Odyssey Reading, Books 5-8

It's time to talk about The Odyssey! This week I was pretty excited to get to Odysseus instead of Telemachus, Telemachus, Telemachus, (It's like Duck Duck Goose...). In the end of this reading, I feel like he's not that special. Yup, and there's still a lot of crying. Just let the guy go home!!

Calypso is just strange. She seems to be plotting something, and then she seems to want to help him. I don't know, she's obviously upset to have to send him away, and she wants to get him there safely, but is it just so he'll like her better? That's the one thing about this book, you never really know when someone is acting or not. (I think I've said this before, so no more!) She definitely makes it easier for him to get somewhere, and he probably would have gotten home if Neptune would just let him go! He is stubborn! Really, you kept him on the island, he has suffered for a long time, and now you make this huge storm just because he poked an eye out! (Really, you'd think he might just poke his eye out, too and call it an eye for an eye) Then you try and bash him against the rocks, it's not even his fault he's free! His fellow gods decided, so shouldn't he be mad at them, not Odysseus?

I'm a little confused how he got on the island, he was just brought to a river suddenly, why didn't he see it before? If Neptune was angry enough to smash him against the rocks, he sure seems to forget about it quickly when he asked for help. He just calmed everything down and let him float to safety. It seems like if he came to such a big sailing town, he might have seen someone sailing or fishing somewhere nearby, but I guess not! I'm not sure what to think of Nausicaa, she seems smart and brave for standing up to the crazy person who popped out of the bushes, but then again Athena was there to help her. She, of course, helps him, which I suppose most people would do in that situation, and offers to take him home, which seems nice, but how much is just what she was taught to do? (Besides 'Never talk to strangers') It's sort of frustrating he always stays with the rich people, I think he should stay with a friendly family or something. Which reminds me, there are no small children in this book so far! I guess it's not really important, but they just aren't. Telemachus is supposed to be kind of young (which confuses me, because he acts older and his dad is supposed to seem young, too). It's funny how Athena pops up to lead him to their home, and you'd think he might at least think she was strange or something, because she tells him a lot about the king and queen that not everyone might know, and really helps him on how to act. I think she sometimes helps him too much.

Anyway, I like how the queen is well respected, but she gets left out a lot after he meets her. The king is friendly, hospitable, rich, and a lot like the other kings he meets. It's sort of weird and nice of him to give him a feast for suddenly appearing at his door, and it's also weird how he doesn't ask who he is or why he is there until after he feeds him multiple times. It's also strange how he has the blind musical guy, Demodocus, come back after he sees that it makes him cry the first time. I think it's weird he wants him to sing about it when it makes him cry so much. So basically I thought most of the feast was abnormal. The first time Odysseus hides his crying, but the second time, as it is so carefully described, he doesn't bother. He sure gets mad about the guy who said he probably couldn't play any sports, which was really mean to say to the guy, but I was afraid he would hurt someone! (It was on and on and on about all the stuff he could do) Then the king got into it and started talking about what all the people in his town were good at and what they liked and somehow calmed Odysseus down with that. Then they went back and watched more people dance, which made him happy, and then he got really upset, so it doesn't sound like a good day. Finally, the king asks who he is (Using a whole page to say 'Who are you?') and now we have to wait for him to answer.

I liked books five, six, and seven. Eight was all over, now he's mad, now he's crying, now he's laughing, He was spoiled with the fifty-two sailors and brand new boat, and with the whole feast, but I guess he had a long journey. I sort of wish instead of spending so much time there, he would just leave and get home, because that's all he seems to care about. I have a bad feeling about him telling the king about his story, it will probably be really long, but I hope he starts sailing home soon!!