Her treatment of how Xanthe viewed Penelope, however, seemed more of her own interpretations of the queen than her daughter’s. Corona does introduce Telemachus and Penelope in an interesting and probably more realistic manner than Homer did. I almost didn’t finish the book because of the first third of the book.Overall, it passed the time.
When she did “show”, it seemed too purposeful and unrefined. The narrative voice in the beginning is very confusing and was more about “telling” than “showing”. Xanthe is telling the story as a young woman, but introducing her mother and her household as she remembered them as a child with the additional insight of her older years. Much of the beginning was also confusing. I found those descriptions to be misplaced and the in-depth descriptions of the olive presses were clunky. The earlier chapters are about Xanthe’s childhood, and describe in detail the clothing, food and machinery of the time. Specifically, Xanthe is weaving a story of her life on her loom, and recounting each memory that inspires her artistic choices in her tapestry.As a previous reviewer had mentioned, the story is slow-moving, especially in the beginning. What if Odysseus had a daughter, conceived shortly before he left for war? What would she be like and how would she have fared in a palace full of belligerent suitors? Laurel Corona starts off with a “what if” and tells the story of Xanthe, Penelope’s daughter through her eyes. There seemed to be a lack of depth in the writing.Some people have given this book very high ratings, this is just my own personal reaction. I would prefer that they read the original Odyssey instead.
But what made the decision for me was asking myself whether or not I would recommend it to my friends. I feel sorry that I gave it only two stars, I rarely do. I didn’t feel the fire and passion of the characters or the events. I have never woven anything much I do have experience in putting designs in the knitted things which I think are related.What I didn’t like is that I didn’t feel very engaged in the book. I did enjoy reading about the important festivals in Greece such as the grape festival but I was so stuck on Homer's portrayal of Penelope that I did not feel comfortable about the different direction that the author took Penelope’s story.I liked that there was an excellent glossary in the back of the book to explain the Greek words and this book was easy to read. I love the rich poetic images so much and also the vision of Penelope's devotion.The author did a tremendous amount of research as evidenced by the afterword and bibliography. I read it in World Literature in college. I am a passionate reader of historical fiction. I really wanted to like 'Penelope's Daughter by Laurel Corona.
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