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    The Odyssey
    The Odyssey
    The Odyssey
    Audiobook12 hours

    The Odyssey

    Written by Homer

    Narrated by John Lescault

    4.5/5

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    About this audiobook

    In his perilous journey home after the Trojan War, Odysseus must pass through the land of the Cyclopes, encounter Circe the Enchantress, and face the terrible Charybdis and the six headed serpent Scylla.

    Little is known about the Ancient Greek oral poet, Homer, the supposed 8th Century BC author of the world-read Iliad and his later masterpiece The Odyssey. These classic epics provided the basis for Greek education and culture throughout the classical age and formed the backbone of humane education through the birth of the Roman Empire and the spread of Christianity. If Homer did in fact exist, this supposedly blind poet was from some region of Greek-controlled Asia-Minor and recited his poems at festivals and political assemblies. The story of The Odyssey follows the journey of Odysseus as he travels home to Ithaca after the Trojan War.

    Narrated by John Lescault.

    An InAudio media production.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSpotify Audiobooks
    Release dateJan 1, 2001
    ISBN9781467610452
    Author

    Homer

    The identity of the composer of the Odyssey and the Iliad is a matter of some speculation. The ancients believed it was a bard called Homer, although they disagreed about biographical details. It was commonly thought that he lived on Chios, an island off the west coast of Turkey, some time between 1100 and 700 BC, probably closer to the latter. Traditionally portrayed as blind, he is said to have composed the Iliad, the Odyssey and the Homeric Hymns, a series of choral addresses to the gods.

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    Reviews for The Odyssey

    4.5/5

    198 ratings111 reviews

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    • 2/5
      This book is a timeless epic (and an actual epic, not in the way the word is overused anymore). The language of Homer is down to earth and not flowery or difficult to read or understand. The characters are relatable to some degree; one quickly realizes the superstitions of today are deeply rooted in ancient cultures.
    • 4/5
      A re-read of classic literature. In this sequel to the Iliad, Homer continues with the adventures of Odysseus in the Odyssey. Maybe it was the 4 years of Latin I took in high school but this never gets old.
    • 5/5
      One of the single greatest books, EVER. Written.!!! !!! !!!

      #paganism_101
    • 5/5
      a wonderful New translation in meter, so it flows and reads like a song without overly flowery verse, and deep insight into what the Greek poets meant without distortion of a later morality and cultural lens. a joy to read.
    • 3/5
      A soldier returns home ten years later than expected.2.5/4 (Okay).There are some really good parts near the end. Most of the book is tedious.
    • 3/5
      I read The Iliad in Richmond Lattimore's translation and far preferred his style to that of Fagles. So while I found this sufficient to enable me to read the entire work at last, it did not move me as the first work did.
    • 5/5
      As with my review of Lombardo's translation of the Iliad, I will not comment on homers masterful and classic story. Many others have done so and I can add little.

      But, like his translation of the Iliad, Lombardo's modern and dramatic style make this classic engaging.

      Highly recommended.
    • 5/5
      First-ever volume bought of Homer in translation (and along with Vergil's 'Eclogues'). The translation is old-fashioned, and altho' my favourite is Richmond Lattimore's peerless version I'm still fond of this one ~ the daddy of all those black Penguin Classics which now adorn my shelves!
    • 3/5
      Before now, I'd only read portions of this that were assigned in high school and college. Reading the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series (see book 55) inspired me to read it from cover to cover. It is a great classic book, but the repetition of things (Odysseus' story was retold to many people) drove me crazy and I thought Odysseus was never going to reveal his identity and confront the suitors. Now I need to reread The Iliad. I'm going to try to read at least one classic book each summer.
    • 4/5
      The sea repeats. The day repeats. The night repeats. And home, home is the ultimate repetition.
    • 5/5
      How much I enjoy this book: I just re-read it for the third time, this time in preparation for Joyce's Ulysses and Burroughs's Naked Lunch (Arnold Weinstein from Brown University says Burroughs was heavily influenced by the Odyssey).

      There are several reasons the Odyssey is still good after almost three thousand years--among many, the structure pulls you in, the plot keeps you interested, Ulysses, Telemachus, and Penelope go through interesting and realistic changes. It's a wonderfully well-told story.

    • 5/5
      Agreed with the reviewer who said the Fagles translation has phrases that don't quite fit because they seem too modern...but Lattimore is terrible. If you want good translations of both the Iliad and the Odyssey, Samuel Butler is masterful; he uses the Roman names for the gods (as was the norm in late-19th Century and early-20th Century British writing) but in no way does it change the tale or the quality of the narrative. For a middling translation of the Iliad, not nearly as good as Butler or as bad as Lattimore, Robert Fitzgerald is decent.
    • 4/5
      This is a classic epic poem. Give it a chance!
    • 5/5
      Don't read this book - listen to it. Epic poetry is meant to be recited...
    • 4/5
      A classic and a great look into Greek lit.
    • 4/5
      {Review of E.V. Rieu's prose translation, Penguin Classics} Reading a prose version of The Odyssey is like having your learned friend read the poem silently to himself and occasionally pausing to explain to you what's going on. This is a very thorough translation of the action, but you won't grasp why Homer is called a master bard or find his genius. For all the translator's efforts this reads almost like a comic book version minus the pictures. That makes it simple to breeze through and there's no question you'll know the whole story by the end, but you'll not have been swept up by it as you would if you've any ear for poetry. Where reading the Iliad felt like rehashing a story I already knew, it was a different experience with The Odyssey. My knowledge of this one was more episodic, and getting the full story has finally sewn it together. While I'd recommend reading a poetic version if you can, the translator's introduction points out that The Odyssey can be likened to a novel and this is ably supported by its prose rendition. Techniques we view as modern can be found here in work that's 3,000 years old: different points of view, timeline jumps, foreshadowing etc. that could trick me into believing it's much more recent. I only regret the disproportionate page count once he gets to Ithaca, which I didn't find nearly as engaging as what came before. It's still easy to prefer this to the Iliad, but reading that first lends this one extra weight. It's the ending we didn't get, and this time it satisfies.
    • 5/5
      I love this book. Lattimore's grasp is huge and the story is immortal (of course). One of the primordial epic stories in which we interact with the gods. The most rosy-fingered story ever told in its *best* translation. The story has everything -- including lots of sex. "It is hateful to me to tell a story over again, when I has been well told." After reading it in starts and fits, over the course of many years, it is finally finished -- "let the rest be hidden in silence."
    • 4/5
      815 The Odyssey: The Story of Ulysses, by Homer translated by W. H. D. Rouse (read 13 Aug 1965) Frankly, I read this because I figured everybody should have read this. I read it right after reading the Iliad. Over the years I had read parts of this, but I have no specific memory of being overly moved in the reading. Nor can I make any meaningful comment on the merit of the translation. This translation was published first in 1938
    • 4/5
      Great story, but can be a bit hard to read. Some of the phrases used in this translation are a bit weird- I suppose they were chosen to fit the rhythm, but it doesn't really fit. However, it is a very readable translation and the story is, of course, excellent.
    • 5/5
      This is an amazing book, and one of the easiest classical Greek reads I've discovered.
    • 4/5
      I have read several versions of The Odyssey ranging from ones designed for collegiate readers to ones designed for early readers, and frankly I like them all. I have long been a fan of this particular story for all its colorful characters and life lessons. I think that the parallel story lines of Odysseus, Telemachus, and Penelope offer a variety of perspectives for any reader.
    • 5/5
      Can't go wrong with the Odyssey. I've probably read this ten times by now, it never gets old and I always find new things I missed before.
    • 3/5
      This was a book I decided to tackle with audiobook and I thought it came across better listening to a narrator. Will give the Iliad go to.
    • 4/5
      There are certainly some great episodes in the Odyssey, but after the incredible intensity of the Iliad, I found it somewhat tedious, and it took me a long time to finish. I liked Lombardo's translation of the Iliad very much, so I assume the fault is not his.
    • 5/5
      This translation is a must read for anyone interested in literature, classics, or history. The pace of the story is amazing with action and adventure mixed in with society and home life.
    • 5/5
      Everything classic Greek literature should be.
    • 5/5
      Arguably the most influential book in western civilization after the Bible. In a new verse translation directly from the greek by Frederico Lourenço, a scholar at the University of Lisbon, this is an exceptionally beautiful rendition of an exquisite all-time classic. Absolutely impossible to put down once started.
    • 5/5
      The greatest of all ancient Greek works is spellbinding. Fagles' prose is lean and muscular, giving a grit and immediacy to his adventures. Loved it when I read it in high school, love it still today. As relevant today as it was nealy 3000 years ago.
    • 5/5
      Experienced an unplanned event while traveling? Or feel like you are living through an epic of misfortune that will not end? Or just having a really bad day? If you answered yes to any of these questions then rush to your shelves and re-read a chapter of Odysseus’ travails on his way home. [Pause for you to finish reading chapter]. OK, deep breath, now your problems don’t seem so bad, do they? Recommended for all adventurers who need more perspective.
    • 3/5
      This is much better the The Iliad. You can see why scholars think it's the later book. Homer has learnt a thing or two about the narrative art. It reads almost like a modern novel. The entire book is constructed of a series of guest/host scenarios as all the permutations are explored. Homer doesn't lose sight of his story as he does at times in the Iliad.This is Fagles' translation. He's not a real poet. He writes prose, marred with a poor sentence structure, which he then breaks into lines. A shame, but if you just read it as prose you will, thankfully, finally come to the end of the book.