Margaret Atwood has taken a troubling scene out of Homer's Odyssey--the hanging of Penelope's maids--and woven a modern, feminist story behind this seemingly senseless and violent act. This subject matter is a departure from her usual science fiction that I've read before. Since I am a fan or her other works, my gamble that I would enjoy this one also worked.
I found myself appreciating this short book just as much, if not more, than her other novels. The concept itself is brilliant--how many lines/scenes from classical texts have confused our modern sensibilities but we just shrug and plow on, not feeling we have the luxury of time to dwell on the passage. What if we took it a step beyond and wove our own derivative story from these scenes?
Atwood tells a very abbreviated version of The Odyssey (the subtitle is "The myth of Penelope and Odysseus") from Penelope's view. This retelling reminds me of reverse fairytales: such as when Snow White is told from the viewpoint of the "evil" stepmother. In this retelling, Odysseus' hero reputation becomes a little lackluster under Penelope's perspective.
The story also incorporates the chorus (a convention from Greek plays) to permit the maids to tell their story. However, the chorus not only challenges Penelope's version but even implies she herself is not as virtuous as we are led to believe. Sowing this doubt introduces a multi-layered complexity for the reader to puzzle over in their attempt to understand what really happened.
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