ODYSSEY: REVIEW

 

Odyssey is an intriguing narrative, weaving a remarkable and eminently readable tale of love, despair, deceit and hope, and is well worth a read, whether you are interested in Greek mythology or not. Review by Barry Meehan for ARTSMART

 

Stephen Fry is a true legend, in my humble opinion, master of all that he tackles. He started out as a comedian alongside Hugh Laurie in the award-winning show A Bit of Fry and Laurie (which he co-wrote with Laurie), then excelled in Jeeves and Wooster and Blackadder as General Melchett. 

As a presenter, he has to date hosted over 180 episodes of the very entertaining QI, and is the narrator of several Harry Potter audiobooks. Coupled with all the above, he has authored four best-selling novels and produced three volumes of his autobiography.

But our focus here must be on Odyssey, the fourth in a remarkable series of his incredibly successful history of the Greek wars. The previous books in the series are Mythos, Heroes and Troy, all best-sellers on the Sunday Times lists. If you haven’t read any of these, you will still get true enjoyment out of Odyssey, as Fry’s meticulously researched footnotes explain the relationships between the Gods and the mortals, the mortals themselves, and snippets on the background and battles leading up to the end of the decade-long Trojan war.

So, Troy has finally fallen and the Greeks head home with their victory spoils, the hero Odysseus amongst them. All he desires is to be reunited with his beloved wife, Penelope, and his son, Telemachus. Unfortunately for Odysseus, Poseidon – god of the seas – has other plans. He hurls a monster storm at the Greek fleet and curses Odysseus to wander the oceans for a further ten years.

His journey is fraught with dangers, amongst them encounters with giants, monsters, storms, giant whirlpools, seductive sirens, witches and scheming goddesses, all determined to disrupt his epic journey home.

Odyssey is an intriguing narrative, weaving a remarkable and eminently readable tale of love, despair, deceit and hope, and is well worth a read, whether you are interested in Greek mythology or not. Unfortunately, it would appear that it is destined to be the last in the series, so miss it at your peril. Better still, get hold of the first three epics and binge-read to your heart’s content. – Barry Meehan

Odyssey is published by Penguin Random House UK: ISBN  978-0-241-48636-8