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The kindle edition is linked to the Fagles translation, but that is not what you will get. The Pope translation is what you will get for kindle -- not at all the same thing.Patricia
Nevertheless, I think the story lags for about a hundred pages after Odysseus returns home -- although it might be too much to expect what was originally an oral story to get to the point. I personally preferred The Iliad, but this still gives in invaluable look into the mindset of a soldier in the Ancient World. Odysseus is not all that heroic when viewed through a modern lense, and that's part of what makes the work so interesting. However, when the plot does pick up again, it really picks up -- with an extremely gory scene should strike most modern readers as extremely disturbing. Overall, I have no choice but to recommend this -- it's just to0 important not to pick up.
But none of those, in my opinion, can be compared with the translations of both poems by Robert Fagles that were published at the end of the last century. In his book "The Joy of Reading", Charles Van Doren had this to say of Fagles's translation: "Translations of both epics by Richard Lattimore are said to be closer to the Greek than most others but perhaps as a result they are not easy to read. A more passionate version of The Iliad by Robert Fitzgerald seemed preferable when it appeared thirty years ago. His Iliad is powerful, almost overwhelming, his Odyssey utterly charming, and I recommend them to anyone who wishes to read--or reread--Homer's two great epics. I can't imagine any reader not being transported by Fagles into Homer's magical world."
received a lot faster than the book I ordered in January and has never come
I like both Fagle's and Pope's translations,depending on mood. However, I was dismayed when I clicked on the Kindle link in Fagle and got Pope's verse translation. Buyer beware, and shame on Amazon.
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