BookTok Review Of The Odyssey As If It Were Newly Released

Okay, guys, stop scrolling if you want your next read. Tell me why was this book a whole mood? Not gonna lie, I stan this author. Authors? I mean it’s many authors but also only one author. IYKYK. Anyway, y’all this book low-key altered my brain chemistry. Heads up: major spoilers incoming.

This book is like The Epic of Gilgamesh meets Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey and I’m not mad about it. I will say you don’t need to read The Iliad beforehand, but it enriches it for sure. Like if you read Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix without reading the first four books, you would absolutely miss that Dumbledore isn’t a full turd, just a partial turd. So just hear me when I say this — there is a notable depth of sacrifice behind Odysseus’ long journey and desire for home and peace. Not me being literary! I’ll be honest. The pacing was mad inconsistent in some parts. It IS called The Odyssey after all. I almost DNF’d this bad boy during the Calypso captivity where I was like “Chop chop, Homer (and other oral authors)!” Eventually I hit my stride ironically in the midst of the “great wanderings” which dovetails into his return to Ithaca. Sidenote for those of you using AI generated art to create Odysseus. It’s Xaden Riorson from the Empyrean Series all over again where Rebecca Yarros explicitly said he wasn’t white. Odysseus was from Ithaca, you know, the one in GREECE. Okay? Stop making him blonde.

This book is somewhat controversial. Let’s talk genres. A lot of y’all would call this narrative epic poetry but a minority of BookTokers are calling it “mytho-history.” Okurr. Also, the depiction of female characters is so cringe. It’s either the sexless wife tricking others who are trying to marry her so she can keep faithfully awaiting her mans or it’s the dangerous Siren temptresses where it’s totally their fault if a man cheats. It’s giving two-dimensionality and is the Sex and the City quote about the only two choices for women’s Halloween costumes are witch or sexy kitten. Admittedly there is not much realistic dialogue. I mean saying, “Now it’s time to repay each of you with death,” is so extra. Just say, “I’m gonna end you!” with your whole chest. But this book does have storytelling, world building, foreshadowing, and symbolism in abundance. That’s facts.

If I had to summarize the plot in one sentence it would be dude goes on a lot of big adventures on his way to reuniting with his fam and home where my guy un-alives people to get back with his wife. It’s like Finding Nemo plus a crazy amount of revenge *murders* [mouths murders]. Make sense? Just keep swimming!

Some memorable sections deserve mention here. First, shout out to the encounter between Odysseus and the Cyclops which is “David and Goliath” coded. Slay. Literally. Then there’s the test of the bow which only Odysseus can string and is deadass Cinderella’s glass slipper. We love a unique king. This happens during the big reveal of Odysseus himself to his servants and family. It’s like in Hook when the lost boy, Pockets, forces Pan’s cheeks into a grin and exclaims, “Oh, there you are, Peter!” This is a straight bangar-ang of a book [dramatic pause with tiny Rufio spinning across the screen]. Okay, moving on.

OMG not me forgetting Scylla and Charybdis! Mother of all rock-and-hard-places. Period.

The gods in this book are like The Real Housewives of the Aegean Sea. They just can’t stay in their own divine lane and just have to stir the pot. DRAMA! Poseidon is diabolically feral towards Odysseus like Teresa Giudice absolutely gunning for Melissa Gorga season after season. But then there’s Athena who stans Odysseus so hard, like Sonja Morgan and Luann de Lesseps. Their relationship is so cool and not at all, likem uncool. We ship Mount Olympus!

Even though there is a lot of anguish and ethnocentrism (it’s not giving “love thy neighbor,” ya feel me?) and oppression and suffering and violence and revenge and death in here, it’s mostly about perseverance. The Odyssey is a work of art and also absolutely shattered me. Two things can be true at once. Dare I say this is a Gods’ tier book? Don’t flame me!

Anne Reiner is a writer and biostatistician based in NYC.