Reddit discussion

Just wondering who out there has actually read them and how it compares to our current read?

If you've never read them, does the current read make any sense whatsoever?

I read The Odyssey my freshman year of high school, which means it is anything but fresh in my mind, but I have more recently read much of Omeros so the basics are more easily recalled than they might otherwise be. There are definitely parallels in this to that story, but like the overall construction of the book, they are very loose. As for how it compares? So far, very favorably, although more difficult to read, it being ancient and all.

I read The Odyssey a long time ago. It's probably been 15 years, but the general idea of the progression of the story sticks with me. There are certain elements that I'll always remember. My fondest memory was my Junior year English teacher who was remarking about the scene where Odysseus kills all the suitors. His comments went something like this: "For the crime of calling on his wife, you might think fine or imprisonment. But no: They have to die."

Well of course they have to die. It's the law

Wait...they followed laws in mythology?

They followed Man Law.

Mess with a guy's wife? Death. Steal a guys girl? Death. Run out of water? Better drink my own piss. Etc...

Lock your daughter in a tower then set her adrift with the baby she wasn't supposed to have? Said baby will turn you, along with the man forcing your daughter to marry him, into stone at said wedding.

I still don't know how in hell my parents picked Denae for my name...

I was channeling him at the time.

@Ala
If you've never read them, does the current read make any sense whatsoever?
Don't need to read the Odyssey, but does help to know the story, imo.

"For the crime of calling on his wife, you might think fine or imprisonment. But no: They have to die."
There's something decidedly non-heroic about charging people for spending time with your wife. From there, it would be a very short step to a pimp superhero. And I don't think the world it ready for it yet.

@Denae
I still don't know how in hell my parents picked Denae for my name...
Hoping for a really athletic grandson?

@Zygo
Unrelated: I read the title like Samuel L Jackson.
I want literature teachers across the country to start doing that. Would do wonders for literacy rates.

Hmm, possibly? God knows I would never name a child Perseus. Not that children figure in my plans to begin with.