Z’s Reviews > Odyssey > Status Update

B/c it is not straying far from the book, you will not get character-driven story but more of a plot-driven one. So if you’re looking for that know that this is still very much the Odyssey

Some of the notes not only gave historical context in-verse but also had some language history as well, helping us see the root of some modern words! (Even theories on what some plants were that are mentioned in the original text)

This straight and modern retelling was not subversive nor with creative liberties, a great refresher or first read that helps to engage the modern reader in a way that the original poem’s meter could not. There’s a reason these stories are famous, everlasting and drawn from for inspiration

O gets bathed and his wet nurse recognizes a scar on his thigh

Penelope says she will choose the man who can string O’s bow, she goes upstairs to sleep not wanting to watch the old man be ridiculed

O, Telemachus and some trusted soldiers take out all the suitors ofc

He infiltrates the castle as the old man l, Argos his favorite pup recognizes him then passes (gets me everytime)

He duels a suitor, obvs winning and Penelope hears of his mistreatment and insists on welcoming him as the laws of Zeus and guests must be honored. Telemachus removes all the weapons from the room in secret

After that his ship gets destroyed in the whirlpool and he drifts toward Ogygia imprisoned by love for 7 years, then he made it here where he’s telling the story, the king says his best crew will take him to Ithaca as repayment for his telling of his tales

Athena greets him, changing his appearance as an old herder so he won’t be ambushed by suitors and she also visits Telemachus in Sparta to tell him to come home

then Helios’ livestock island (where they get stuck by a storm for a month and exhausted their food stores, so they killed a cow and were killed otw home by a lightning strike)

She tells him another son is otw and he says to name him Teleganus (born far away)

After burning the dead crew member Circe tells him he must pass the sirens to get home and gives him wax for his ears (being who he is he has the men tie him up so he can hear the song himself and live to tell the tale), then Scylla (where he warns the crew of the whirlpool but not her knowing 6 men will have to be sacrificed)

He speaks w one of his crew who fell from the roof when they were packing to come here and O promises to return to Aeaea to bury him and pray, his mom who urges him to hurry home, Agamemnon who says trust no woman/wife, and finally Achilles who says that all the glory he received for his short life means nothing as he’s now king of the dead he would’ve rather lived a peasants life if it meant he could’ve lived longer

After a year has passed and she briths Agrius, the men grow antsy to leave despite how nice it is here, so Circe allows him to go but says he Must got to the Underworld first to speak w Tiresias

Tiresias tells him he can return home soon if he go to the island where Helios keeps his livestock and not touch a single one. If he does then his ship and all his men will be lost and he won’t return home for years after

Circe's next! One man from scouting party comes back to say the whole party have been turned to pigs, O refuses to leave them when stopped by Hermes who gives him herb to become immune to her potion then he says to make her swear an oath she won’t harm him and then they can sleep together

And just that happens, he won't join her for dinner until his crew are turned back to men