Customer Reviews

Odysseus: A Life

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As someone who knows the ODYSSEY as well as a non-classicist can, before I bought this book, I asked myself: what is there to say, to add to what we have learned over the centuries about this great hero, and who would dare to try? Knowing other books by Beye, and having had the pleasure of hearing him talk in public forums, I should have known better than to ask. But why a new "life" of the great hero? Simply because there is plenty to more to say about him than we know. The basic unanswered questions--who, what, where, when, and why--abound in any thoughtful reader's mind. He gives us his take on Odysseus' life from birth right up to the time that he leaves for his battles and wanderingss. Of course, much of this is speculation, but it's inspired and fascinating speculation, founded on Beye's vast knowledge of Homer and his times. Beye not only tackles these issues with thoroughness, and dazzling wit, but also contributes substantial psychological insights, some based solidly on how the ancients thought about their heroes, and others based on our modern notions. Women, who play such a major role in Odysseus's exploits, are also given new meaning in this book. Beyond psychology, we learn a variety of things about ancient Greece, things Homer does not give us: its look, smell, ways of building its structures and boats, eating habits, sexual customs, and more. Beye manages a very difficult balancing act: preserving the role of the distinguished scholar that he his with making Odysseus seem not only heroic, but human. He does that both with integrity and humor, reasons enough for anyone interested in the subject to read this book. And for those who haven't read the ODYSSEY, this perfect introduction will surely encourage them to turn to the classic once they've finished Beye's book. In my view, this is an thoroughly delightful, informative, and captivating book.

What I loved about Odysseus: A Life is that it indulges a desire to identify with this mythological character as if he were a person while simultaneously reminding one of the fundamentally Modern limits of this kind of identification. Along the way, Beye elaborates a breathtaking overview of Classical culture, vividly informed by his passionate knowledge of the literature. It is a highly enjoyable read, told with great irony and wit.

I knew when I read "Odysseus: A Life" that Charles Beye is no ordinary or academic academic. Once voted "Red Hot Prof" by the students at Stanford University, Beye is wonderfully skilled at blending his vivid imagination and his mastery of ancient Homeric poem, myth, and history. He re-creates the epic hero as a man you can't help but find fascinating and irresistibly appealing. This book is utterly satisfying!

The great thing about this book is that everyone can learn from it. Whether you are a junior high school student just embarking upon your own odyssey in the world of the classics, or a retired person trying to get back into the world of literature, or even a scholar with a good knowledge of Homer and his poems, Beye's book serves the useful function of creating a multi-dimensional character out of all of the available souces, not just a single one. In other words, Beye brings to life someone who is a mythic figure and endows him with a full set of human characteristics that allows us to recognize him as both an ancient hero and a contemporary. This is an enjoyable but also provocative and worthwhile reading and educational experience.

As someone who knows the ODYSSEY as well as a non-classicist can, before I bought this book, I asked myself: what is there to say, to add to what we have learned over the centuries about this great hero, and who would dare to try? Knowing other books by Beye, and having had the pleasure of hearing him talk in public forums, I should have known better than to ask. There is plenty to more to say simply because we know so little about Odysseus. The basic unanswered questions--who, what, where, when, and why--abound in any thoughtful reader's mind. He gives us his take on Odysseus' life from birth right up to the time that he leaves for his battles and wanderingss. Of course, much of this is speculation, but it's inspired and fascinating speculation, founded on Beye's vast knowledge of Homer and his times. Beye not only tackles these issues with thoroughness, and dazzling wit, but also contributes substantial psychological insights, some based solidly on how the ancients thought about their heroes, and others based on our modern notions. Women, who play such a major role in Odysseus's exploits, are also given new meaning in this book. Beyond psychology, we learn a variety of things about ancient Greece, things Homer does not give us: its look, smell, ways of building its structures and boats, eating habits, sexual customs, and more. Beye manages a very difficult balancing act: preserving the role of the distinguished scholar that he his with making Odysseus seem not only heroic, but human. He does that both with integrity and humor, reasons enough for anyone interested in the subject to read this book. And for those who haven't read the ODYSSEY, this perfect introduction will surely encourage them to turn to the classic once they've finished Beye's book. In my view, this is an thoroughly delightful, informative, and captivating book.

I hate to be a naysayer and the other reviews here are very good, so let me just add that for me this book did not work except as a refresher of "Homer's" work. You know in a biography you can legitimately expect a specific viewpoint on the "person" in question and you can usually expect a sense of respect for that person. Of course we are talking about a fictional character here, but still I did not sense a different viewpoint, nor respect, nor an interpretation of the growth of awareness of Odysseus. Doesn't he change? Couldn't we pretend that he did? So as fictional biography I think it fell short. As fiction itself, I don't think it is particularly well written, and lapses into contemporary sexual references at a needless pace in some sections, such as with Calypso. The work of David Malouf in his wonderful book "Ransom" tells the story of Priam going to Achilles to get the body of Hector returned. It is told with such beauty and imagination. Now Charles Beye is not a novelist as far as I know - there are no really new fictional turns on Homer's story. So for me it doesn't work as biography or fiction. When Beye explains what Odysseus encountered on his return to Ithaca, this was appealing to me as reader of history, i.e. setting the stage for action with a probable and well grounded analysis of the world at that time, in the poem of course. But there isn't enough of this "history" either. Well, I wanted to like this book and I did get a refresher and I learned some things I certainly didn't know about Homer's world, but I don't think the book established a solid enough point of view to be recommended. In some ways, it hinges on its own irony and cleverness and this is not enough.