10.30.2004
The Essential Illiad
by Homer, translated by Stanley Lombardo
157 pgs, paperback
Amazon site
Overall Grade: B-
Usually Homer is pretty good, and I really did like Lombardo's translation. Its very easy to read and just has a really good feel to it. But perhaps my thoughts are tainted by the rushed pace I had to read this book in for class. I didn't even read the preface, but that usually just talks about things I went over & over again last year when my class read Lombardo's Odyssey translation. Plot: Story begins where the Greeks are fighting the Trojans because Helen ran off with Paris like ten years ago. Mostly this story is about Achilles and how stubborn he is and how the gods are manipulating everybody. Most of you probably know the basics of the story, just let me add that the Illiad doesn't cover all you know about the Trojan War; no prologue of Helen actually leaving; no Trojan horse; forget the movie. Also, lots of extraneous details are loped off of this edition, so if you want a quicker read, this is it.
157 pgs, paperback
Amazon site
Overall Grade: B-
Usually Homer is pretty good, and I really did like Lombardo's translation. Its very easy to read and just has a really good feel to it. But perhaps my thoughts are tainted by the rushed pace I had to read this book in for class. I didn't even read the preface, but that usually just talks about things I went over & over again last year when my class read Lombardo's Odyssey translation. Plot: Story begins where the Greeks are fighting the Trojans because Helen ran off with Paris like ten years ago. Mostly this story is about Achilles and how stubborn he is and how the gods are manipulating everybody. Most of you probably know the basics of the story, just let me add that the Illiad doesn't cover all you know about the Trojan War; no prologue of Helen actually leaving; no Trojan horse; forget the movie. Also, lots of extraneous details are loped off of this edition, so if you want a quicker read, this is it.
Labels: genre: fiction, genre: foreign language, genre: historical, media: book
