The Penelopiad

Our Review

I have read a previous edition of The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood many years ago, but I can remember not really appreciating it the first time around. I had not read The Odyssey and on the day I read The Penelopiad I was looking for an easy read.

This time around I can honestly say I loved it. I still haven’t read The Odyssey and I cannot say I have plans to but the introduction from Margaret Atwood explained it well enough for me to understand it.

In The Odyssey the story of Odysseus’ return home after twenty years is told. His story tells of heroic deeds and sex with goddesses. He is well known for his wit and his wily ways.

Penelope is portrayed as the quintessential faithful wife but also as intelligent. She successfully tricks her suitors into waiting for her to make a decision on her new husband but doesn’t actually make one as she is waiting for her husband to return.

The Odyssey closes with the slaughter of her suitors and with her son killing the twelve maids who were sleeping with the twelve suitors.

I liked that the introduction not only outlined the original story but also Atwood’s focus in the retelling.

“I’ve chosen to give the telling of the story to Penelope and to the twelve hanged maids. The maids formed 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 inconsistences. I’ve always been haunted by the hanged maids; and, in The Penelopiad, so is Penelope herself.”

The Penelopiad shows a different side to Penelope than the one who was portrayed in The Odyssey, it gives her a voice where she didn’t previously have one. A voice that shows she sees what her husband was really like even if she only realises once she is dead.

“I knew he was tricky and a liar, I just didn’t think he would play his tricks and try out his lies on me. Hadn’t I been faithful? Hadn’t I waited, and waited, and waited, despite the temptation – almost the compulsion – to do otherwise? And what did I amount to, once the official version gained ground? An edifying legend. A stick used to beat other women with. Why couldn’t they be as considerate, as trustworthy, as all-suffering as I had been? …Don’t follow my example.”

I thought the chapters on slave girls were amazing. I thought the first Chorus line in particular was amazing.

“We are the maids

The ones you killed

the ones you failed

 

We danced in air

our bare feet twitched

it was not fair

 

with every goddess, queen and bitch

from there to here

you scratched your itch

 

We did much less

than what you did

you judged us bad

 

you had the spear

you had the word

at your command

 

We scrubbed the blood

of our dead

paramours from floors, from chairs

 

from stairs, from doors,

we knelt in water

while you stared

 

at our bare feet

it was not fair

you licked our fear

 

it gave you pleasure

you raised your hand

you watched us fall

 

We danced on air

the ones you failed

the ones you killed.”

One of the things I enjoyed was the different theories put forward about Penelope’s real actions and also, the possible reasons why the maids were killed. I also found the theory on the real significance of the 12 murdered maids.

The Penelopiad was an amazing story as usual but the writing style was also fantastic. I love the different methods used by Margaret Atwood to tell the story: the choruses and the trial in particular, were favourites of mine.

The Penelopiad could be described as having a feminist stance but it is not just that. She is giving a voice to a character who previously didn’t have one. A characters whose story is not told in The Odyssey . It wasn’t just Penelope’s characters who was given a voice though it was also the maids. This was often dealt with in a humorous and witty way as illustrated by the passage below:

“And so I was handed over to Odysseus, like a package of meat. A package of meat in a wrapping of gold, mind you. A sort of gilded blood pudding.”

I enjoyed the fact that the book left me with more questions than answers.

The Penelopiad was definitely a 5* book for me.

Our Final Rating...

Tue, 20th March 2018