The Penelopiad

This was a quick, pretty easy read. It's the story of Penelope told by Penelope, the mythically patient, loyal wife of Odysseus, who waited 20 years for him to come home from the Trojan War. She is telling her story long after she has died and spent centuries in Hades, so some of her story includes updates on what the major characters are doing now. The tone is a little bit comic, a little bit resigned, like a Nora Ephron book, except that the story has a chorus that steps in to provide a darkly humorous commentary. The chorus is made up of the 12 handmaidens of Penelope who were slaughtered by Odysseus and Telemachus for supposedly colluding with the suitors who were occupying the household and pressuring Penelope to marry them.

The chorus was one of the best parts of the book, as far as I was concerned. I also liked the scenes from Hades. It's a little too easy to dismiss Penelope as not having enough of a spine or being too easy to dupe, but the chorus provides the clue that there is more to the story. There's also a brief academic gloss at the end which gives a more plainly worded possible interpretation–and although I liked having the alternate interpretation, I wished it had been worked into the story rather than spelled out in this way.