'The Penelopiad' by Margaret Atwood

I've not yet read the Odyssey (nor the Iliad for that matter - woe is me) so I cannot really comment on the effect of Atwood's chosen perspective.

Her retelling of the story is modern and feminist. Her language is a strange contrast to that of Homer's - almost sallying his graveness and age with her humour and hipness for, indeed, this is a funny book.

I read this in the dead of the night, which may have had something to do with making Penelope's narration from Hades more effective. She crosses paths with people from her lifetime (now also deceased), intermingles with the living and comments on their silliness, and is still, being made to wait by Odysseus the great voyager, escape artist and eloquent liar.

Atwood has some interesting theories about female cults, the twelve wrongly killed maids and I certainly enjoyed the portrayal of Helen.

Poor Penelope.