Ithaka Book

Loved this (until I hated it) perspective of Homer's "The Odyssey" one of my all time favorite books. This book tells the story of what happened at Odysseus' home for the twenty years he was away, first fighting in the Trojan War and then his ten-year long odyssey home. We see Telemachus growing up with two servants who are close to the family and many of the events in The Odyssey are woven into this story to great affect. We see Argos dream doggy dreams, Penelope struggle to cope with the increasing frustration of the suitors while she weaves (which somehow ties into what Odysseus is currently dealing with - that was a little odd), and the rest of the minor characters. This was all quite lovely and wonderful until *****SPOILER ALERT***** Penelope has a long-term affair with one of the suitors and falls in love with him. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. I get it that it's a double standard that O can have sexual encounters with goddessess and somehow that's okay but it's not okay for Penelope, but that flies in the face of their first encounter when he returns still disguised as a beggar, which this book completely fails at capturing both of their cunning, cleverness, and delight in seeing each other. Some sexually explicit scenes. I thought this might be a nice companion to our Greek mythology unit. It's not.