Daniel Mendelsohn is a Classics professor at Bard College. An Odyssey tells the story of when his 81-year-old father sits in on his seminar about Homer's Odyssey and travels with him on an Odyssey-themed cruise. The experience allows Daniel to bond with his austere father while also giving him a new perspective on the Odyssey.
Reviews of the book promised a combination of family memoir and "brilliant literary criticism." It was indeed a combination of these two genres, but both halves of the equation felt superficial. We read plenty of stories about Jay Mendelsohn (the father), but they don't provide any shading to his character beyond his cautious sternness. Far from being "brilliant," the analysis of the Odyssey is pretty basic: it didn't offer me any new perspectives on the work or encourage me to go back to read it again. Few of the insights that Daniel gains about his father relate to the epic; they come from interviewing Jay's friends and family.
Daniel has a pleasantly conversational prose style, not at all academic. He shifts back and forth in time and between subjects in a manner that he surely intends to be Homeric but which I found tiresome.
Reviews of the book promised a combination of family memoir and "brilliant literary criticism." It was indeed a combination of these two genres, but both halves of the equation felt superficial. We read plenty of stories about Jay Mendelsohn (the father), but they don't provide any shading to his character beyond his cautious sternness. Far from being "brilliant," the analysis of the Odyssey is pretty basic: it didn't offer me any new perspectives on the work or encourage me to go back to read it again. Few of the insights that Daniel gains about his father relate to the epic; they come from interviewing Jay's friends and family.
Daniel has a pleasantly conversational prose style, not at all academic. He shifts back and forth in time and between subjects in a manner that he surely intends to be Homeric but which I found tiresome.
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