Quote Originally Posted by rockzmom View Post
Older daughter has to read The Odyssey for English class. I never had to read this in school and I don't look forward to reading this with her. I downloaded a full-cast audio version of the book and a free digital version of it to read.

Has anyone read this (or listened to it) and if so, what are your thoughts)

The Odyssey of Homer

Author: Yuri Rasovsky; Edward Asner; Irene Worth; Homer.
Publisher: [Ashland] : Blackstone Audiobooks, [2004]
Edition/Format: eAudiobook : MP3 : Document : EnglishView all editions and formats
Summary: It seems quite natural, given the original intent of The Odyssey as a story to be listened to and savored, to present this epic to the modern audience in a medium that most adheres to its aural-oral nature and the immediacy of its telling. Divided into eight one-hour segments of dramatization, each segment is followed by commentary on a particular aspect of the segment by a noted expert.
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I've never heard this voicing of the story - but I love the Odyssey, all of Homer's works.. Some would argue, but, of all the Greek writings/stories/myths/sagas/what-have-you, I think this one is by far the coolest.

You probably already know this, but the movie O Brother Where Art Thou? was (albeit loosely) based on the Iliad/Odyssey story.. For those who don't feel like digging through the old dusty version that might be something to look at.. though scholastically it won't hold water =)

The story at its heart is really simple.. This guy has to go off and do his manly/heroic duty, so he leaves his amazingly beautiful wife, sure he's only going to be gone a short time.. But the Goddess of the Sea holds him back from going home, through various crazy adventures, for - I think it's 10 years? It could be more than that, I might not be remembering right - and even when he does get back he's got to deal with other men after his woman, and a son that grew up while he was away.. In the right setting, this could totally be an American big budget movie..

There's also magic, sirens, a cyclops, some cannibals, a little war, and at least one shipwreck, so it's got something for everybody. =)

I probably didn't answer your question very well if you're looking for something specific, but I want to help if I can, anything specific I can answer for you?

EDIT: Homer loved to mess with names. Homer isn't even his real name - supposedly, he was a Babylonian by the name of Tigranes, but when the Greeks took him prisoner, he took the name "Homer" - literally homeros, or "hostage." Odysseus’ name means “trouble” in Greek, referring to both the giving and receiving of trouble—often the case in his wanderings. An example is the boar hunt in which Odysseus is injured by the boar and responds by killing it. Odysseus' heroic trait is his mētis, or "cunning intelligence": he is often described as the "Peer of Zeus in Counsel." This intelligence is most often manifested by his use of disguise and deceptive speech. His disguises take forms both physical (altering appearance) and verbal, such as telling the Cyclops Polyphemus that his name is Ουτις, "Noman", then escaping after blinding Polyphemus. When asked by other Cyclopes why he is screaming, Polyphemus replies that "No man" is hurting him, so the others assume that, "If alone as you are [Polyphemus] none uses violence on you, why, there is no avoiding the sickness sent by great Zeus; so you had better pray to your father, the lord Poseidon".The most evident flaw that Odysseus sports is that of his arrogance and his pride, or hubris. As he sails away from the island of the Cyclopes, he shouts his name and boasts that no one can defeat the "Great Odysseus". The Cyclops then throws the top half of a mountain at him and prays to his father, Poseidon, saying that Odysseus has blinded him. This enrages Poseidon, causing the god to thwart Odysseus' homecoming for a very long time.

EDIT EDIT: I'm an idiot, didn't realize this post had been answered very thoroughly.. please ignore my post if you like or if it's repetitive..