I really like the idea of a book consisting of "alternative episodes, fragments, and revisions" of Homer's Odyssey, apocrypha if you will. But I was disappointed with Mason's execution of the idea.
First of all, the stories all have a modern feel to them with their meta-textual tricks and character psychology. At best they are contemporary understandings of the original, not alternative versions of the story. Mason also travels freely beyond the Odyssey, with some stories relating to the Illiad, the Agamemmon stories, and even Greek myths more generally. Finally, and most damaging, the stories just weren't that interesting. They reminded me of the book Sum: Forty Tales from the afterlives: very short vignettes, intriguing subject matter, only intermittently enjoyable.
First of all, the stories all have a modern feel to them with their meta-textual tricks and character psychology. At best they are contemporary understandings of the original, not alternative versions of the story. Mason also travels freely beyond the Odyssey, with some stories relating to the Illiad, the Agamemmon stories, and even Greek myths more generally. Finally, and most damaging, the stories just weren't that interesting. They reminded me of the book Sum: Forty Tales from the afterlives: very short vignettes, intriguing subject matter, only intermittently enjoyable.
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