, even though she might not think he deserves it. For such a slim volume, The Penelopiad packs a punch. Highly recommended.

It is the distress of Penelope, wife of Odysseus, that is the subject of Margarat Atwood's latest book. A daughter of King Icarius by one of his concubines, a minor courtesan, auctioned off to the great warrior.

The prose contains the best of Atwood's spare, earthy, plucky language. The story is a tragedy, narrated to us by the disembodied spirit of Penelope, strangled along with her maids by the same cord, by her husband, to join the corpses of her suitors and lovers. They, butchered, after the return of Odysseus from his long campaign at Troy.

Atwood trancends easily classical and modern spheres and reference points, maintaining an ironic connection to the modern world, the plight of women.. but she never loses her sardonic wit. The mood is breezy and cheerful, but with an unmistakable brine from its propellants of desire and vengeance. She floats away on a boat harnessed to the moon in a starry majesty, accompanied by her foil and rival Helen.

A remarkable book, one of Atwood's best.

In her stunning new work, The Penelopiad, Margaret Atwood once again captivates her reader by weaving together an intricate tale of old myth versus her intepretations, along with a modern twist at the end.

We always hear from Odysseus, but never from Penelope. She is always shoved to the background, painted as the picture of a "devoted" wife. When Odysseus returns, he kills the suitors that have plagued her, hangs the unfaithful maids, and he and Penelope apparently live happily ever after.

In this novel, Margaret Atwood turns the tables and gives Penelope the voice. As a result of this, we are given a lush novel that gives wonderful information about the myths of the time, and we realize that Penelope is actually a woman plagued by sadness and jealously over her cousin, the lovely Helen of Troy.

I always hate to use this term, but this is truly a Woman's novel. As always, Atwood moves gender roles front and center, protesting the roles of women in both ancient and modern times. In a way, this novel protests that Odysseus and men do not always have it right. The maids, according to Atwood were always degraded and used as toys, only to be cast aside.

Naturally, some people could be upset by this intepretation. This work definitely classifies as feminist literature, so if this is not your scene, stay away

The prose is very lyrical, and is often written in a sort of poetic form. It is one of Atwood's thinnest novels, and the delicate prose makes it even easier to get through. However, it is a fast read with substance.

There is also an excellent modern twist at the very end--another one of Margaret Atwood's amazing and very creative ideas. I won't give too much away, but it really gives the novel a great ending and something more to think about.

As with all of Atwoods' books I have read, I can say nothing bad about Penelopiad. I am so pleased that she finally gave the lesser figure a voice, and I truly believe she is one of the greatest authors who has ever lived.

If you love ancient times and myths, along with feminist literature, pick up a copy today. You will also learn much more about the Ancient Gods of the times, and gain a new perspective on Helen of Troy.

Again, if you do not like myths or feminist literature, stay away and read something else!

Also recommended:The Handmaid's Tale, The Blind Assasin

Other than watching the Simpsons fairly regularly, I know very little about Homer, so, as I picked up this book I felt like... "D'oh! I am not gonna understand this thing!"

I have never read The Odyssey.

But the neat thing is, I found that you do not have to know much about The Odyssey in order to really enjoy this book. The brief Introduction itself furnishes enough background to get you knowledgably immersed before you are finished even the first brief chapter.

Most readers will at least be familiar with the story of the beautiful Helen of Troy (Penelope's cousin) and how she is finally liberated by Brad Pitt. Well, when Penelope's husband Odysseus (reluctantly) leaves Ithaca to join in the fracas involving this Trojan War, he stays away for twenty years.

And Penelope is left behind, to tend to the affairs of state and the state of affairs.

During this time, men are pretty much crawling out of the woodwork to try and win her hand in marriage, everyone presuming that Odysseus is long since dead.

For decades, there is no word from him. Only legends, rumors, contradictory reports as to his whereabouts. It is the ultimate "went out for a pack of smokes and haven't seen him since" story. Penelope has always been lauded as the epitome of unwavering faithfulness, patiently waiting for Odysseus to return to her.

Drawing on material other than Homer's Odyssey, Atwood has chosen to tell the story of this interim period from the perspective of Penelope herself. Along with this first-person story, Atwood has placed alternating sections where Penelope's twelve maids share their story also. These twelve were hanged until dead by Odysseus and Telemachus (father and son) upon the former's return to Ithaca.

From the narration standpoint, it is from start to finish a tale from beyond the grave, as Penelope tells us, in the opening sentence "Now that I'm dead I know everything."

Atwood tells us in the Introduction that there are two questions which are raised (and unanswered) after anyone reads Homer's Odyssey. These are: what led to the hanging of the maids, and what was Penelope really up to?

She says, "The story as told in The Odyssey doesn't hold water: there are too many inconsistencies. I've always been haunted by the hanged maids; and in The Penelopiad, so is Penelope herself."

That is what this little book sets out to do.

To pull back the curtain on an important portion of mythic history.

No one can do it better than Margaret Atwood.

T.y.L.i.I.

In "The Penelopiad," Margaret Atwood retells the story of Penelope, the wife of Odysseus and cousin of Helen of Troy. Penelope was considered to be a smart individual, but lacking in beauty as compared to her popular cousin, Helen. When Penelope married Odysseus, she thought that she would be contented, succeeded in gaining the respect and love of her husband. Unfortunately, Odysseus decided to fight the Trojan war and he was out of Penelope's life for 20 years. During the this time, Penelope was ran the household and palace. However, when Odysseus failed to show up, young suitors began to show up, demanding to marry Penelope in order to get to her wealth. Soon, they began taking their possessions and raping the maids of the palace.

This was an interesting reconstruct the story from Penelope's point of view. I don't know a whole lot of about Greek mythology but I find this book highly entertaining. It was also interesting to read about the 12 maids who were hanged by Penelope's son. Highly recommended!

In Homer's "Odyssey," why were twelve of Queen Penelope's handmaidens hanged along with Penelope's unsuccessful suitors? In "The Penelopiad," Margaret Atwood endeavors to answer this unsettling question by allowing Penelope herself to relate the tale from beyond the River Styx, with the twelve hanged maidens acting as chorus in alternating chapters. In Atwood's retelling, the answer has a great deal to do with the violent, patriarchal structure of Greek society, along with the character of Penelope's husband Odysseus, the ultimate con man disguised as hero. "I knew he was tricky and a liar, I just didn't think he would play his tricks and try out his lies on me," Penelope says of him. As for Penelope herself, she struggles to keep herself, her son Telemachus and her kingdom of Ithaca intact during her husband's twenty-year absence. This effort includes making covert allies where and when she can, and blinding herself to a great deal. "I wanted happy endings in those days, and happy endings are best achieved by keeping the right doors locked and going to sleep during the rampages," she says. The maidens, meanwhile, relate through poetry, sea chantey, courtroom sketch and anthropological lecture their side of the tale, and their undying outrage at having been scapegoated and judicially murdered. Throughout this short book, Atwood demonstrates her renowned mastery of both prose and poetic style, her tart and sometimes biting wit, and--above all--her zealous sympathy for the victims of history, who are just as tragic today as they were in Homer's time.

This book was a lot of fun. It's a short novel, and a quick read at under 200 pages. It's part of the new Canongate mythology series by such authors as Jeanette Winterson, and Karen Armstong.

This is the retelling of the story of Penelope, wife of Odysseus. It tells of her childhood, her relationship to her (bitchy) cousin Helen (of Troy fame), and of her marriage to the charming but less-than fully honest Odysseus.

One focus of this book is the killing of Penelope's 12 loyal handmaidens, butchered by Odysseus upon his return.

This is a wonderful, thoughtful, and clever modern retelling of an ancient story. The book plays with the notion that Odysseus may have been delayed by things very mortal, ie. very human temptresses vs. mythical witches.

Highly recommended, and a beautiful cover to boot.

The retelling of myths being all the rage in fiction, producing more often than not stilted works that neither compare with nor add to the works from which they derive, how refreshing to see the genre approached by a master like the ever versatile Margaret Atwood, here offering a whole new take on the Homeric cannon from the perspective of Odysseus's wife, Penelope. Nor does Atwood fall into the trap of taking the original work too seriously, but instead follows much of the pattern of rich humor found in the original.

Those familiar with Homer can guess much of the tale; how Odysseus uses cleverness to catch his bride. Indeed, Atwood reconstructs Odysseus with a deft pen, never simplifying this most complex of characters. Moreover, just as Homer portrays Penelope as a subtle and strategist, so to does Atwood, expanding on her dealing with her suitors and spouse alike.

Any effort to explain this short work might well damage the experience of the reader, which would be a tragedy. However, I must say a word about Atwood's brilliant use of the maids as a chorus for the story, offered complete with musical numbers and costume description, as though the author imagines a Broadway musical. In the wake of adaptations like "Legally Blond," Broadway could no doubt do worse than to take up her challenge.

The Penelopiad is a snapshot from Homer's Odyssey that is zoomed in on Penelope life while Odysseus was off galavanting across the ancient hills and dales. It supposedly sheds light into the mysterious Penelope and how she remained so steadfast in her devotion to Odysseus and why the twelve maids had to die.

Interesting premise. Good to hear a bit of background information from a woman in a male-dominated world (in life and in literature). I would love to know why Odysseus and Telemachus felt the need to hang the maids. However, I don't think this book explained much of either... If anything, it was a very surface skim over an extremely weak woman (by Atwood's standards). And the novelty of the maids serving as the chorus was outweighed by the randomness and incoherence of their "monologues". And what is the deal with Odysseus's crazy nanny?

Unfortunately, like the Odyssey, this is a pretty interesting story with relatively little background and depth into the motivations of the characters. Maybe I am judging it a little harshly because I like Atwood's other books so much, but I just felt like this was such a surface story. But I gave it a three for a cool idea and a visually pleasing cover!

I enjoyed the book because it was a clear narration of the classic tale, and the language was clear. The story itself is not a very full account of the regular Odyssey that most people are familiar with.

This book is a must-read for any English teacher. When reading The Odyssey with 9th graders, I always have them think about Penelope's point of view about the whole Calypso business. It was cool to find out the business with cousin Helen, too. I also liked that Margaret Atwood tells the reader her reason for writing this story in the introduction. I love that she took a piece of human history (whether it happened or not, we've been reading it for millenia) and sought to answer an unresolved question: What led to the hanging of Penelope's 12 beloved maids?

As much as Penelope's story was needed, though, what stayed with me most was the chorus chanted by the maids between Penelope's chapters. When we learn history, we only hear about the winners, the heroes. The maids' voices remind the reader that as much crap as the ones about whom tales are told have to go through, the servants would gladly have given up their boring existences given the chance. Sure it sucks to get lost in the ocean without hope to ever find the way home, and it must be tough to be a wife who doesn't know whether her husband is alive or dead for ten years, but that pales in comparison to a life of boring, tedious, monotonous futility. And, even though they do get a voice here, none of the twelve develop their characters. The chorus members are basically as one.

I feel I do need to mention the humor with which Penelope faces her trials. She doesn't hold back the bitterness about her distant Naiad mother, her awkward relationship with her father, her beautiful cousin, Helen, or her spoiled brat son, Telemachus. The narrative voice is engaging and funny, in the first person. It is no Handmaid's Tale, but The Penelopiad is an interesting look at what might have been.

I don't know that I can review this book objectively. I did not like it at all and I don't know if it's because I was expecting something else, something better, maybe? Atwood seems to be attempting satire -- or something close to it -- but is failing at it. If you know the "Odyssey" well, you will find her rehash boring, if not a bit irreverent. She simply cuts and pastes Homer's plot but leaves out his epic's admirable verse. Perhaps I am disappointed with this one because I just finished Le Guin's "Lavinia," which does far more justice to Virgil than Atwood does to Homer.

This is a quick read, not badly written, but certainly worth skipping.

One of THE best riffs on the timeless story of Penelope that I've ever had the good fortune to come across. Never obvious, never trite, never pandering to contemporary cultural cliches. Deep, thought-provoking, and immensely rich.

If I had never read anything by the enormously original Dorothy Parker or seen Woody Allen's "Mighty Aphrodite," I may have been impressed with this book. But I was not impressed. It had the all snarky tone with absolutely none of the side-splitting humor or heartbreaking depth of emotion I so adore in Dorothy Parker and Woody Allen's works.

I appreceiate the idea of Atwood's re-telling the myth from Penelope's point of view, as well as her attempt to go the feminist, moral route...but it was executed in an obvious, silly, and derivative way.

If you want a light book to read at the beach, this will do...I have heard her other novels could be modern classics, so I am reluctant to criticize Atwood as a writer on the whole until I read more of her work. I am, however, disappointed that I didn't choose one of her novels as my introduction to Atwood over this title.

Here is a lady who knows how to take something old and make it read in a new and lively fashion. For a quick read about a clever lady, Penelope, try this slim book. The poetry introduced with the maids has a wonderful quirky quality to it, and moves the action along nicely. Clever interplay between Penelope and Helen of Troy, too. Then, when you have finished this book, go to "the Grace that keeps this World" by Tom Bailey, and see how Kevin, the younger brother in a wonderful new work of fiction, is inspired by the Odyssey. I was pleasantly surprised and delighted to see how the Odyssey was used in Tom Bailey's novel. A great pleasure, both books, in very different ways.

This book is a must-read for any English teacher. When reading The Odyssey with 9th graders, I always have them think about Penelope's point of view about the whole Calypso business. It was cool to find out the business with cousin Helen, too. I also liked that Margaret Atwood tells the reader her reason for writing this story in the introduction. I love that she took a piece of human history (whether it happened or not, we've been reading it for millenia) and sought to answer an unresolved question: What led to the hanging of Penelope's 12 beloved maids?

As much as Penelope's story was needed, though, what stayed with me most was the chorus chanted by the maids between Penelope's chapters. When we learn history, we only hear about the winners, the heroes. The maids' voices remind the reader that as much crap as the ones about whom tales are told have to go through, the servants would gladly have given up their boring existences given the chance. Sure it sucks to get lost in the ocean without hope to ever find the way home, and it must be tough to be a wife who doesn't know whether her husband is alive or dead for ten years, but that pales in comparison to a life of boring, tedious, monotonous futility. And, even though they do get a voice here, none of the twelve develop their characters. The chorus members are basically as one.

I feel I do need to mention the humor with which Penelope faces her trials. She doesn't hold back the bitterness about her distant Naiad mother, her awkward relationship with her father, her beautiful cousin, Helen, or her spoiled brat son, Telemachus. The narrative voice is engaging and funny, in the first person. It is no Handmaid's Tale, but The Penelopiad is an interesting look at what might have been.

I don't know that I can review this book objectively. I did not like it at all and I don't know if it's because I was expecting something else, something better, maybe? Atwood seems to be attempting satire -- or something close to it -- but is failing at it. If you know the "Odyssey" well, you will find her rehash boring, if not a bit irreverent. She simply cuts and pastes Homer's plot but leaves out his epic's admirable verse. Perhaps I am disappointed with this one because I just finished Le Guin's "Lavinia," which does far more justice to Virgil than Atwood does to Homer.

This is a quick read, not badly written, but certainly worth skipping.

One of THE best riffs on the timeless story of Penelope that I've ever had the good fortune to come across. Never obvious, never trite, never pandering to contemporary cultural cliches. Deep, thought-provoking, and immensely rich.

If I had never read anything by the enormously original Dorothy Parker or seen Woody Allen's "Mighty Aphrodite," I may have been impressed with this book. But I was not impressed. It had the all snarky tone with absolutely none of the side-splitting humor or heartbreaking depth of emotion I so adore in Dorothy Parker and Woody Allen's works.

I appreceiate the idea of Atwood's re-telling the myth from Penelope's point of view, as well as her attempt to go the feminist, moral route...but it was executed in an obvious, silly, and derivative way.

If you want a light book to read at the beach, this will do...I have heard her other novels could be modern classics, so I am reluctant to criticize Atwood as a writer on the whole until I read more of her work. I am, however, disappointed that I didn't choose one of her novels as my introduction to Atwood over this title.

Here is a lady who knows how to take something old and make it read in a new and lively fashion. For a quick read about a clever lady, Penelope, try this slim book. The poetry introduced with the maids has a wonderful quirky quality to it, and moves the action along nicely. Clever interplay between Penelope and Helen of Troy, too. Then, when you have finished this book, go to "the Grace that keeps this World" by Tom Bailey, and see how Kevin, the younger brother in a wonderful new work of fiction, is inspired by the Odyssey. I was pleasantly surprised and delighted to see how the Odyssey was used in Tom Bailey's novel. A great pleasure, both books, in very different ways.

This novella by Margaret Atwood is the story of the Odyssey from the perspective of Penelope. In the Odyssey, Odysseus returns home, kills all of the suitors, and hangs twelve of the household maids. In this book Atwood speculates on why he had the maids killed and what may have happended at home while Odysseus was away.

This book is written in a style easy to read and understand. It goes by quickly, and could easily be finished in a few days. Atwood keeps true to the Greek tradition by separating the chapters narrated by Penelope with a chorus consisting of the twelve dead maids. Though most famous for her novels, Atwood is also an accomplished poet, and that shows in these chorus sections, which were the strongest part of the novella.

I already knew the story of the Odyssey when I started this book. I have always thought that Odysseus was kind of a jerk. It seems that he is always being unfaithful, boastful, or distrusting, and sometimes all three at once. I went into this book prepared to dislike him, and I wasn't persuaded otherwise. But he isn't really a main character in this novella. The title is the Penelopiad after all, and this book is definitely about Penelope. Sadly, I found her to be a rather disappointing character. In fact I found her to be pretty annoying. She is completely in awe of Odysseus. She is timid and afraid of his family and too spineless to stand up for either herself or her maids. All she does throughout the whole book is weep, complain that she misses her husband, and whine about how beautiful Helen is. Admittedly, Helen is annoyingly vain, but is jealousy of Helen really the best way to develop Penelope's character? I always pictured Penelope as a strong independent woman who could handle things on her own, not an insecure girl who burst into tears at the slightest provocation.

The chorus chapters from the point of the maids were much more interesting than the chapters narrated by Penelope. I definitely felt sorry for them, little things that they were, but I don't find that their story was enough to carry the book. the poetry was good, but it didn't balance out the rest of the chapters. Overall, I thought that this novella was an easy read and an interesting interpretation of the Odyssey, but it definitely isn't something I would read again. If you are very interested in Greek myth, then maybe you should check it out, but otherwise I wouldn't recommend it.

I was drawn to this book by my love of Greek mythology. I was interested in the retelling of the Odysseus myth from the female perspective of the faithful Penelope and the twelve maids.
I thoroughly enjoyed this and read it in one sitting. The voice of Penelope was believable and i loved her take on her family background and the rumours, tales and stories that revolve around her, Odysseus and her cousin Helen (another very well realised character). The only reason for scoring this as 4 out of 5 is that, although I am used to the convention of the chorus in Greek mythology, the multimedia aspect of this chorus just didn't really work for me.
All in all though I would definitely recommend this book. I have been meaning to try some of Margaret Atwood's writing for some time and feel that this was an excellent introduction. I will definitely be reading more.

Coming from almost anyone else, this mediocrity might have merited 3 stars. But coming from Margaret Atwood, who is capable of far better, it was that much more disappointing. Penelope simply tells, in a not-very-engaging voice, the same story we all know, with a few slight twists that really don't end up making that much difference. There's very little showing and almost no dialog. The "big" twist turns out to be not that shocking or ironic after all, and the interspersed poetry by the maids (none of whom emerge with personalities of their own) is simply irritating doggerel. The final tacked-on court transcript and pseudo-academic treatise on the symbolism of the Penelope myth both read like the space-filler they are. It feels like at least 3 different projects are smashed together in a very uneven product. The Penelopiad itself could have been a pretty good short story, if not dragged out to novella length.

Oh, and Helen of Troy is a vain, arrogant shrew. Again. How inventive.

This book is an interesting take on a traditional tale. Atwood's control of language and flair for the dramatic make this an excellent short read. Perfect for a plane ride or just lounging on the couch waiting for the rain to pass. This is the story of Odysseus told from a woman's view and there is such an interesting look at the love, pain and regret that is neglected in the old tales.

I enjoyed this book much better than LeGuin's Lavinia. LeGuin's book deals more with metafiction and some of her other themes. However, this one by Atwood is a more entertaining "re-telling" of the Odyssey from Penelope's POV. I appreciate the greek chorus feature and Atwood has an interesting take on the story. I enjoyed the mother son relationship also. Its a quick and worthwhile read.

I've read almost every book that Margaret Atwood has written. An extremely intelligent and intuitive writer, this book is a unique and creative perspective from Penelope's point of view. Atwood fills in all the missing pieces of this mythology with attitude.

I grew up reading fairy tale books and the myths of ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome. The Odyssey was one of my favorites. I was delighted to see Atwood's pan-temporal, worldly-wise view from beyond the grave, spoken through Odysseus' long-suffering wife. The chorus of maids' lyrics practically sang themselves. A satisfying and, surprisingly, fast read.

Latayne C Scott
author, Latter-day Cipher
The Mormon Mirage

Giving Penelope a voice is an excellent concept. Margaret Atwood's book, part of the Canongate Myth Series, illustrates the trials and tribulations that Penelope goes through as she waits for the return of her husband, Odysseus, from the Trojan War.

I would argue that there is too much telling rather than showing in the book. Penelope, speaking from the land of the dead, tells us her story. If we could have seen more of her interaction with her suitors, her maids, Odyssues and their son Telemachus, I think we would have a greater appreciation for and understanding of her plight.

This is the second of the Canongate Myth books that I've read following Weight. I love the concept of the series, but was looking for more from both books.

I'd bump this review up to 3.5 stars if I could.

Margaret Atwood reveals Helen as a heartless bimbo trading on her looks, and she vividly recaptures the tensions of domestic Ithaca (dealing with Odysseus' ex-nanny proves predictably more of a problem than Homer ever let on). There are delights, too, for classical "insiders": the debate, for example, about whether Penelope and Odysseus are to set up house in the bride's or the groom's home turns into a neat joke about changes in prehistoric Greek marriage practice. But more than this - and here Atwood is far ahead of Winterson - she explores, through the figures of Odysseus and Penelope, the very nature of mythic story-telling. When Odysseus is such a renowned liar, how is Penelope to understand what he tells her on his return from his wanderings? Can you know something to be untrue and still "believe" it?

The only blot on this brilliant book is a chapter entitled "An Anthropology Lecture". This insists, through the mouth of the murdered maids, that deep beneath the story of Penelope lies the cult of the Mother Goddess, and that anyone who does not accept the matriarchal substrate of Greek myth has not learned the lessons of feminism. This is complete rubbish (most feminists I know think that matriarchy is itself a myth invented by patriarchal culture).

Definitely different than any Atwood I've read. Told from the perspective of Penelope, Odysseus's long suffering, devoted wife, about what really went on during his travels ... and most of it is not flattering of Odysseus or, frankly, of Penelope. This story is light and satirical, if a bit racy at times. An amusing and extremely quick read that broke up the heavy subject matter I have been reading as of late (e.g., The Road, No Country for Old Men). Makes me want to go back and read The Odyssey all over again!

Atwood is sly. She presents this tale as a myth, but it's not - not really. It's a satire, actually. Another old Greek form, for sure, but not really a myth. Myths tend to believe in themselves and to unite material and spiritual worlds into one vision. Atwood works hard here to strip any such unity away and to display the primacy of wit and intelligence. She does it with the voice of Penelope herself, she does it with the interwoven voices of the chorus, who dance in like music hall girls from 1893 or maybe 1927, sometimes, and sometimes like half the cast of a Gilbert & Sullivan musical that, sadly, has not yet been written. And she does it by hinting, continuously, that she is going to reveal the big secret of the maids (those music hall girls). Unfortunately, Penelope, although witty and refreshing, comes across with too much the protesting Lady Macbeth in her, the music hall girls are vague, at least until they just get up and do the Gilbert and Sullivan thing (and redeem the book in a few brief pages of poetic brilliance). As for the hints, well, if that was their pillow talk, Odysseus would have slept through it. A little bit more than vague hints about sacred numbers of maids and their correlation to the world of myth is required to make a book a myth. The Penelopiad has a great set-up and a brilliant conception, but the follow-through is weak. Except for that song and dance. That's masterly.

Margaret Atwood can write in many tones, but cheeky has to be her best. She made the story of the long-suffering Penelope and the insufferable Odysseus a delight to read, with character revelations poor old Homer couldn't possibly imagine and a chorus of maltreated maids that not only provided commentary but the real backbone of the plot as well.

Clever, quietly humane, not what I expected--which was a 'woman's' knock on the whole Troy shebang. It is a woman's point of view, but very gentle and with a core of important feeling and some deep pathos. Not there just to assault males (however we deserve it). Very witty, often subtle, a delight.

Oh, Margaret Atwood, I love your work, but this was just...inexplicable. I was eagerly anticipating a feminist, or at least Atwood-esque revisionist, retelling of the Odyssey. There were brief glimpses of that in "The Penelopiad," but the promise was unfulfilled. The book--novella, really--felt very incomplete, and not simply because of its length. Atwood normally does an excellent job developing her characters, but here I had no idea who Penelope was by the end of the book. She barely skimmed the surface of the myth, and augmented the skimpy narrative with filler of Penelope's contemporary reflections from the underworld and choral interludes. The chorus is another idea that could have worked, had the story been more cohesive. Instead, just filler. In fact, at multiple moments I had a nagging suspicion that Atwood was playing some kind of literary prank. Is she laughing at the readers trying to figure her out? The conventions of mythology? Should I be laughing with her? Is this clever parody, or is she going senile? Hard to tell. After finishing the book, though, I couldn't help feeling like the joke was on me. I think this is the first of her novels I've actually disliked.

it was a calm read, predictable if you've read the odessey, but i did like it. atwood is an amazing writer and i'm glad to see she has other good books since i just finished the handmaid's tale. and i did like the twists she put on it. short and nice read. beautiful.

As other reviewers have mentioned, this novelette is a very fast read, even though it covers thousands of years. Penelope's voice is fresh and modern and the retelling of this story is enjoyable and heartbreaking at the same time. This work takes an interesting look at the 12 maidens and definitely promotes a second look at the Odyssey. I finished this book and I can't wait for more.

I read some reviews mere moments after reading this and wonder if people have forgotten how to relax and have fun. Perhaps I missed the point, but the whole book seemed like a tongue-in-cheek interpretation with a nice lesson.

This was a fun book!

Imagine putting ancient men on trial in a modern courtroom! Or murdered peasant slaves giving a lecture on feminism! If you're looking for a serious addition to the long list of Homer tomes, go look for Robert Fagles. If you're looking for a fun twist on the legend, this is a must read!

Disappointing. My hope was for a retelling of The Odyssey that would give a richer, more intriguing and unique viewpoint of Penelope and her maids over the twenty-year span of Odysseus' absence. What it instead ends up being is a boring recounting of Penelope crying, filling up the time doing nothing, or being sarcastic about life now that she inhabits the Underworld. She speaks in far too modern a tone, and sounds much more like a feminist mouthpiece than anything else. The book also assumes knowledge of the Odyssey--granted, it is a retelling of sorts, but should be enjoyable without me puzzling over certain names or events. And Penelope herself is, in a word, boring. The redeeming factor of the book lie in the interludes, songs and poems and small scenes featuring Penelope's maids acting as a Greek chorus. They are beautiful, clever, and occasionally terribly moving or even funny. They provide the only relief throughout an otherwise dragging story.

If you enjoyed Helen of Troy by Margaret George, you'll love The Penelopiad. Atwood's work is a choice follow-up, giving Penelope, a not-so-enchanted judge of Helen's beauty, a chance to share her viewpoint. Penelope's necessary self-reliance and wry wit make this a book to enjoy. Don't hurry to the end of this book! I'm sorry it's only 200 pages in length.

Though as one reviewer put it, a feminist retelling of the story of Penelope and Odysseus certainly isn't a surprising offering from Atwood, this book still deserves the good reviews it is getting. Atwood gives a voice to the ever-faithful Penelope, and this is a must read for any lover of myth. Penelope addresses all the questions that arose in my mind when I read The Odyssey, and also speaks openly about the mistakes she and those around her made. I loved Penelope's voice that came through, and that can only be attributed to Atwoods fine command of language. I devoured this book in one day.

This is the back story of Odysseus' wife Penelope, who was left at home for 20 years while her husband had all kinds of adventures.

Atwood's Penelope is a mind-numbingly boring heroine. She's a passive daughter, a passive wife , a passive mother, a passive queen,... Which could all be very understandable - the story is set in the antiqiuty after all - had Penelope had a single interesting thought during her entire narrative. Unfortunately, that isn't the case.

What saves this novel is the story of Penelope's 12 handmaidens. It is told in a saparate voice, sometimes funny, sometimes heartbreaking, often both simultaniously, and always fascinating and fresh.

All in all a mixed reading experience.

I'm never sure if I like Atwood. I like her stories, but there's something in her style I find off putting. I would have liked this book to be longer instead of a mad dash through the Iliad and Odyssey years. If Atwood wanted me to feel for the characters in a new light, it would have been nice to have the time to get to know them along the way.

I came across this quote while reading John Gardner's "Art of Fiction." Interestingly, he wrote it back in 1984, long before Margeret Atwood did exactly what he warns against.

He writes:

"One finds, for instance, naively excited and lengthy discussions of ideas that are commonplace or have long been discredited, or one finds curious, quirky interpretations of old myths--interpretations that, though interesting in themselves, suffer by comparison with what the myths really say and mean. We read, lets us say, a story about Penelope as a grudging, recalcitrant wife. The writing may be superb, but when we think of Homer's portrait of the true, perfect wife, as courageous, cunning, and devoted as her husband, Homer's version so outshines the new one that we turn almost in disgust from the new writer's work. True, one can as easily get spotty knowledge from university graduates, and one can as easily get crackpot opinions from university professors as from independent study. The success of fools in the university world is one of God's great mysteries" (Gardner, p. 12; Chapter: Aesthetic Law and Artistic Mystery).

I am in love with this book! Short though it is (it weighs in at a little under 200 pages) it packed a powerful punch for me. I never before gave much thought to Penelope but this book gave a great new perspective on her, Odysseus and even her cousin, the infamous Helen. The twelve maids that Odysseus has hung also gave out some food for thought.

All in all, it was beautiful, poetic work and I highly recommend it.

Penelope, the devoted wife of Odysseus, stays at home weaving all during the Trojan War, then patiently and faithfully waits for her husband to come home to her and rescue her from the suitors who want his kingdom.

Not! Margaret Atwood gives us an irreverent, cheeky account from Penelope, eating asphodel in the afterlife, of a girl-bride who fought and schemed to keep the kingdom together while her husband was off chasing tail and treasure all over the Aegean. Atwood delivers another classic.

I picked this up inspite of hating the last book I read by Atwood (Handmaid's Tale), mainly because I love the character of Penelope and I love th Odyssey. I was half afraid in my curiousity to see what she did to my beloved characters. She takes them very very far from where I have them imagined in my head.

Surprisingly, I enjoyed the book for the most part and found myself laughing in several places (Handmaid's Tale demonstrated no mastery of humour). The book it set up as a sort of Greek Tragedy mixed with a first person narration of accounts. It alternates just about every other chapter between Penelope's narrative of events, why she did what she did with the 12 maidens that Odysseus kills after his return home.

The real reason behind this book are these twelve maidens, I beleive only one of them is named, otherwise they are as distinctive a group as the strophe and antistrophe ridden choruses of Eurpidies or Sopholces plays. They have more humour and are more 'chorus girls' than they old men of the other plays. Sometimes they speak in verse, other times they act out scenes, anyone studying this book, this is what I found most interesting and the real meat of the narration. Penelope, in Atwood's hands has become a sort of dowdy everyday woman who wants other women to know NOT to do what she did. Don't wait, she was in extenuating circumstances. There is no real love between Odysseus and Penelope.

I did enjoy Atwood's use of other source material for Penelope's background, and her explaination of Penelope's mother's advice.

This is a very quick read, it took me only a few hours to read this and aside from a few jarring moments of the reality of what the maidens had to deal with it was very pleasant. The last bit where the maidens discuss their scholary merrit is probably the climax and very best part of the book.

Read it, think about it, discuss it, but by no means do I think this is what Penelope was really like.

I read Atwood at every chance- sometimes she is interesting and funny- and at other times she is melancholy and too detailed for me. My favorite novels are Handmaid Tale , the Robber Bride, and now Penelopiad. The story of Penelope told by ATwood with the help of the Maids is exciting, funny, sad, harrowing, and thought provoking- a quick read.

The story of Odysseus told from Penelope's perspective. Nice. The book starts out strong, I was drawn in immediately and the first 100 pages flew by in a flash, but right around where the Trojan war ends I started to find it tiresome. And the little chorus interludes freaked me out a little sometimes. But other than that, good book. Definitely a worthwhile read.

Delightful to read. Charming, sweet, simple. Yet behind the simplicity sharp observation and subtle commentary. A brilliant idea to fill out Penelope's character. The author's delight is palpable on every page. Of course, you would probably need to know the Odyssey to enjoy it.

Homer's "Odyssey" is my favorite literary work, followed closely by Proust's "Remembrance of Things Past" and Anais Nin's journal. The "Odyssey" is a magnificent celebration of human intelligence, of confronting a world of capricious gods and bestial monsters with cunning and wit. And it is a great love story between a crafty man and his equally crafty wife. Odysseus gives up immortality with Calypso because he wants to return home. And when he returns home, instead of simply falling into the arms of the man who slew her Suitors, Penelope challenges him to prove he is her husband, by knowing a secret that only she and Odysseus share. And it is clear why this man loves this woman -- not because she kept faith, but because they are soulmates, because they talk together.

I have several friends who over the years have urged me to read Margaret Atwood, and when one of them mentioned the "Penelopiad" recently, I thought this would be a good introduction to her work. It sounded a bit "gimmicky," a minor author riding the coattails of a major literary work. I used to feel the same way about Tom Stoppard's "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead," but Stoppard's work turned out to be a real tour de force, and I was hoping for a similar achievement from Atwood.

This is a dismal book. Rather than celebrating Penelope's strength and intelligence, Atwood reduces her to a whining victim, put upon by everyone -- her father, mother, nurse, mother-in-law, and son. Odysseus seems to treat her well, but she seems contemptuous of the fact that he cheated at a race to win her in marriage, and regards his talk with her as an exercise in egomania rather than the communion of friends. There is a subplot about Helen of Troy that has little depth or meaning, sounding more like a spat between celebraties in "People" magazine.

Atwood is obsessed with the death of the twelve serving girls who fraternize with the Suitors and who are hanged by Odysseus and Telemakhos. The twelve dead girls form a Chorus for this book. Atwood attempts to magnify the guilt of Odysseus by suggesting that the girls consorted with the suitors at Penelope's urging -- this seems contrived and pointless.

Atwood is a skilled writer, and manages a number of styles and persona well. But this book is so sour and devoid of meaning that if it were not a ramora attached to the "Odyssey," I doubt it would gain significant readership. I doubt that I'll try Atwood again.

This novel was a beautiful twist on the classic Homeric Epic. Atwood, with her usual style, places the Twelve Maids as the Classic Greek Chorus with all the grace of Sophocles. This is a must-read for any Atwood, Mythology, or Greek Tragedy fan!

as a fan of anything atwood, i anxiously purchased this book. although short in length, this was a humorous and refreshing look at the myth of penelope and odysseus.

atwood portrays penelope as doleful yet unwilling to be classified as the legendary loyal wife.

a quick read, well-written, but the chorus of the maids was a little annoying.

This novel was a beautiful twist on the classic Homeric Epic. Atwood, with her usual style, places the Twelve Maids as the Classic Greek Chorus with all the grace of Sophocles. This is a must-read for any Atwood, Mythology, or Greek Tragedy fan!

as a fan of anything atwood, i anxiously purchased this book. although short in length, this was a humorous and refreshing look at the myth of penelope and odysseus.

atwood portrays penelope as doleful yet unwilling to be classified as the legendary loyal wife.

a quick read, well-written, but the chorus of the maids was a little annoying.

It is an interesting premise, a fictional account of a collateral character in the Odyssey, but she gets bogged down in foolish concerns and makes too many errors in continuity and historical context - like Penelope gazing through a window smeared from the smoke of countless fires. The Greeks didn't have windows until long after Odysseus was laid to rest.

I can't believe all the positive reviews of this book! Is this a case of no one wanting to say that the Empress has no clothes on?

I love Margaret Atwood, and have read just about all of her books. This resembles NONE of them. It is cotton candy and fluff! It's written in a comic book style that is supposed to pass for wit, I guess. I'm scratching my head and wondering why she bothered with this book at all. Maybe she needed some quick cash?