The Penelopiad
- 191
- Pages
- about 3.5 h
- Reading time
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Our view
“The Penelopiad” retells the “Odyssey” from the wife’s side, and Penelope, speaking from Hades, proves a cool, sharp-tongued narrator. The twelve hanged maids break into her account as a chorus, each time in a different form, from a skipping rhyme to a court trial, and that device gives this short book its bite. Some readers find the ending awkwardly attached to the rest.
The view of the BookRank editors, written from readers’ ratings and comments. It does not affect the score or the book’s place in a ranking.
About the book
The Penelopiad is a novella by Canadian author Margaret Atwood. It was published in 2005 as part of the first set of books in the Canongate Myth Series where contemporary authors rewrite ancient myths. In The Penelopiad, Penelope reminisces on the events of the Odyssey, life in Hades, Odysseus, Helen of Troy, and her relationships with her parents. A Greek chorus of the twelve maids, who Odysseus believed were disloyal and whom Telemachus hanged, interrupt Penelope's narrative to express their view on events. The maids' interludes use a new genre each time, including a jump-rope rhyme, a lament, an idyll, a ballad, a lecture, a court trial and several types of songs.
Where the score comes from
The sources average 7.1 across 182 ratings — not yet many, so the reader vote carries 55% of the weight and the rest pulls toward the Rankings average of 7.8. That is how 7.4 comes out.
| Source | Average | Ratings | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Library | 6.6 | 16 | 9% |
| Hardcover | 7.1 | 166 | 91% |
In this book
Themes this book shares with others — each leads to the best books on it.