When I think of well versed bards reciting The Odyssey to a crowd of people many, many years ago, it makes me realize a number of things about stories. On the one hand, not much has changed at all. I suppose Homer came about in the early days of epic journey tales, and he seems to have set the stage for many more recent books with similar themes. I spent a good portion of the novel waiting for Odysseus to arrive at Mt. Doom or meet an Orc army, so striking were the parallels between this and the work of Tolkein. I did however, come across a number of things that caused me to raise an eyebrow or feel vaguely uncomfortable; things I wasn’t used to. One of the first was the superficial nature of the characters, immortal or not. I sort of cringed every time Athena would make Odysseus tall, muscular, and handsome so that he would get some respect, or when a character would exclaim something along the lines of “Well, that chap is good looking and has an ephemeral glow, he must have good blood. Pour him some drinks!” Perhaps it’s the element of truth that disconcerts me.

There is a black and white sense of morality in this book. Distinctly old fashioned, as of course is appropriate for a poem written in 8th century BC. Grisly acts of murder and torture are accepted as rational and heroic, as long as they are justified. The whole text reads as an “eye for an eye” battle, but it did make me think a lot about the concept of right and wrong, and how different people might interpret it.

The Gods seem to be obsessed with material goods. A greek soldier could be as kind and loving as any, but if he forgets to burn some sheep thighs or pour out some libations to the Gods, he will have a rough go of it. I’m told this is just the way of the Greek Gods, but it is rather fun to point out their puerility. To be honest it’s actually really refreshing. You hear so much about the untouchable perfection of Gods that reading about them argue like teenagers and thinking about “revenge” is kind or nice. Homer portrays them as being very accessible. You can’t get away from the Gods, that’s for sure.

My last great mystery was what felt like an unfinished ending. Odysseus never made peace with Poseiden, never did what he was told to do in the prophecy. It just ended. I hear that the Odyssey has a lost sequel, explaining some of the suddenness of the ending; its a shame.

In summary, it was brilliant. What I originally saw as a very traditional, classic piece of text made me think about character far more then I thought I would. It snuck up on me, so to speak.