Legends, Myths & Fables, Teen Fiction

Waiting for Odysseus

Name: Waiting for Odysseus
Author: Clemence McLaren
ISBN: 9780689867057

by Clemence McLaren

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Overview

Four women.

Four stories.

One man's journey.

Odysseus. His epic tale has been told countless times, but rarely is it heard through the voices of the women who loved and served him. Penelope, Circe, Athena, Eurycleia: Theirs are the silent voices, the voices of longing, waiting, strength. They are the women who moved him and motivated him. And now they shed new light on his age-old journey.

Presents the story of Odysseus's epic journey through the eyes of his faithful wife Penelope, the sorceress Circe, the goddess Athena, and his old nanny Eurycleia.

Synopsis

Four women.

Four stories.

One man's journey.

Publishers Weekly

This "colorful feminist reimagining" of Homer's The Odyssey offers four female characters' perspectives. "Readers may be better off having at least some acquaintance with Greek mythology ahead of time, but the uninitiated could easily get swept up in the swift, powerful writing," noted PW. Ages 12-up. (Mar.) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

About the Author, Clemence McLaren

Clemence McLaren writes:

"When I was a sixth grader, I used to read The Odyssey with a flashlight after I'd been sent to bed. I was both fascinated and frustrated when the women characters left their endless weaving to make brief, intriguing appearances in the men's hall. I always wanted to know how they felt about what was happening, but that was almost never revealed. Did Helen enjoy having the world's most beautiful face? Did Penelope blame her for launching the great war? And why did Circe keep changing men into pigs? I suppose I began retelling these stories to answer my own questions. When I became a teacher, I told my stories to my students, always embroidering on the characters' personalities.

"My fascination for Greece began with that early reading, and I grew up to live out my dreams for six years (on and off) in a tiny Greek village named Mylos, where we had a cottage between the one-room schoolhouse and the bakery.

"I now live in Hawaii, where I'm again studying the language and the legends, amazed at the parallels with Greek mythology. There's a Hawaiian Helen of Troy (named Hina), and a Polynesian equivalent to the Trojan horse (a wooden shark god, engineered to conceal enemy warriors). I'm still telling stories to my students, sharing my own passion for the classics and also teaching them to look more deeply for the silenced voices."

Clemence McLaren has also written Inside the Walls of Troy and Dance for the Land.

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Editorials

Publishers Weekly

KLIATT

Four silent women from the original epic are finally given a voice in this simplified modern retelling of the fabled travels of Odysseus. Helen of Troy, depicted in the early chapters as a beautiful young girl whose many suitors vie for her hand, is left in the shadows when the charming Penelope beguiles Odysseus instead. Later in Ithaca, years after their son Telemachus is born, Odysseus's sense of honor propels him into the Trojan War. The story line begins here with Penelope waiting patiently for her husband's return from a series of harrowing adventures. The second chapter finds Odysseus succumbing to the wiles of the sorceress Circe who puts him through the ordeal of Hades and a meeting with the prophet Tiresias as a condition to resuming his journey back to Ithaca. Having survived the whirlpool Charybdis and the six-headed monster Scylla, he washes up on the shores of Kalypso, the lovesick nymph. The sea god Poseidon, an uncle whom Odysseus has angered, threatens to harm him until the goddess Pallas Athena intervenes on his behalf. Finally, with the help of his son Telemachus and the guidance of Pallas, Odysseus lands on his home shores again and is recognized by his childhood nurse, Eurycleia. Through the eyes of the watchful and benevolent Eurycleia, Odysseus and Penelope subject each other to tests of fidelity, a series of disguises and some trickery, before finally revealing their identities. The first-person perspective of the women in this novel makes for a lively tale of love and deceit, trust and betrayal, with Odysseus a seeming pawn in the hands of women who often seem more powerful than he does. The author creates suspense in the final pages as the reader anticipates themanner of the final test and revelation. Young readers who lack either the time or the energy for the original Odyssey can still gain an appreciation for this timeless tale of journey and adventure. KLIATT Codes: JS—Recommended for junior and senior high school students. 2000, Simon & Schuster, Pulse, 178p., Ages 12 to 18.
—Phyllis LaMontagne

School Library Journal

Gr 7-9-For generations, the story of Odysseus has intrigued readers who have followed the Greek hero's journey from Ithaca to Troy and then from island to island as he attempts to return home after the Trojan War. Like many retellers before her, McClaren uses the basic tale first recounted in Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, but instead of narrating the events in the voice of Odysseus, she tells the story from the point of view of the four women who were most intimately affected. The tale begins romantically as Penelope tells of meeting, falling in love with, and marrying Odysseus. The seductress Circe, in love with the willing though homesick Odysseus, continues his story, which is then picked up by the goddess Pallas Athena. She helps him reach home where he must rid his palace of suitors who demand that Penelope marry one of them. Here, his old nursemaid, Eurycleia, continues the narration and relates the satisfying ending of this journey. By changing the narrator a number of times, McClaren adds variety and richness to this already dramatic tale, full to bursting with love, adventure, and hard questions about life. The women's voices are distinctive, and their stories broaden readers' understanding of the meaning of this timeless journey. In her fine epilogue, McClaren discusses characters, themes, and symbols, and she explains some of the underlying questions that made her tell the story in a way that addresses the concerns and interests of modern readers.-Barbara Scotto, Michael Driscoll School, Brookline, MA Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.|