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| Plot Summary of The Odyssey |
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"Odyssesus (Isn't that cool how his name goes w/ the book??!!) is coming home from the Trojan War **Illiad** and is lost at sea. He sees many things, mostly bad. And ends up loosing his entire crew. He is protected by the Goddess Athene."
Alli, Resident Scholar
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"It is around 1200BC by our reckoning, and on the Greek island of Ithaca the Lady Penelope and her almost grown-up son, Telemachus, have increasing fears. The Trojan War took ten years, and the Greeks won. But ten years later the cunning Odysseus, greatest of the war-heroes, has still not returned home to his lands and his place in society. He is missing presumed dead, and a hundred rich suitors are now encamped in his palace, eating them out of house and home, all the time hoping for the hand of the rich and beautiful Penelope in marriage. Odysseus has had more adventures on the long journey home than he did during the war (told in 'The Iliad'). Telemachus decides to take ship himself to find his father, or confirm him dead.
We pick up his voyage of adventure when he is almost home, just as a sea storm is tragically released by his own men, who open a magical sack he holds onboard which contains the four winds and is enabling them to sail easily and safely west. Most of the rest of the story is artfully told in flashback by Odysseus as he narrates to his hosts how he was shipwrecked, and eventually loses all his men on the second weary voyage home. For three years on the high seas he and his men encounter and mostly survive The Lotus Eaters, the giant Cyclops, Circe the enchantress, the Underworld, the Sirens, and the twin monsters Scylla and Charybdis. Seven he spends trapped on the island of the amorous nymph Calypso until he is released. Eventually Odysseus returns to Ithaca all alone, in disguise as a filthy beggar and unsure if he will find his home intact or his friends and household faithful. He meets his own son, who has inherited his father's strength and spirit, but lacks experience. Now he too has returned and is spoiling for a fight with the arrogant suitors in the family homestead. Together they plot revenge on the greedy nobles and hope to restore the family fortune."
Michael JR Jose, Resident Scholar
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| Review Analysis of The Odyssey |
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Our unique search engine provides a wealth of detail about books by breaking them down into many different literary elements, all of which are searchable (click here).
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Tone of book?
- very sensitive (sigh)
Time/era of story
- ancient Greece
Is this an adult or child's book?
- Adult or Young Adult Book
Exploring into the wild
Yes
kind of story
- struggle to get home
- water adventure
Main Character
Gender
- Male
Profession/status:
- Prince/Nobleman/King
Age:
- 40's-50's
- 60's-90's
Is this an ordinary person caught up in events?
Yes
Ethnicity/Nationality
- Greek
How sensitive is this character?
- middling sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor
- Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence
- Smarter than most other characters
Physique
- bulging muscles
Main Adversary
Identity:
- natural phenomena
- society
Age:
- 40's-50's
Profession/status:
- wealthy
Has magical powers?
Yes
Magical/mental powers
- can talk to animals
- fire/thunder/weather cntrl
- mind reading
- mind control
- can see into the future
- can fly
- can cast all sorts of spells
- invisibility
- can read emotions
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in:
- an average amount
- throughout most of the book.
How sensitive is this character?
- hard edged
Intelligence
- Genius
Setting
How much descriptions of surroundings?
- 8 ()
Europe
Yes
European country:
- Greece
Water?
Yes
Water:
- warship
- drowning
- sail boat
- lost at sea
Island?
Yes
Island:
- stranded
Misc setting
- fancy mansion
Style
Person
- mostly 1st
Accounts of torture and death?
- moderately detailed references to deaths
- very explicit references to deaths and torture
Weird Victorian/Shakespearean English?
Yes
Unusual Style:
- a lot of flashback and forwards
Amount of dialog
- roughly even amounts of descript and dialog
- significantly more descript than dialog
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Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s). | |
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