Laugh Out Loud Funny - Rated 
I am not normally a fan of Margaret Atwood's writings. I often find that she is too dark or has too much edge. Not that it is not good writing, and she is probably currently the most famous of the living Canadian authors, she just isn't usually my thing. I cannot say that for this book.
The Penelopiad is a hilarious romp through a story that most of us know, but told outside of time. There is an old saying that "dead men don't tell tales" and that may be true, but in this inventive retelling, a dead woman and her chorus of dead girls do just that.
Atwood has turned this myth on its head and told it from the female perspective. Unfortunately, our heroine is dead and in Hades, retelling her story from across the river Styx. She is telling her whole story but especially the events around Odysseus' long absence during the war against Troy and that unfortunate event with her cousin Helen.
The story is written in the format of a Greek Tragedy but with the humor and temperament of a comedy. Our chorus is the twelve dead maids, hung strung together on a ship's rope by Odysseus. They appear from time to time, in song, dance, or mock plays and trials to re-enact events from their lives to punctuate Penelope's story.
The twists and turns in this story will make you laugh out loud. A friend of mine who read it stated, `It begs to be read aloud.' And I could not agree more. Pick up the book, get some friends together and read it aloud, over an evening or two together. Much fun will be had with the ghosts of our 13 dead ladies.
(First published in Imprint 2005-11-05 as `Myth Novels')
Penny talks back! - Rated 
I think some of the earlier reviews of this novel fundamentally misunderstand its premise. Atwood's `The Penelopiad' was part of a series of books that endeavoured to revision classic myths from a new perspective. In this case Atwood took back the story of the `Odyssey' from Homer and Odysseus and positioned it firmly from the perspective of the abandoned Penelope and her slaughtered maids. Odysseus in various versions of the ancient Greek myth is painted as an alpha male hero, surviving the war at Troy and endeavouring to return to his beloved wife Penelope, hence Homer's `Odyssey'. Penelope was predominately characterised as the ever faithful wifey awaiting the return of her husband. What Atwood does is neither radical, nor particularly new many post-modern writers have reinterpreted male myths, often from a feminist or a particular nationalist perspective. Often reinterpretation is a cathartic means of taking back the history of oppression, silencing and colonisation, and certainly many women feel that they have largely been ignored by the history books. So what Atwood simply does is tell the story from the perspective of Penelope, a character essentially idealised in the ancient myth as the dutiful wife evading the advances of her many suitors by continuously weaving and unpicking a garment. Rather than chaining Penelope to the spinning wheel, Atwood invigorates her character with sexuality, humour, emotion and as a woman highly sceptical of her husband's pursuits and attitude towards women. For those who have read Homer's `Odyssey' one must not forget that it took Odysseus many years to return home to his wife, and in that time he engaged in a year long affair with the nymph Circe. Not until `The Penelopiad' do we get open criticism of Odysseus' behaviour and his senseless slaughter of Penelope's handmaids and most importantly this criticism comes directly from Penny herself. I think Atwood's novel is a fabulous fusion of re-written history from a sexy and witty perspective that incorporates nods towards popular culture such as `Desperate Housewives' and chick lit. Okay so it probably isn't Atwood's best written work but there are definite echoes of her earliest work `The Edible Woman' and the poetic prose of the chorus made up the twelve maids reminds one that Atwood is an extremely accomplished poet (see `Eating Fire'). I find it difficult to accept that this novel has been so readily written off, while many people will quite happily part with their money to see thoughtless and turgid Hollywood interpretations of the ancient world (`Troy', `Alexander', `300') that lack wit and sophistication. However I will concede that `The Penelopiad' is feminism lite, and if one wishes to introduce themselves to ancient proto-feminism I would suggest Euripides' `Medea'.
What a disapointment! - Rated 
I'm a great Atwood fan and have been devouring her books since the early 1980s. I had anticipated this as an amusing and intesting take on the Iliad, but what started off making me smile slighlty left me feeling irritated and embarassed. Avoid this book, unless you have to own all her works. I estimate that most charity shops will be groaning with copies this time next year!
Atwood's Regression - Rated
I am a huge Atwood fan. Out of my mental 'Top 10' of great books, she occupies two or three of the top spots every time. I teach a whole course on her at my Uni in the UK, and her books may be found on other courses including Canadian Lit, Historical Fiction and Writing the Environment. Some of our students say we should be called the Department of Atwood Studies. OK. So I was excited by the prospect of a new Atwood book, with a nifty 'counter-writing' angle that would put it alongside classics such as Jean Rhys's 'Wide Sargasso Sea', 'Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead' by Tom Stoppard and South African writer JM Coetzee's haunting rewriting of 'Robinson Crusoe' 'Foe'. 'The Penelopiad' is, however, a thoroughly bad book that is characterised by limp writing, cheap 'jokes' and a relentlessly trivialising approach to the 'Odyssey'. At best, it reads like a pretty good undergraduate counter-writing exercise dating from, say, 1974. The feminist angles are ponderous and predictable, giving no sense at all that Homer's great work has been confronted and imaginatively transformed. Even Atwood's legendary facility with similes seems to have deserted her in the writing of this commissioned piece. It's no better than the lightly funny 'Gertrude Writes Back', and rather worse than a whole host of other feminist counter-writings in poetry and prose. The only good thing about the book is that it acts as reminder that even the immortal Atwood is capable of writing a clunker, which I suppose is some sort of reassurance.
Margaret Atwood - The Penelopiad - Rated
This "The Myths" series is an absolutely great idea, the re-telling of ancient tales by conteporary writers, in their own style and with their own interpretations/twists. Atwood kicks it off in absolutely marvellous style with The Penelopiad, a version of The Oddyssey from Penelope's perspective. There are a couple of sentences toward the beginning that make it seem a dangerously academic excersice, but as Atwood breathes life into Penelope she shakes herself down, kicks off the preconceptions of a thousand years, and tells a brilliant, invigorating tale that shines fascinating light on an old story we all thought we knew. It's an easy, enlightening read, and you just know that Atwood had a lot of fun coming up with this. With it's reinterpretations of a tale and thus the shift in ramifications that have alst about 3000 years, it's actually an incredibly clever, intelligent little piece, but admirably doesn't go to any trouble to show that off. The intelligence is there for the taking, or not. Whatever you get from this, an entertaining read is the least of your rewards. It does, really, require not just a knowledge of The Oddyssey but Greek myth generally. You could definitely get by without, but youll get all the more from it if you do. One of the best things about The Penelopiad is Atwood's style, Penelope's voice. Fresh, modern, witty, invigorating, knowing, slightly sly. Atwood, as often, comes at this from a vaguely feminist point of view, but to say that engenders all kind of connotations... more, it's just an excellent meditation on the role of females in myth and legend, and thus stories generally. It is also laugh out loud funny at times. The asides, Atwood's marvellous wit, are all in display. It's a short volume, true, but this gem of a piece well showcases all Atwood's talents. Reccommended highly for all fans of Atwood, myth, and good literature generally. Brilliant.
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