Homer's The Odyssey

After reading through Homer's first epic poem, The Iliad, in about three weeks, I knocked his follow-up poem, The Odyssey, out in only about 10 days. Due to the upcoming Christopher Nolan film starring Matt Damon, Anne Hathaway, and Tom Holland, I wanted to refresh my memory of the tale of Odysseus' return from the Trojan War. I had studied this book when in high school or college, but I had not revisited the tale since that time.

While the themes in The Iliad were a little more interesting, I sometimes let my mind wander during the pages upon pages of violence and war during that book. With The Odyssey, it held my attention a bit more and I enjoyed the sprawling adventure and multiple locations of the story. Here are a few overall thoughts about Homer's epic poem featuring the "crafty" and "wise" Greek king.

I was surprised to find out the poem doesn't even start with our hero, but his son and the troubles he is having at home with men trying to woo his mother into a new marriage. It doesn't get to Odysseus until about the fourth book (chapter). Also a bit shocking, and spoiler alert if you plan to read this magnificent story, Odysseus makes it back home at about halfway through the story and the remaining books deal with him overcoming the suitors who are taking advantage of his family's hospitality.

The themes found in The Odyssey weren't as varied or interesting to me, but at a later age in life I did find the theme of homecoming hit a little closer to home (pun unintended) than when I was in my teens and 20s.

For the casual reader, I would highly recommend The Odyssey. It was a pleasant read and the tales of endless trouble Odysseus found himself in while wandering his way back home from Troy more than held my attention. It has given me great anticipation for the upcoming film and I hope Nolan stays true to the source material. With the recent announcement of the Academy Awards nominations, a disappointment I had with the inclusion of Frankenstein in several categories, including Best Picture and Best Writing, was that Guillermo del Toro completely corrupted the original story by Mary Shelley. The changes he made for his film, in my opinion, were actually to the detriment of the story and its great themes. I'm hoping Nolan doesn't do the same with Homer's classic tale.