Really enjoyed this new translation very much.
4.5*

Where do you start with a book such as this? An epic tale that has been around for almost three thousand years. I have no idea. What I do know is that I read it and loved it. I had little foreknowledge of the story and I haven't looked into the meanings or history too deeply. Instead I've tried to appreciate the story on it's own merits, getting swept away like Odysseus on the sea. There were quiet contemplative events and dramatic battles, personal struggles and wider societal issues. Gods and heroes, kings and queens, nymphs and cyclops, a lot of deceptive weaving and a city full of ill fated suitors, what more could you want?

Περισσότερα από 3000 χρόνια ταξιδεύουν τα ομηρικά έπη, μέσα στον κυκλικό και γραμμικό χρόνο των θεών και των ανθρώπων, για να θρυμματίζουν σταθερά κι απαράγραπτα τις καρδιές σ' αυτό το σημείο:

[...]ἔνθα κύων κεῖτ᾽ Ἄργος, ἐνίπλειος κυνοραιστέων.
δή τότε γ᾽, ὡς ἐνόησεν Ὀδυσσέα ἐγγύς ἐόντα,
οὐρῇ μέν ῥ᾽ ὅ γ᾽ ἔσηνε καὶ οὔατα κάββαλεν ἄμφω,
ἄσσον δ᾽ οὐκέτ᾽ ἔπειτα δυνήσατο οἷο ἄνακτος
ἐλθέμεν· αὐτάρ ὁ νόσφιν ἰδών ἀπομόρξατο δάκρυ,
ῥεῖα λαθών Εὔμαιον [...]

Κι ενώ εκείνοι συναλλάσσοντας τα λόγια τους μιλούσαν,
ένα σκυλί που ζάρωνε, σήκωσε ξαφνικά τ᾽ αφτιά και το κεφάλι του
—ο Άργος του καρτερικού Οδυσσέα! Τον είχε ο ίδιος
μεγαλώσει, όμως δεν πρόλαβε να τον χαρεί· πρωτύτερα
αναχώρησε να πάει στην άγια Τροία.
Τα πρώτα χρόνια οι νιούτσικοι τον έβγαζαν κυνήγι,
και κυνηγούσε αγριοκάτσικα, ζαρκάδια και λαγούς.
Μετά τον παραμέλησαν, αφότου ο κύρης του ταξίδεψε μακριά,
και σέρνονταν στην κοπριά, χυμένη σε σωρούς από τις μούλες
και τα βόδια στην αυλόθυρα μπροστά, απ᾽ όπου
του Οδυσσέα οι δούλοι σήκωναν κάθε τόσο να κοπρίσουν
το μέγα τέμενός του.
Εκεί τώρα σερνόταν το σκυλί, μ᾽ αμέτρητα τσιμπούρια ο Άργος.
Κι όμως, αναγνωρίζοντας τον Οδυσσέα στο πλάι του,
σάλεψε την ουρά του και κατέβασε πάλι τ᾽ αφτιά του,
όμως τη δύναμη δεν βρήκε να φτάσει πιο κοντά στον κύρη του.
Τον είδε εκείνος, και γυρίζοντας αλλού το βλέμμα του,
σκούπισε ένα δάκρυ —από τον Εύμαιο κρυφά,
για να τον ξεγελάσει.

percy jackson did it better

الأوديسة ملحمة شعرية تحكي عن أوديسيوس .. أحد أبطال حرب طروادة
وقصة عودته بعد سقوط طروادة إلى موطنه ايثاكا في رحلة مدتها 10 سنوات
ينتقل أوديسيوس من جزيرة لأخرى ويتوه في البحر ويمر بالكثير من المغامرات
ويتعرض للمخاطر والمصاعب بسبب غضب وعداء بوسيدون إله البحر
تحكي الملحمة أيضا عن بينيلوبي زوجة أوديسيوس .. حزنها لغيابه وانتظارها له لمدة 20 سنة
ومعاناتها وابنها من إقامة العديد من النبلاء في قصرها لإجبارها على قبول زواج واحد منهم
وفي النهاية وبمساعدة مينرفا إلهة الحكمة يعود أوديسيوس إلى مملكته
الملحمة تتناول معاني المسئولية والشجاعة والمساندة, الشرف والوفاء
والقدرة على هزيمة الخصم وتحقيق الانتصار سواء بالقوة أو الحيلة

ترجمة دريني خشبة غير مُطابقة لأصل القصيدة الشعرية
لكنه عرض للملحمة في سرد نثري بسيط ومختصر

Narra el viaje de vuelta de Troya a Ítaca de Odiseo y como su mujer Penélope y su hijo Telémaco durante el tiempo que estuvo fuera Odiseo tuvieron que aguantar a los pretendientes de Penélope.

La parte de la mitología, los dioses, a lo que se enfrentó Odiseo para regresar a casa, el cíclope, el canto de las sirenas, como descendió a los infiernos, eso si me ha gustado, aunque a ratines la narración se me ha hecho, en algún momento determinado, pesada.

See article in The New York Times Magazine Section, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/02/ma...

The Paris Review has excerpts: https://www.theparisreview.org/poetry...

Not ready to write a review yet but Claire Danes did a great job with this.

how do you rate one of the oldest, greatest pieces known in literature. I'll just compt out and give it 5 stars. if for no other reason than respect. i hate that Penelope had to be pure while Odysseus went whoring around the Aegean Sea. my modern sensibilities were confounded. LOL! i have read this many times. this time i did audible read by Master actor Ian McKellen. he made up for the awful weird music. Very good tale worth a read if you have not read it.

I have no idea how to review this book which has been discussed by millions of others over the past almost 3000 years. So I plan to keep this brief. This was so enjoyable! I found Knox's introduction very helpful and Fagles' translation smooth and very much a pleasure to read. Some of the descriptions were simply beautiful (I'm remembering Calypso"s cave), emotional (the reunions with family), powerful (the battles with the suitors, and eerie (the visit to The Underworld).

I recommend that everyone read it again if they haven't read it as an adult (and I don't count those college days!)

When you stop and think about it, much of classic literature is about how getting on a boat is a bad idea. This book is a litany on why boating is a bad idea. You can say it at least worked out for Odysseus but did it? Did it really? If that dude isn’t haunted by the screams of his crew forever it’s just because the horrors of having been on a boat are overriding it. The whole war could have been avoided if Helen had just stayed off one boat. So if you ever find yourself as a character in a novel (you’ll know by the sweet smell of freshly printed pages on the breeze) I beg you DO NOT GET ON A BOAT. You won’t get that ‘one fine day…’ on a boat Gatsby is hoping for in the famous line about the futility of boats (among other things). Look at Moby Dick—bet the crew of the Pequad were all wishing they stayed on land right before the whale drowned all their asses. You know what isn’t trying to drown you? Land. Ahab might have been a cool baker or candlestick maker but boats led him astray. More like Moby DEAD amirite?

The danger of literary boats is real, my friends, Poe’s only novel was about just that. Heart of Darkness? More like Boats are the Heart of the Problem. Look what happened to that old man in the sea, almost starved! And theres The Open Boat by Stephen Crane to remind you the sea is more of an open grave. 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea was like but what if we go UNDER the water surely that’ll work out great? Wrong. Jim Hawkins and Robinson Curuso could have avoided all sorts of trouble if they stayed off boats. That movie with Jeff Bridges and his school boat was all fun and games until Ryan Phillippe ended up super dead. And watch out for Theseus’ ship, we don’t know if it even counts as the same ship! Boats are tricky like that. Ask the orcas, they know what’s up.

Now in sci fi, spaceships are basically just space boats. And look what happened to Paul Atreides when he took that space boat to Arrakis: literally fucking space genocide. Nobody wants that. Hell, the Death Star is just a really really big genocide boat and that ended poorly for everyone. 2001 A Space Odyssey has a space boat out for murder and blaming the crew.

So watch out for boats, ye land lubbers. Leave the pirating to me.

2°leitura - 2019

"Não é então a Odisseia o mito de todas as viagens? Talvez para Ulisses-Homero não existisse a distinção mentira-verdade, e ele contasse a mesma experiência ora na linguagem do vivido, ora na linguagem do mito, tal como ainda hoje para nós qualquer viagem, pequena ou grande, é sempre uma Odisseia."
Italo Calvino - Porquê Ler os Clássicos?

E cinco anos depois a releitura da Odisseia cresceu e consolidou as 5☆, nesta edição da Cotovia e no excelente texto de Frederico Lourenço.

1°leitura - 2014
"Odisseia s.f.Fig. Viagem cheia de aventuras extraordinárias. Série de acontecimentos e peripécias estranhas e variadas."

E é mesmo disso que se trata; a viagem mais excepcional de sempre, o herói mais admirado e acarinhado pelo seu povo,ora posto à prova, ora ajudado pelos deuses caprichosos. Astucioso, enfrentou desafios impensáveis para o comum mortal numa epopeia que durou vinte anos. Foi o exemplo da bravura, da coragem, tenacidade e inteligência.
Mais velha do que Cristo, esta obra tem servido de inspiração a pintores, cineastas, escritores e, numa versão resumida, continua a fazer parte do programa de Língua Portuguesa nas escolas.
Numa época em que a honra se lavava com sangue e a valentia de um homem se equacionava pelo numero de cabeças cortadas, Ulisses não fugiu à regra. Foram demasiados relatos de membros decepados e mortes violentas. Tanto sangue roubou-lhe uma estrela.