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Jul 01, 2018
Interesting idea to tell the story from Penelope's viewpoint, but very weak in terms of insights or new ideas. As expected Atwood critiques the macho heroism of Odysseus, but her characterization is very one dimensional. Helen is only vain and seductive, Odysseus is only tricky, Penelope, surprisingly, is only the faithful wife, Telemachus is only a precocious youth. The novel is strangely devoid of dialogue and the action is told second hand. This style doesn't let us get involved with the characters. The poetry is often stylized with forced rhymes. The good things about this book are (a) it is very short and (b) at the end Atwood creates some mythology of her own about rebirth and which aspects of human character do not change over the centuries.