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The Penelopiad

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The Penelopiad

By: Margaret Atwood
Narrated by: Laural Merlington
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About this listen

For Penelope, wife of Odysseus, maintaining a kingdom while her husband was off fighting the Trojan War was not a simple business. Already aggrieved that he had been lured away due to the shocking behaviour of her beautiful cousin Helen, Penelope must bring up her wayward son, face down scandalous rumours, and keep over 100 lustful, greedy, and bloodthirsty suitors at bay....

And then, when Odysseus finally returns and slaughters the murderous suitors, he brutally hangs Penelope's 12 beloved maids. What were his motives? And what was Penelope really up to?

©2005 O.W. Toad Ltd. (P)2012 Canongate Books Fantasy Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Magic Marriage Funny Thought-Provoking Witty Ancient History Ancient Greece

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All stars
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A great take on an old story. Gets in your head when you listen. Chorus grates at first but then works very well. I'm teaching the Odyssey so it helps me offer alternative interpretation. I love the end in particular and it offered great theories about the moon goddesses /maids. I also loved the court room idea. Margaret Atwood as ever makes you think again!

Mindblowing

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compelling story and myth. the interpretation of Penelope's story along the story of the maids is mesmerising and impossible to put down

compelling story and choruses

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I really enjoyed the audiobook, it’s a great retelling of Homer’s Odyssey.

The only fault I have is the verses where the audio is just layered instead of a couple of different voice actors.

The Hanged Maids

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Short but long enough. Another complex tale that went mostly over my head. It is certainly a work of quality but I am not sure I could recommend it.

Fascinating

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If you could sum up The Penelopiad in three words, what would they be?

addictive, funny, captivating

What about Laural Merlington’s performance did you like?

The voices of the handmaidens were so chilling. I honestly felt a shiver when listening alone and in the dark!

Surprisingly addictive!

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This was a brutally honest, feminist retelling of the Odyssey. It didn't hide from the darkness of the story, it called the bluffs of the hero worship and idolising of the main male characters and showed us a glimpse of what they got up to in the shadows. Excellently crafted and researched, I just wish there had been more of it.

Brilliantly written, but wanted more

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I really enjoyed this story. Told in the person of Odysseus' wife Penelope, in a fun, modern style, it relates the events of the Iliad from her point of view, stuck at home. Her early life is told in some detail, and her relationship with her cousin, the spoilt, bitchy Helen of Troy. I really liked hearing about all their day to day beliefs, gods, evenrts, myths etc. Several times I laughed out loud - it's not presented as a comedy, but Penelope's personality is so acerbic and witty that she brought an irreverent mischief to everything she describes.
The narrator is absolutely wonderful, beautifully expressive and conveys all the emotions and bringing the different characters amazingly to life.

Margaret Atwood has a particular gift for creating alternate worlds in such a way that the listener becomes fully immersed. Such a breath of fresh air after some other authors' attempts at trying to bring dull history books to life by fleshing out the characters and events a little ... This is a full body experience as opposed to a museum tour!

Amusing, witty and irreverent!

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This is so well crafted. Taking Homer's 'Odyssey' to another level. It was the perfect length.

The Odyssey: Penelope's side

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An interesting, fun and well researched retelling of Odysseus’s famous story from Penelope’s equally unreliable perspective.

Interesting, fun and well researched

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This is pretty hilarious. Once again, the master of feminist prose Margaret Atwood has created a modern day version of Penelope from the Greek mythology of Odysseus in which she is no longer alive. She's rather outspoken, feisty and sly attempting to live with her brutish husband while on Earth. At the same time, her hatred for Helen of Troy has seeped into her afterlife as well. I love the ending talking about liposuction and heels. A fun listen.

Tongue and cheek feminist outlook of mythology

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