Margaret Atwood returns with a shrewd, funny, and insightful retelling of the myth of Odysseus from the point of view of Penelope. Describing her own remarkable vision, the author writes in the foreword, “I’ve chosen to give the telling of the story to Penelope and to the twelve hanged maids. The maids form a chanting and singing Chorus, which focuses on two questions that must pose themselves after any close reading of the Odyssey: What led to the hanging of the maids, and what was Penelope really up to? The story as told in the Odyssey doesn’t hold water: there are too many inconsistencies. I’ve always been haunted by the hanged maids and, in The Penelopiad, so is Penelope herself.” One of the high points of literary fiction in 2005, this critically acclaimed story found a vast audience and is finally available in paperback.

I hope you like the Book!

Part of my wonderful Convention nss. Two lovely books, home made book jacket and purse and a stock of tea bags.
Thank you so much.

Updating my bookshelf I see I haven't journalled this. I read it last year.

Full review https://heavenali.wordpress.com/2015/05/30/the-penelopiad-margaret-atwood-2005/

If you have found this book, thank you for taking the time to look it up on the internet. Now please tell us what you thought of the book and what your plans for it are.

Picked up from the Bookbuffet at the Unconvention. This looks great, thank you!

Marvellous retelling of the story of Odysseus from the point of view of Penelope, left alone for many years to fend off rapacious suitors. The twelve maids, murdered for their complicity, form a chorus line with a counterpoint to the story. This is a very interesting perspective on the lives of women in that time - Penelope gets thrown in the sea by her father, married to a man not of her choice, abandoned for years in a palace where she is friendless, and pursued by men only interested in her money. The maids have it far worse, with their life of drudgery and rape, and no rights at all. The anthropological point about the possible overthrow of a mother-cult and the significance of the number of maids is very interesting.

A wishlist RABCK for Kiwiinengland. Enjoy!

Thank you so much for this wishlist book, and the postcard (it looks a little like Scotland, but maybe any mere I. The U.K.)