The Odyssey by Homer (Wishbone Classics) Retold by Joanne Mattern
Reviewed by BridgetRatings
Content Ratings based on a 0-5 scale where
0 = no objectionable content and
5 = an excessive or disturbing level of content
LANGUAGE
VIOLENCE
SEXUAL CONTENT
ADULT THEMES
Ratings Explanation
Violence: The Trojan War is described as a bloody field of battle. Odysseus remembers soldiers screaming as they died, and swords and battle-axes crashing into their shields. The Cyclops eats two of Odysseus’ men. Odysseus and his men plunge the burning point of a spike into the Cyclops’s eye, blinding the Cyclops. Circe changes Odysseus’ men into swine. Scylla, a monster, snatches six men into his jaws. Odysseus’ ship sinks in a terrible storm and every member of the crew is lost except Odysseus. Odysseus becomes a prisoner of the Goddess Calypso for seven years. Odysseus kills Antinous with an arrow to the neck, he gags and falls to the ground. Odysseus kills all remaining suitors arrows.
Sexual Content: Beautiful women, the Sirens’, sing a song so lovely that any man who hears it is drawn to them–and to his death.
Adult Themes: Odysseus and his men persuade the Cyclops to drink wine until he is drunk. Odysseus travels to Hades – The Land of the Dead! The aggressive suitors torment Penelope by eating her food, staying in her home, and demanding she choose a new husband.
Synopsis
King Odysseus leaves his wife, Penelope, and his infant son, Telemachus, behind in Ithaca, while he fights in the Trojan War with another Greek King, Menelaus. They fight against the people of Troy for ten years! Odysseus misses Penelope and Telemachus dearly. When the war finally ends, Odysseus begins his journey, his odyssey home to Ithaca. Odysseus finds the journey home to be more difficult than the war as he encounters Cyclops, Greeks Gods and Goddesses, sirens, and monsters. He finally arrives home and battles Penelope’s aggressive suitors.
My 4th grade son, Ansel, recommended I read this book. Ansel devoured this simplified version of “The Odyssey” in an evening. An interesting read, with easy to understand explanations of Greek Mythology as well as great background information about the author, Homer.
©2009 The Literate Mother