The better known of Homer’s epic poems, The Odyssey describes the Greek hero Odysseus’ ten-year voyage home from the Trojan wars, and the hardships he faces. Between quarrels with the various gods, run-ins with other immortal creatures, and the multitudinous perils that faced adventurers in Odysseus’ world, the voyage is packed with enough events that the story is told over an over again in modern literature and visual media.
Review
Scylla and Charybdis, Polyphemus the Cyclops, the nymph Calypso, Poseidon, and the Isle of the Lotus Eaters, to mention a few, examine the various challenges that any man must face in his lifetime, even without making a ten-year voyage. Much like The Illiad, The Odyssey is full of enough action to entertain many younger readers if it is simplified, and will keep older readers enthralled as well. In addition to its importance to Western literature, it is important to note that not every book about a voyage has a well known word coined after it meaning a great journey with trials along the way.