Bought today for the Canada Day CanLit Sweepstakes that I've entered. Choosing a Margaret Atwood book was a no-brainer: this year I've discovered how much I love her writing, and have read three of her books so far this year. Also, it isn't that easy to find books by Canadian authors in Nepal, so I didn't have a huge choice. But I figure, how can you go wrong with Atwood?

Mailed this out the winner of the Canada Day CanLit Sweepstakes. I did, however, bilk on a few other books--not to mention work--to read it myself first! This is the fourth Atwood book I've read so far, and I would love to read them all. She's such a wonderful writer. I loved the dynamic of the story between Penelope and the maids, the twist on what we know, the re-imagining of what might be. Hope the winner enjoys it as much as I did!
As usual with my registered books, I don't mind if you like this book and decide to keep it on your PC, or whatever you choose to do with it--it is yours now, to do with as you please.
An interesting aside is that I mailed two other books at the same time as I mailed this--the other two were bookrings and they were all by Margaret Atwood. Funny coincidence!

Arrived today, thanks lils74! I love Margaret Atwood's work!

Read this yesterday evening. I must admit that I don't know the details of the original myth that well, so there may be some nuances of meaning that I missed in this book. However, I still enjoyed the reading experience. My favourite thing about it is Atwood's wry commentary on our lives today, through the eyes of Penelope in the afterlife.

To judygreeneyes as a RABCK, as it is on her wishlist.

What a surprise! Thanks very much, klaradyn, for the wonderful RABCK. And from such a distance! I can't wait to read this.

This novella sprang from such an interesting idea -- have popular modern writers re-write various ancient myths. Margaret Atwood did a spectacular job on Penelope's story. The novella illustrates the differences perspectives can make. All of the old Greek stories and actually all of the histories in the world until recent times have been told by men. Imagine how different they would be from the points of view of the women of those times.

In The Penelopiad, Penelope is unhappy with the way she is portrayed by Homer in his telling of the story, and feel compelled to tell the real story. Atwood aptly shows that the truth can look entirely different when told from a different perspective. You could say that it is more feminist, but you could possibly say that about most stories written from a woman's point of view. I didn't find this re-telling to be particularly feminist, but it certainly gives the women more of a real voice than they get in the male versions of these stories.

I also found it fascinating that Penelope was actually telling this story after her death, from the afterlife, so we get a glimpse of that also, and her amusement at what kinds of things occurred in the world after her death (television, for example).

I read most of the Greek tragedies in high school English, and enjoyed them to some extent. I'd be interested to read a few more of these modern day versions of myths.

I agree, Klaradyn, I enjoyed hearing Penelope's views of our modern lives. Also, like lils74, I'm a huge Atwood fan, ever since I read "The Handmaid's Tale" in the 1980's. I've worked my way through maybe 50% of her books, still looking forward to the rest.

Thanks so much to both of you for sharing this book with me :)