The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood

Margaret Atwood is an automatic buy author for me. The first time I read her was at university. We had to read Surfacing by her. Although I can't remember anything other than the 'tear the umbilical chord in your teeth' part (and I am not even sure I remember that part correctly), I do remember being impressed with the book.

I found the Penelopiad sitting looking lonely at Jimmy's Secondhand bookshop, so I fixed the problem.

This book is a part of the Canongate Myth Series (I need to look into those books). It is a retelling of the myth of Odysseus from the point of view of Penelope and the hanged maids. Now I will admit that I have not read Homer (I have acquired the books this year and hope to rectify that), so my knowledge of this story was very basic and probably mostly wrong.

Perhaps I should give you Margaret Atwood's words on this, as found in the prologue: “I’ve chosen to give the telling of the story to Penelope and to the twelve hanged maids. The maids form a chanting and singing Chorus, which focuses on two questions that must pose themselves after any close reading of the Odyssey: What led to the hanging of the maids, and what was Penelope really up to? The story as told in the Odyssey doesn’t hold water: there are too many inconsistencies. I’ve always been haunted by the hanged maids and, in The Penelopiad, so is Penelope herself.”

I think having the perspective from dead Penelope made this a refreshing and insightful tale. While commenting on Odysseus, Atwood threw in many commentaries of the modern world we live in. I had to enjoy the cattiness between Penelope and Helen.

While I chuckled many times throughout this, I have to say that the parts by the twelve maids were ominous. The prologue in the beginning lets one know with no doubt that things are not going to end well (when do they ever for virgins?), and as the plot is slowly revealed and the hints are dropped by the maidens, that bad feeling becomes a bad eventuality. Not that this is gory. It isn't likely to turn stomachs (although I am not a good judge on that). Atwood was using this to make a comment on women.

I gave this 5 stars. I was just what I was in the mood for.