I read the Odyssey for the first time (it was epic)

[00:00:00]All my Greek mythology knowledge comes from Hercules, the Disney movie, Percy Jackson, the now Disney TV show, and musicals like Epic and Hades Town, which have no correlation to Disney as of now.

[00:00:10]Yet, I have the audacity to say, "Oh, I love Greek mythology."

[00:00:16]When I have never read an actual Greek mythology tale once in my life, ever, not once. So today I'm diving right into the deep end by skipping all the short stories and poems and diving right into the Iliad and the Odyssey. And yeah, this may partially be because I want to feel superior to everyone else when I go see the Odyssey movies in theaters at some point, but that's besides the point. In all honesty, I'm kind of terrified to read these books because they are written in a very different style than I'm used to and they're pretty long and I'm a very slow reader.

[00:00:46]So that's why I've come up with a strategy.

[00:00:51]I I actually just got the audio book.

[00:00:54]Some of you make all that cheating and some of you have never felt the warm and [music] [music] I I am 2 seconds in. I [singing] need this narrator to narrate everything. His voice is so nice. [music] Oh.

[00:01:23]Um, the introduction has done nothing but intimidate me even more. Now, I did try to go and read the first page without the introduction. And then I realized that was a mistake. So, I went back and read the introduction, and I'm real scared. I don't know if I'm smart enough to be reading this book. I'm going to be so honest.

[00:01:44]>> [laughter] >> I'm going to be so modest, [music] but we're going to try. I'm going to slow the audiobook down. We're going to take this slow. Once I get used to the writing style, maybe everything will absorb it. It'll be so chill. It'll be so chill.

[00:02:03][music] All right, let me actually get into talking about this book now. So, uh, spoiler warning for the Iliad if you were concerned about that watching this video. I think we all kind of know what happens, but not really. I'm not going to get into the nitty-gritty of everything because honestly, I don't fully understand what's going on. But, I will get into uh what I'm thinking about the writing style, some fun things that are happening, all that fun stuff. And the fun things that are happening is war. Lots and lots of war. They are fighting all the time in this book. The people on the ground are fighting. The mortals are fighting. The people up in the sky, you know, the gods, they're fighting, too. We just every once in a while get dropped into a press conference of the gods. And I find those so entertaining because there is so much smack talk. I always forget how iconic Hera is because she freaking hates her husband. She hates that man so much and he treats her so poorly. And like Zeus, you got a baddie. You got Hera. And I get it. Like, yeah, Hara got Zeus, but like, no. Zeus was the original F boy in action and manner. How he treats women is just, of course, we already knew this, so I won't go on this big long rant. Everybody knows that Zeus is not a good fictional god at all. Anyways, what's going on with our mortals right now? You got Troy and then you got them fighting the Archinians or something. Can't remember how to actually pronounce that, but here's how you spell it. Okay, I'm so sorry. I'm even listening to the audiobook. Did I sound Canadian when I said that? Sorry. I'm even listening to the audiobook and I just for some reason it's not sticking in my brain and I don't know why, but they're fighting over a lot of stuff. They're fighting over mainly Helen, honestly, because apparently Helen over here is a baddie.

[00:03:50]And poor Helen is not having a great time because she was just forced to be somebody else's wife that she doesn't want to be and she's been like taken away from her husband and forced to like lay with this man over here. And she's not having a great time. And I hope it all ends up working out for her. But I fear uh knowing that this is Greek mythology, it's it's not going to work out well for her. This is this is not normally good for women. Just women existing in Greek mythology, they're doomed. Speaking of people who are doomed, Achilles is in this book. I didn't realize he was part of the Iliad if I'm being honest, which may be really stupid. I know I'm going into this book knowing the bare minimum. Please forgive me. But Achilles was in the start of this book and then he kind of got screwed over by King Agamenon over here and he was like, "All right, peace out.

[00:04:30]I'm leaving. Okay, I'm not part of this war for a little bit. I'm leaving. I'm tired. I'm going to bed." So, he's gone.

[00:04:37]But Odysius is here. And this is a good time to mention all these characters.

[00:04:42]Every time they're brought up on the page, they get like a WWE style entrance. I feel like it's like God like Odysius enters the ring. And I'm kind of just waiting for them to be like, "Achilles, that guy so cool. We named a body part after him." enters the ring.

[00:04:58]Please ignore why we named the body part after him, though. Anyways, back on topic. Odysius is here and he is getting so much hype every time he's introduced.

[00:05:09]You can tell that Odysius is the god's favorites. Okay, you can tell there's a reason the Odyssey is going to be about Odysius because every time he enters the page, there's just like a wave of aura that washes over you from his name simply being spoken on that page for some reason. Nobody else has that effect in the book, not even the gods, but Odysius comes over and again, like I said, they introduce him as godlike Odysius. What do you mean you're introducing a man as godlike? That's that's a lot to live up to, man. And like low key, he kind of does of what I know from the musical. I think my favorite part of this book so far has been just remembering that older books have the best roast in them. If a character is getting roasted in an older book, just sit down, pop the popcorn.

[00:05:57]It's going to be the best roast of your life because they do not hold back in these books at all. The ones in modern books can be very cringey at times, but oh, classic literature does rose right.

[00:06:08]Like it cuts right to the source and it is so good. There's been this thing that's happening and I wasn't expecting it at all, but it is this crazy type of plot armor for mythology that I didn't know existed. It's the fact that the gods will just be like, "No, I don't want this character to die. I'm literally picking them up and I'm moving them over here." And I find that really, really funny. like somebody's in danger or almost dies and the god's like, "No, never mind. Just we're not going to do that." They just like pop in and out and they kind of act like they have physical bodies, but they also act like they don't. It's a very interesting system.

[00:06:41]I'm not exactly sure how the Greek gods work, if I'm being honest. Like, sometimes they seem like they're people, but they're immortal. And sometimes they seem like they're spirits, but they're people.

[00:06:52]See, this is why I'm not trying to give you a full recap on what's going on because again, I'm barely understanding everything. But so far, I have been super subtle about the fact that I'm reading this book. Like, I've only mentioned it to one or two people, and I haven't been like flaunting it or anything. And so, I'm going to stay that way. It's going to be fine. Let's just go get some more reading done.

[00:07:13]Guys, I'm I'm starting to feel like I'm losing it just a little bit. Like I know I just said I was having a good time, but the good time is going away. And I don't know why. Nothing has really changed. Maybe I'm in a bad mood. I'm probably just in a bad mood. Actually, let me just uh go meditate or something for a second.

[00:07:33]So, I was most definitely just having a bad day the other day. Okay, give me a break. I just wanted to pop in here because I am really enjoying my time now. I'm still enjoying the writing style of this book. I think it's so so fun. The battles in this book are so well done. Obviously, I feel like this is what this book is known for. But I would strongly encourage you if you are an inspiring author at all, read this book to figure out how good battles are written because I can think of books that have done battles kind of similar to this but in a more modern writing style. And those are the books with battles I like the most because they are actually well done. A lot of battles nowadays seem to like skip over them because people are scared to write the battles because they feel like they're not going to be good at it. And then they can't get any better at it because they never actually start writing battles. They just go, "Okay, here's a couple things that happen. Boom, boom, and we're done with that." And that's not entertaining. This is entertaining.

[00:08:29]I entertaining. I love being stuck in a battle for a really long time. The Red Rising series, I think it's specifically in Dark Age at one point. There was like multiple chapter, chapter after chapter where we were just sitting in this one heavy battle for a really long time. And I absolutely love that section of the book so so much. And there's other sections with pretty long battles.

[00:08:52]There's just a particular one in the dark age one that is super super long. I know I'm talking about Red Rising a lot, but I can just tell he got so much inspiration from this. It's like one of the characters in here is named Pri and a Pum There's a PUM in the Red Rising series and stuff like that. And there's so much uh referencing or references to jackals and all that cool stuff. And I need to stop talking about Red Rising. I know, I know, but it's really hard for me to do. Anyways, um let me talk about something else I loved in this book. I would say this is more the funny little plot that I found in this book. Well, there's a time where Hara is like, "Um, I need to get the people going against Troy a hand over here." And Zeus is the one fighting for Troy right now, so I need to distract him. So, she goes to Aphrodite, gets some stuff, and then she goes over here to the god of sleep that's just called sleep. And she's like, "Okay, so after I'm like, you know, with my husband, can you put him to sleep?" And then she goes to her husband and with this Aphrodite enhancement that she has on her, Zeus is like, "Wow, you're better than this woman I've slept with and this woman I slept with and this woman I slept with and this woman I slept with." And like, I know he's a hoe, but it was just really, really funny to read that because I was like, "O [laughter] man, can you imagine that happening nowadays?" Like, I'm going to compliment you by comparing you to the women I've slept with during our relationship and telling you you're at least hotter than them.

[00:10:15]>> [snorts] >> I cannot. Zeus is such a funny idea for a god to me. Honestly, he is just such a playboy.

[00:10:26]Oh my gosh. Somebody was annoyed by their rich friend and somehow he got turned into the most disgusting, vile creature of a god. But anyways, I think you absolutely can jump into reading Greek mythology with this book as somebody who is doing exactly that. I feel like this is a great introduction and it's classic and it gets you so enveloped in the world so quickly and you just kind of have to it's a sink or swim book. It's a sink or swim. You're going to figure it out or you're not.

[00:10:54]And they're not going to sugarcoat anything for you or go back to stuff and reexlain it to you a hundred times. Even though there was a section in here where they just fully repeated a speech that was given and I found that a really interesting choice in the book because that's something you would never see nowadays. Normally, if something's if somebody's repeating something that happened, we just get like a blackout and then we continue on with the story.

[00:11:16]But I it's honestly something I would like to see more because even though I just saw those events played out, I don't hate getting a recap of them or you telling them to me again to add extra weight to what is going on in that scene. That's another little writing thing. There's so many little writing things in here. If you're a writer, if you're a writer and you haven't read this book, you absolutely have to. I'm going to stop blabbing and read some more.

[00:11:41]>> I got in the water.

[00:11:46]We're not even on that book yet.

[00:11:53][music] >> I didn't realize what a terror Achilles was. My word, [laughter] he is slaughtering everyone. [laughter] There's not going to be anyone left, man. He's taking them all out.

[00:12:15]He's [laughter] taking them all out.

[00:12:20]Like, I knew Achilles was the great warrior, but [laughter] I didn't know this man was absolutely insane.

[00:12:29][laughter] I'm crying. [music] What is wrong with him? I think this is making it funnier because the World Cup is going on right now while I'm filming this and probably when I post it. But the guy on the Norway team, Holland, I think is his name. Holland. Holland, I think that's how you say it. Anyways, I'm just picturing [laughter] him as Achilles for some reason, cuz that's the big scary dude I have in my brain right now. [laughter] Good morning. It's a new day. The sun is shining for once. Actually, I live in Texas, but I swear it's been cloudy 24/7 recently. It's been cloudy for like one day. I'm being dramatic. Anyways, it is time to Why are y'all so high up there?

[00:13:15]Hello. Hi. I'm down here. Thank you. Um, anyways, it is time to finish this book.

[00:13:20]I think I have just about an hour and I think my goal is to just finish it in this setting. Sit in this seating. Yeah.

[00:13:38]I don't know what I was expecting from the ending of that book, but it ends in a beautifully heavy way where it just shows that nobody has won this war and all they've done is lost people they deeply care about so far and there's been nothing accomplished besides loss.

[00:13:57]And I know the ending to this war, or at least I think I do because it's the Trojan horse that Odysius will lead in there in the next book or whoever actually makes it. I don't know. But at that point, the war will be over. But we end this book with the war still going on and Achilles agreeing with the father of Hector to give him time to mourn his son because he had just because he had to just mourn his father figure that went into battle with him um and died at Hector's hand, I believe, if I'm remembering that correctly. There was a lot of people dying from a lot of people's hands. It was uh very fascinating. I feel like I don't have much more to say about this book. I really I really love that ending. It's so [sighs and gasps] I don't know. You just have the excitement of the battle throughout like this whole book and then it's just like this slow decline and then getting into those deeper emotions after going through all that excitement and darkness and everything like that while you're reading the rest of the book. It's just it's a lovely ending. It really really is. Um it's really heavy and sad but it's so well done obviously of course.

[00:15:02]Um but I am very excited to start the Odyssey. So, I'm going to take a little break from reading and then when you see me next, we'll be reading The Odyssey.

[00:15:11]Oh, I'm so excited. The Odyssey is the main reason I'm doing this video. So, let's freaking go. [music] Okay, actually, pause. The lighting's bad. So, sorry. That's better. Cool. I did some cleaning, organizing, all that fun stuff the yesterday. The yesterday.

[00:15:40]I don't know what day it is, man. But I did all of that yesterday. So, I was listening to the audio book while I did that on a slower speed, of course, so I was still taking in everything. And I didn't expect the Odyssey to start following Tmicus. And it's basically Tmicus getting his dad's story of what I can tell so far. And I find that very, very interesting. Sorry, a lot's happening in that game. I should turn it off. Anyways, it's basically Tmicus now traveling around trying to get bits and pieces of his dad's story and to prove to the suitors that his dad is still alive and is still on his journey home so he doesn't have to marry off his mom to somebody like he agreed to within the next year or so. And where Odysius currently is is he is on Calypso's island. Was that a self goal? Anyways, he is currently on Calypso's island and we haven't really met up with him yet, but now we are in book five and this is entitled Odifius Odysius Nymph and shipwreck. So, I'm guessing he's getting Tmicus is now getting this story about Odysius and he's learning a bit about him. We've heard bits and pieces, but we really haven't gotten too much time to really learn about Odysius quite yet, honestly.

[00:16:53]So, it's just it's a very different setup than I thought it would be and a very different way of telling the story than I thought it would be because honestly, my main connection to this story is the musical, which just starts in chronological order from the Trojan War all the way to his journey back home. And I already knew there was a lot of different um there was a lot of creative liability no liberties.

[00:17:20]Thank you. There was a lot of creative liberties taken with that musical, which I already knew. I just wasn't expecting how the story is presented to be so different, honestly. So, I'm still kind of wrapping my head around that, but I really, really like it so far. Aen is already getting kind of involved. It's fun to get to know a little bit more about Tmigus since he is such a small character in the musical and then starting to get to the parts of the story that I'm a little more familiar with that I think the general public is just a little more familiar with with his parts of the stories, his journey that he was on. We don't really hear a lot about Tmagus, honestly. Now, we're getting to the part of Odysius trying to get home to Benelopey and trying to get home to everybody else. I've been told by the internet multiple times that this is one of the greatest love stories. I don't know if that will be as present in this as I was expecting, but I am excited to see how that opinion was formed. Yeah. Okay.

[00:18:17]Anyways, I'm going to keep reading.

[00:18:26][music] While I fold laundry, let me actually talk about where we are in this book.

[00:18:36]So, we've gotten to the point where we've catched up with Odysius and he's on this little island on his way home trying to get support for them and they're going to give it to him, but he is now telling them all of his story and how he got to this point currently. So, we've been spending the last little bit just catching up with him. We're still in the middle of it. He just got to the underworld where he's talking to Tyresius, I think is how you say his name. Or what is that song called?

[00:19:03]It's where he sings underworld monster and then there's that one prophecy song that is such a bop and I would like to see a ballroom dance too. Thank you very much. So basically we're just at the point where we're getting a lot of stuff that Epic is based on. And so far, I can see why they cut out some of the extra just because to make just a 2-hour musical out of this, you have to cut some of the extra out because you could make a 5 bajillion hour musical. And I really don't know if it would be enough at that point with how much is going on because he spends a few months at some of these places that in the musical it feels like he only really spends a day at which makes sense. We got to keep the story moving faster, everything like that. But it's very interesting to get the real story that it's based off of and see how much longer Odysius is actually dealing with all of these problems. Like Cersei's Island was a whole month-long ordeal, basically. And he stopped at another kingdom that was a bunch of um cannibals. It sounds like the whole ordeal with the Cyclops was longer than I ever thought it was originally. I'm I'm really having a great time. I will say the narrator for this book is not my favorite. I definitely prefer the guy that was narrating the Iliad. And I think I prefer the writing style of the author that I was reading of the Iliad. Um, I don't know, she was a little more poetic than this guy is. I know it's still in like poem style, but her word choices I preferred a lot more. Caroline was her first name. I cannot remember her last name right now, but I really really loved her word ch her word choices. And I found myself highlighting and being like, "Oh my gosh, that's such a good line." so much more than I do in this one where I'm just kind of enjoying the story as a whole, but there's no like simple oneliners that are really standing out to me honestly. On a whole, I'm still having a great time. I've been really busy, so I have not been able to read or listen to as much as I want to. So, I'm going to stop talking to you even though you're great. You're beautiful. You're gorgeous. And also, my washer is picking up because yeah, there's more laundry in the wash. It never ends. This is my odyssey doing laundry. It's fine. My husband does the dishes because I don't like doing those. Okay. Reading.

[00:21:15]Listening.

[00:21:23]I've been going non-stop recently.

[00:21:25]Ignore my hair. Ignore my face.

[00:21:26]Literally ignore everything about this shot because I am too tired to care right now. But I do have like 25 minutes right now where I can really focus on this book. And I've been listening at a very slow reading speed because I've been needing to pay attention while I do other stuff. And it's kind of been a vibe. I've been enjoying my time. This is a great book to listen to because if I'm not wrong, these stories were originally told like around they were folklore stories. So they were told by one person to a big group and that's how these stories stayed around for so long because so many people knew them. But anyways, I got time to read. We're going to try to get through a good chunk of this at like 2 something speed. I think 2.3 is what I was doing. I only have 44 minutes left at that speed. So, we're going to finish this book today because I also just found out one of my other videos I filmed was freaking muted the whole time. So, I need to get this video done so I can edit it and post it maybe on Saturday. It's Wednesday. I don't have time to edit.

[00:22:24][music] [music] Not only are you looking at someone who read the Iliad, you are also looking at someone who read the Odyssey.

[00:22:44]I know, I I know I'm the best reader of all time. What can I say? Y'all, can I take a second to brag, though? I read these two books and the freaking Count of Monte Cristo this year and like 20 of her books. I think that's like pretty impressive. Okay, I'm not normally one to think my reading habits are impressive, but golly, these are three huge books with a lot of stuff you have to get through and very, very heavy throughout the entire time, and there's so much you have to pick up on. And I went from reading just like a lot of YA books 3 years ago to reading like these chunky literature books. And I'm just I'm really happy with how far my reading journey has gone. It makes me very excited. And that's not to put YA books down at all. I still love them, and I will still go back to them all the time.

[00:23:24]But 3 years ago, I don't think I would have really enjoyed reading these because I didn't have the same reading knowledge or skill that I have now. I mean, obviously, I could technically read them, but I don't think I would have appreciated them as much. And I just ah reading is such a fun journey to go on.

[00:23:41]If you're not a reader and you haven't started, don't feel like you need to start with these big books. Pick up something that's fun. Get into it. fall in love with reading and then slowly find your taste and fall in love with literature that really intimidated you a few years ago because that's what I've been doing and it's been so so much fun.

[00:24:02]But now let's talk about the Odyssey because the last time we talked about this, we were actually talking about how we were getting a lot of the story through Tmicus' point of view. Well, I think it was the next chapter after that we finally got to Odysius and caught up with him after Calypso's island. He got to this other island. and they were giving him a bunch of gifts and stuff and they're like, "Tell us a story." And he's like, "Yeah, I'll tell you a freaking story. I'm going to tell you the Odyssey right now." So, he goes over the whole like um Cyclops cave, Cersei's Island, a cannibal island they went to.

[00:24:32]That's where they got the windag I think or something. They never stop at a floating island of what I know. Or maybe I zoned out really bad during that bit.

[00:24:39][laughter] But then they go back to Cersei's Island after they go to the underworld and there's just a whole lot going on.

[00:24:46]Poseidon is not as prevalent in this.

[00:24:49]Like he's definitely mentioned and he's kind of that lurking bad guy, but it's not so much as the like forefront bad guy that we see when we're listening or watching Epic the Musical. By watching, I mean just like the animatics and stuff like that because those are really freaking impressive if you haven't watched those. But all in all, this has made me appreciate Epic all the more. I feel like a lot of people are really harsh with it. And yes, it does take creative liberties, but all in all, it still gets the gist of the story and keeps a lot of really cool moments that I read during this book. And I it's so cool. He did such a good job. But I will say I didn't think this would be the case going into this video, but I actually think I like the Iliad more than the Odyssey. There's just something about this book that hits more. And like I was saying earlier, Caroline Alexander, her translation is just better in my opinion. It's a little more flowery and it feels more like the style that this would have originally been written in or spoken in. Like it's more of that fantastical storyteller aspect.

[00:25:50]And this is more like here is the translation, the literal translation.

[00:25:54]Here you go. And I'm sure people really really do like that, but it just felt a little flat after reading something as beautiful as this. And I don't know if that's just the difference in the story themselves and the themes and everything like that, but I just I really really hope that Caroline Alexander is working on a freaking Odyssey translation because if she releases that, I will read that in 2 seconds flat. I want to read her translation of this book so fast because look at the tabs and everything I have in this book. There's so many. I don't think there's Oh, there is one tab. There's one tab in here. Now granted, I did listen to a lot of this book on um just like audiobook wise and I slowed it down and I was really getting everything out of it, but even then I wasn't thinking of lines. I wasn't hearing lines and go, "Oh, wish I I wish I had my book to write that down in." Because I do that a lot with I'm listening to audiobooks that have that like lyrical writing style to them. But this one just didn't. But the story overall, of course, was still great. It was a fun time. I think this isn't a bad translation necessarily. I just feel like I prefer her style. So, if I ever reread the Odyssey, which I really think I will because I want to find a translation that I truly love at some point. Um, I'm either going to wait for her to release one, I'm going to do some research, figure out if she's writing one. Future Natalie, did you figure that out? Okay, cool. Great. Awesome. Or, oh no, that's so sad. But I just I just want something a little more lyrical, a little prettier to read. But now that I finished reading both of these, um there's only one thing left to do, and that is to go watch the movie. Which can I say, after reading this book, how do you read this story and then go, you know who I'm going to cast to play Odysius? Matt Damon. Are you kidding me?

[00:27:38]No. That man does not look like HE'S GOD TOUCHED. WHAT are we talking about? Matt Damon is such an average like suburban dad vibe about him. I get it. the average suburban dad doesn't have like built muscles and everything, but like Matt Damon doesn't carry himself like he has all those muscles. It doesn't seem like he does. He can be fit, but he doesn't have the essence of being fit.

[00:28:01]And I feel like Odysius just has that strong powerful aura about him. Like when they're describing Odysius in this book, when they really get his like true self out there, I I don't I don't understand how Matt Damon is going to betray that. I feel like it's just going to feel a little funny. Also, not shaming anyone's height, but Matt Damon's only 5'10. I don't feel like Odysius is just 5'10. He was one of the all-time greatest warriors in Greek mythology, and you cast a 510 suburban dad. But, uh, anyways, [gasps] I'm going to go see this movie. I'm going in with doubts. I'm going in with a lot of doubts to this movie. So far, the Rotten Tomato score, it just came out last night, like Thursday night, early showings, and they're still really good.

[00:28:46]But I feel like a lot of the people who are going to be more critical aren't going on opening night. So, I'm going to go. So, let's go watch the movie and review, shall we? I've made it to my local AMC at almost 10:00 at night.

[00:29:01]Going to be up till 1:00 a.m. to watch this movie. And I'm not expecting the best. I just don't think it's going to live up to the hype, guys. I don't think it's going to do the book justice. I'm going in with a fresh mind that this is an adaptation and doesn't need to be a direct copy like the musical that I love. That's not a direct copy. That's an adaptation. So hopefully this can do it. But again, Matt Damon as Odysius is just really throwing me off. Okay, let's go. I'm going to be so exhausted once this is done. I think Epic the Musical is a better adaptation than the Odyssey movie because Epic the Musical keeps the whimsy. And for some reason, Christopher Nolan and the whole crew of the Odyssey movie, they were like, "I know we're adapting Greek mythology, but cut the whimsy and the fantastical magicalness of it." [laughter] I just wanted a little whimsy. Okay, but anyways, I had a great time reading these books. I had a fun time watching that movie last night, even though I didn't get home in like until like 2:00 a.m. It was really, really late, man. [sighs and gasps] So, um I didn't wake up till 11:00, so I got to go catch up on some stuff today.

[00:29:59]And I will see youall in the next video.

[00:30:01]Bye y'all.