Penelopiad: The myth of Penelope and Odysseus by Margaret Atwood

"Penelopiad: The myth of Penelope and Odysseus", by Margaret Atwood. This book is published by Penguin India in 2005 and has 184 pages.

Everyone must have read or heard the timeless classic Homer's Odyssy; tale of Odysseus. BTW: Young readers should know that Rick Riordan's Sea of monsters is modern retelling of Odyssy.

Odysseus was a Greek demigod and king of Itacha. He was known for his bravery, cleverness, deception and ability of disguise.He won a competition to marry Penelope. Penelope was daughter of king Icarus and cousin of Helen (Who was later called Helen of Troy). They spent good time together and had a son called Telemachus. Then Trojen war started and Odysseus had to go to fight against Troy to honor his oath.

Odysseus spent 20 years of his life away from Penelope. Half of them fighting the Trojan war and other half wandering Aegean sea fighting monsters, tricking Cyclopes and bedding goddesses; as told by Homer in Odyssy.

Penelope waited for him all this time, without knowing where he was or if he was alive in second half of his absence,  looking after his kingdom (Ithaca) and resources, raising his child (Telemachus) and keeping her suitors (more than 100), who wanted to marry her for money and kingdom , at bay .

When Penelope gave birth to Telemachus, 12 maids gave birth to girl childs. Although they were born at the same time the destinies and futures of the girls and Telemachus were very different. These girls became maids of Penelope.

Assuming Odysseus is dead, Penelope's suitors lived in her palace all these years, feeding on her livestock and using her resources and loving, seducing, raping her 12 maids. Dispite her precarious position Penelope succeeded in devising various tricks to not marry any of them. Penelope is thus often seen as an ideal example of fidelity.

Upon Odysseus's return, he kills all suitors and hangs the 12 maids. Margaret follows story as told by Odyssey but diverges when it comes to these 12 maids. In Odyssey these maids were killed for betraying and sleeping with the enemy. In this book the maids are encouraged to mingle with suitors by Penelope to get inside news and used as spies. Despite their contribution and sacrifices to keep Penelope safe from her suitors, they are hanged. Penelope regrets this but could not save them.

In this book, the maids insist for justice after death and haunt Odysseus, not  allowing him any piece of mind and forcing him to take rebirths just to get away from them. Every rebirth of Odysseus ends in a violent and unnatural death.

Margaret has written this book with a different perspective than Homer. The book is not pure prose, there is a lot of poetry in it. The story of Penelope is not written in great detail in Greek mythology, so the author had to invent. She has preferred to keep it short and effective rather than trying to create an epic that may be diluted.

The book lays bare the plight of palace maids who were treated add a mere commodity. The injustice done to the maids brings to a social issue to the table.

This book is not for those who want a good story. This book is beyond entertainment, it forces you to introspect and think about the injustice meted out to the 12 maids.

A short and sweet book. Recommend reading.