The Penelopiad
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The Penelopiad
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Narrated by:
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Laural Merlington
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By:
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Margaret Atwood
About this listen
For Penelope, wife of Odysseus, maintaining a kingdom while her husband was off fighting the Trojan War was not a simple business. Already aggrieved that he had been lured away due to the shocking behaviour of her beautiful cousin Helen, Penelope must bring up her wayward son, face down scandalous rumours, and keep over 100 lustful, greedy, and bloodthirsty suitors at bay....
And then, when Odysseus finally returns and slaughters the murderous suitors, he brutally hangs Penelope's 12 beloved maids. What were his motives? And what was Penelope really up to?
©2005 O.W. Toad Ltd. (P)2012 Canongate BooksListeners also enjoyed...
What listeners say about The Penelopiad
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- ms m g
- 18-12-19
Mindblowing
A great take on an old story. Gets in your head when you listen. Chorus grates at first but then works very well. I'm teaching the Odyssey so it helps me offer alternative interpretation. I love the end in particular and it offered great theories about the moon goddesses /maids. I also loved the court room idea. Margaret Atwood as ever makes you think again!
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- nathan
- 08-03-20
The Hanged Maids
I really enjoyed the audiobook, it’s a great retelling of Homer’s Odyssey.
The only fault I have is the verses where the audio is just layered instead of a couple of different voice actors.
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3 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- J Z A
- 09-03-24
Fascinating
Short but long enough. Another complex tale that went mostly over my head. It is certainly a work of quality but I am not sure I could recommend it.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 15-12-17
Surprisingly addictive!
If you could sum up The Penelopiad in three words, what would they be?
addictive, funny, captivating
What about Laural Merlington’s performance did you like?
The voices of the handmaidens were so chilling. I honestly felt a shiver when listening alone and in the dark!
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4 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Tatiana / @TCLinrow
- 07-12-20
Brilliantly written, but wanted more
This was a brutally honest, feminist retelling of the Odyssey. It didn't hide from the darkness of the story, it called the bluffs of the hero worship and idolising of the main male characters and showed us a glimpse of what they got up to in the shadows. Excellently crafted and researched, I just wish there had been more of it.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Treehugger
- 13-03-21
Amusing, witty and irreverent!
I really enjoyed this story. Told in the person of Odysseus' wife Penelope, in a fun, modern style, it relates the events of the Iliad from her point of view, stuck at home. Her early life is told in some detail, and her relationship with her cousin, the spoilt, bitchy Helen of Troy. I really liked hearing about all their day to day beliefs, gods, evenrts, myths etc. Several times I laughed out loud - it's not presented as a comedy, but Penelope's personality is so acerbic and witty that she brought an irreverent mischief to everything she describes.
The narrator is absolutely wonderful, beautifully expressive and conveys all the emotions and bringing the different characters amazingly to life.
Margaret Atwood has a particular gift for creating alternate worlds in such a way that the listener becomes fully immersed. Such a breath of fresh air after some other authors' attempts at trying to bring dull history books to life by fleshing out the characters and events a little ... This is a full body experience as opposed to a museum tour!
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 31-07-19
The Odyssey: Penelope's side
This is so well crafted. Taking Homer's 'Odyssey' to another level. It was the perfect length.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Rebecca
- 03-10-24
Interesting, fun and well researched
An interesting, fun and well researched retelling of Odysseus’s famous story from Penelope’s equally unreliable perspective.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- Mspringham
- 12-02-20
Eh... kinda boring
I've studied the Odyssey a fair bit and found some of the characterisation of Penelope and Odysseus kinda strange. Being wily and outsmarting people was the foundation of Heroism, and directly linked to Hermes i.e. the trickster, so branding it as a negative trait seems really anathema to Classical myth. The relationship with the maids was under explored and really not central to the story as I had expected from the blurb.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Carla
- 17-04-21
Surprising perspective of an much derived source
Really appreciated the Greek tragedy style chorus of the 12 maids; certainly more than I had initially anticipated.
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1 person found this helpful