Startling, assertive and intense, this is a distinctive and original take on the myth of Odysseus, focusing on reality, creative reality and fabrication. Reading ‘Penelope’s Web’, you quickly realise that the title is entirely appropriate, however make no mistake, this is a book about war, about bloody violence, rape, pillage, death… and it’s about the mental wounds that war inflicts. This is also a book where four-letter expletives and the treatment of women may make you cringe, in fact they should make you cringe. Keep an eye out for the icons heading each section as you start to read, Odysseus, Penelope and the Narrator have very different voices, yet the icons set the tone for the story and your expectations. Odysseus is a soldier, brutal, frank, cunning, able to express the basic animal instincts that cut in during battle, yet he also has a higher awareness of humanity. Penelope weaves gossamer strands of truth, spinning romance, half truths and exaggeration into a tapestry of myth and legend. Occasionally, I found some of the modern day terminology that Odysseus uses, jarred slightly in the storyline, however it served as reminder that war hasn't changed, it still maims and steals mental wellbeing and lives. Christopher Rush has written a tenacious and thought- provoking tale that is so graphically powerful, it feels as though you’re watching a film in the privacy of your own mind. ~ Liz Robinson
| Primary Genre | Historical Fiction |
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A salt-bitten stranger from the sea, a war-torn wolf, Odysseus returns to Ithaca, crushes the claimants to his throne and bed, and confronts his wife, Penelope. But, the story does not end there, it's the start of another. After years of fighting and wandering, a war hero can find home more hellish than the battlefield, peace more awful than war. War changes everything . . . Christopher Rush has created a unique and dynamic first-person voice for his modern-day Odysseus: contemporary, brusque, full of military jargon and frequent, unflinching swearing. This narrative - depicting brutal violence, womanising and ambivalence about home - is intertwined with the gorgeous, poetic lyricism of Penelope's idealised, mythic account of her husband's exploits in Troy and on the seas, which she weaves into the eponymous web. Penelope's Web is an epic novel for our time, as appealing to readers who know nothing about ancient Greek literature as to scholars of the Odyssey and the Iliad. This re-imagining of Greek texts and classical mythology is a masterful, resonant study of war and peace that draws implicit parallels between contemporary military conflicts and the legendary battles of antiquity.
Penelope's Web features in the following genres: Historical Fiction, Books with reviews by our Reader Review Panel, Modern and Contemporary Fiction, Book Club Recommendations, eBooks of the Month, Fiction, Recommendations, General Fiction
Penelope's Web is available in Ebook, Hardback
Penelope's Web was written by Christopher Rush and published by Polygon
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