Review of The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood

Penelope was the faithful wife of Odysseus, left alone for 20 years while her husband fought wars and slept with goddesses, or so says Homer. But Atwood was troubled by an inconsistency in the story. When Odysseus returned, why did he murder Penelope’s 12 maids who had been raped by her suitors? So, she wrote a novel presenting, at least, their side of the story.

She speculates that they were symbols, of the months, of virginity, or something. I can’t help but wonder if they were symbols of Penelope’s adventures in his absence. In order for Odysseus to believe his wife had waited patiently for him for 20 years (10 more than was necessary, it appears), he needed first to “murder” the “lives” she led while they were apart. But maybe that’s just me.

Does Atwood always write this way? Helen was “beautiful” but we never heard about the texture of her hair. Ithica was not as grand as Sparta, but we never heard why… or how. At first, I found it a bit hard to invest in, but I learned to just go with it.

Here are a few quotes:
To have a child was to set loose a force in the world. Pg 24
I was clever, everyone said so – in fact they said it so much that I found it discouraging – but cleverness is a quality a man likes to have in his wife as long as she is some distance away from him. Up close, he’ll take kindness any day of the week, if there’s nothing more alluring to be had. Pg 29
Nothing helps gluttony along so well as eating food you don’t have to pay for yourself, as I learned from later experience. Pg 40
As for my mother, she stopped swimming around like a porpoise long enough to attend my wedding…. Pg 43
Water does not resist. Water flows. When you plunge your hand into it, all you feel is caress. Water is not a solid wall, it will not stop you. But water always goes where it wants to go, and nothing in the end can stand against it. Water is patient. Dripping water wears away a stone. Remember that, my child. Remember you are half water. If you can’t go through an obstacle, go around it. Water does. Pg 43
I had to agree – at least in public – that Odysseus was probably dead. Yet his ghost had never appeared to me in a dream, as would have been proper. Pg 111
“Which prayer shall we answer today?” they (the Gods) ask one another. “Let’s cast a dice! Hope for this one, despair for that one, and while we’re at it, let’s destroy the life of this woman other there by having sex with her in the form of a crayfish!” pg 135
Also, if a man takes pride in his disguising skills, it would be a foolish wife who would claim to recognize him: it’s always an imprudence to step between a man and the reflection of his own cleverness. Pg 137
But he knew me well – my tender heart, my habit of dissolving in tears and falling down on thresholds. Pg 145