Margaret Atwood

The Penelopiad

Ryan Mateyk

Sarah Sammis

The Penelopiad suffers from the problem as Cat's Eye. Atwood seems to believe that "strong" female protagonists prove their strength by bitching about how hard their lives have been. Unfortunately this approach takes an interesting and tragic character and turns her into the one dimensional shadow that the Greeks belived people became in the afterlife! Atwood may have written many well received books but she should stick to her strengths, namely distopic near future science fiction. When it comes to epics, she is no Homer. For a much better modern interpretation of Penelope, watch the Coen Brother's film O Brother Where Art Thou.

Penelope. Immortalised in legend and myth as the devoted wife of the glorious Odysseus, silently weaving and unpicking and weaving again as she waits for her husband's return.Now Penelope wanders the underworld, spinning a different kind of thread: her own side of the story - a tale of lust, greed and murder.

Penelopiad

This is Percy Jackson for adults but with none of the charm or humor. Instead Atwood seems way too invested in pumping feminism (but only a specific kind) into your head until you’re sick of it and wish for literally anything else. The formatting is cool with the maids chorus tho.

amy w

lauratrebilcock

As portrayed in Homer's Odyssey, Penelope - wife of Odysseus and cousin of the beautiful Helen of Troy - has become a symbol of wifely duty and devotion, enduring twenty years of waiting when her husband goes to fight in the Trojan War. As she fends off the attentions of a hundred greedy suitors, travelling minstrels regale her with news of Odysseus' epic adventures around the Mediterranean - slaying monsters and grappling with amorous goddesses. When Odysseus finally comes home, he kills her suitors and then, in an act that served as little more than a footnote in Homer's original story, inexplicably hangs Penelope's twelve maids. Now, Penelope and her chorus of wronged maids tell their side of the story in a new stage version by Margaret Atwood, adapted from her own wry, witty and wise novel. The Penelopiad premiered with the Royal Shakespeare Company in association with Canada's National Arts Centre at the Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon, in July 2007.

Laura Mauler

Abandoned this book on page 36. The writing felt forced, and Penelope felt inauthentic. There was a completely lifeless quality to the story, which makes sense given that it's told by Penelope after she's dead but makes for a bad reading experience.

Frida Kahlo

Much like I did Madeline Miller's 'Circe' and especially 'Song of Achilles', I very much enjoyed this retelling of a tale I thought I knew, but now realize is missing an essential perspective: that of the other.

Frederik De Bosschere

Beatrice

Well, what a read! I read a couple of Margaret Atwood's novels before and was absolutely fascinated by them, so when I had the opportunity to read this retelling of The Odyssey from Penelope's point of view I couldn't let this chance go by! As usual, Atwood doesn't disappoint. Despite being essentially a monologue with chorus intermissions, this is a gripping read: I would have easily finished it in one sitting, but life got in the way... Of course, this is helped by the fact that it is a fairly short book. Still, I felt it to be exactly the right length.

In this faux memoir, we view daily life through Penelope's eyes, and are granted front row seats to one of mythologies greatest romances... or was it? Most people are familiar with Odysseus and his wonderful travels, but for once we are invited to leave adventure to one side and consider what it must have been like to be left behind. As the years go by, during and after the Trojan war, Penelope is left to manage her household in Ithaca, which for her is a foreign land, at a time when women (even princesses) weren't exactly at the top of the social pyramid. Left to fend for herself and unsure of who can be trusted, Penelope grows wonderfully in her role as head of the household. A highly intelligent woman, she develops her managerial abilities and devises clever schemes to improve her household's revenue and living conditions. Until a group of suitors decides she needs a new husband to manage her...

Building on a well-known myth, this book manages to bring a fresh perspective to a classic tale. We are privy to all of Penelope's worries, traumas and dreams and this is essential in improving our understanding of an often side-lined character. She truly feels real, with her frustrations and family pressures, her need for love and friendships, and her struggles against societal norms and a teenage son. Penelope is a well-rounded character that develops significantly through the novel, and definitely holds the scene. Other characters are less developed, and while this would normally be a definite negative for me, in this case I found myself accepting it unquestionably: it is The Penelopiad after all! I loved the chorus intermissions with their different styles and formats, and found them to be an extremely original way of portraying a collective voice from frequently ignored characters (in this case, the servant girls) and to introduce controversial narrative points.

Under the cloak of myth retelling, The Penelopiad offers an excellent starting point to reflect on issues still current today, such as gender and socio-economic inequalities or marriage and parenting. Highly recommended!

For this and more reviews, visit Book for Thought.

I received an e-arc of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. This did not affect my opinion of the book in any way.

very solid read, didn’t read the odyssey tho so i was heavily confused at times but that’s just me with every margaret atwood book if i’m being real😊😊 witty narrative from a unique perspective 🤔 #lit 

sophie yang 

Penélope y las doce criadas

Agustina 

“no nos dieron voz
no nos dieron nombre
no nos dieron elección
nos dieron una cara
una sola cara”

En definitiva me gustó, fue entretenido. 

No volveré a leer la Odisea de igual forma tras este libro.

i love retelling of greek mythology, this was a beautiful mixture of modern prose and storytelling we get a look inside the mind of a female character whose life is disregarded 

Kamerin Villagomez

Shay Henrion

This was an interesting take on Penelope's "story" during the Iliad and Odyssey. It was a little short, and I think it could have been developed even further, but was overall good. I particularly liked the "chorus."

Kelsey Lynn

Quick, enjoyable read. Read in one day. Loved Penelope and how creative Atwood got with her and her life. Especially loved hearing the potential realities of Odysseus' adventures and maybe they weren't aa mythical as they were recounted.
Really really disliked her little maid interludes, the poems and songs... The fake court case. These were so childishly written, the poems were terrible. each one made me annoyed and roll my eyes. They were so forced and felt like a middle schooler trying to be creative.

The rest of the book was enjoyable

Patricia Macías García

Conozco muchos retellings de este mito y a lo mejor esa es la razón por la que la novela no me ha parecido de 5 estrellas. Eso sí, es brillante y tiene frases que te atrapan y que tienes que apuntar en alguna parte (he puesto en mi cuenta de Twitter algunas de entre todas las que he apuntado). No puedo no recomendarlo, la verdad. Me ha gustado también cómo juega con distintos formatos durante la novela: la parte de Penélopa en prosa, pero cuando hablan las criadas lo hacen como en una obra de teatro. También con respecto a esto último hay más sorpresas a lo largo de la novela.

3.5☆

huh, i expected this to hit me more but i guess it is what i get when it is the 3rd version of 'the odyssey' examined from penelope's pov i am reading this year.

i enjoyed a lot of the questions the book raises regarding the inconsistencies in 'the odyssey' and how it paints a much grimmer picture of the realities of these women. the variety of devices and literary forms employed truly helps build its case. in that sense, it is an interesting read and some recent '"feminist" mythological retellings could learn quite a bit from it.

jillian tenner

in need of a reread on the last two chapters so that I can fully appreciate them, but good good good I do love a good Greek retelling and lady Atwood pulled through

dana

i think penelope and helen were both queens, there was no need to have a victim and a victimizer or in order to make the reader sympathize with the main character... especially if it's supposed to be a feminist retelling!

An interesting take on how Penelope felt about her marriage and then her husband farting off for twenty years all over the damn place. The maids were definitely the most interesting part of the book, providing an intersectional look at gender and class and how this made them doubly vulnerable in a way that Penelope, as a princess, was not. There were times the narrative was just a bit too snide for me, personally, because it kind of felt like you know the author is clever and you know that they know they're clever, which can be a bit tiring to read. But I do also appreciate what Atwood was doing in general.

Sarah Escorsa

➽ And the moral of this rereread is: still have nothing to report about this one. Except that it's sheer brilliance, obviously.



I have it on (very good) authority that Margaret Atwood absolutely lurves this gif, just so you know. And I'm not even kidding. I think.



[March 2015]

The Greatness Syndrome: when a book is so original, thought-provoking and fantastically written that there is nothing to say about it.

Kwan Ann Tan

have actually wanted to read this for ages & blitzed through it this evening--it was not really what I was expecting at all & I felt kinda disappointed after reading it. It's still not really 'Penelope's story', and honestly Atwood didn't make her an enjoyable character to read either. I see how it could have been interesting in like, 2004, but it just falls flat now.

Risa C

So far, I haven't met a modern, feminist retelling of a Greek myth that I didn't love and "The Penelopiad" is no exception. Minor characters are given a new life and fleshed out as actual human beings worthy of our sympathy and mere footnotes to grander tales are explored and reframed, prompting the reader to rethink the consequences and implications of tales we've always accepted as they've always been told. Penelope and the twelve maids (the latter I had admittedly forgotten about) are given this treatment and Margaret Atwood accomplishes so much of this in such a small page count.

Penelope feels very real, ordinary, and imperfect, but is also very much a heroine worthy of her own story. Penelope here is more than a paragon of wifely faithfulness; she's also a woman who, through our modern lens, has been treated poorly, not just in her life, but also in the afterlife, precisely because we only remember her as being that faithfully waiting wife. The Greek chorus of the maids telling the story and their story through different story mediums was also excellently done and delightfully meta (the anthropology section on the patriarchy crashing a hammer down on a matrilineal cult society was heavy-handed, but it was meant to be and I didn't mind it). Odysseus being recast as the antagonist also reminds us that these so-called "heroes" of these epics are flawed men, capable of wielding their gifts and their power to inflict evil upon women and those they deemed to be less.

As for the writing, there's a cadence to Margaret Atwood's prose that sounds like this book lends itself easily to being sung or, at the very least, recited out loud. I finished the book so quickly, partly because a lot of the story is already so familiar, but largely because the writing just made it so easy to breeze through. I think I still prefer "Weight" by Jeanette Winterson over this, but "The Penelopiad" is definitely not a bad way to spend a Thursday evening.

Autumn 

I was so looking forward to reading this that I held it to an unrealistically high standard. It was a good read and I really enjoyed it and Atwood's voice is always very idiosyncratic and enjoyable but I was a little underwhelmed. The ending felt like it was attached to the story. It sat a bit awkwardly for me even though I liked the theory proposed there. It was just framed oddly?

Capucine Fachot

Marina Riaza

It was really good. The writing, the songs are very good, but I still feel I'm missing something. I don't know exactly what it is, but it just doesn't end the circle. Very enjoyable. Also, keep retelling the myths we love it.

The Penelopiad

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