The Lost Books of the Odyssey

De: Zachary Mason

Narrado por: Simon Vance

A BRILLIANT AND BEGUILING REIMAGINING OF ONE OF OUR GREATEST MYTHS BY A GIFTED YOUNG WRITER

Zachary Mason's brilliant and beguiling debut novel, The Lost Books of the Odyssey, reimagines Homer's classic story of the hero Odysseus and his long journey home after the fall of Troy. With brilliant prose, terrific imagination, and dazzling literary skill, Mason creates alternative episodes, fragments, and revisions of Homer's original that taken together open up this classic Greek myth to endless reverberating interpretations. The Lost Books of the Odyssey is punctuated with great wit, beauty, and playfulness; it is a daring literary book that marks the emergence of an extraordinary new talent.

Cover and title design by Chin-Yee Lai.

©2010 Zachary Mason (P)2010 Macmillan Audio

Reseñas de la Crítica

“Though Simon Vance doesn't play a lute, he is a bard, or maybe the Classics professor everyone wishes to have had, as he spins these revisionist tales of Odysseus and his travels.” —AudioFile

“[A] dazzling debut . . . Stunning and hypnotic . . . Mr. Mason . . . has written a series of jazzy, post-modernist variations on the Odyssey, and in doing so he's created an ingeniously Borgesian novel that's witty, playful, moving and tirelessly inventive . . . This is a book that not only addresses the themes of Homer's classic--the dangers of pride, the protean nature of identity, the tryst between fate and free will--but also poses new questions to the reader about art and originality and the nature of storytelling.” —Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times

“[The Lost Books of the Odyssey] is, to my surprise, a wonderful book. I had expected it to be rather preening, and probably thin. But it is intelligent, absorbing, wonderfully written, and perhaps the most revelatory and brilliant prose encounter with Homer since James Joyce.” —Simon Goldhill, The Times Literary Supplement

Beautiful and richly imaginative

A rich set of stories, each taking a part of the original as its inspiration.

Beautiful and richly imaginative .

Astonishing imagination

Would you listen to The Lost Books of the Odyssey again? Why?

Yes, there is enough there to make it worthwhile.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Lost Books of the Odyssey?

Putting him forward into the present for a chapter.

What about Simon Vance’s performance did you like?

His voice is like listening to music.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No, too much to think about.

Any additional comments?

Zachary Mason has an enviable knowledge of the ancient myths and the imagination to bring them back to life.

So beautiful. So brilliant.

Great novel (really a series of short stories), a meditation on identity, time, narration, storytelling. Beautiful stripped-down language. Simon Vance terrific as always. One of my favorites books, and audiobooks, of all time. Brilliant.

The Lost Hours of the Listener

Any additional comments?

This book was a terrible disappointment. I love Homer's works. I've read and listened to them multiple times. After all the rave reviews of 'The Lost Books...' I was very eager to give this a listen. I even bought it without waiting for my credit. All I got for my trouble was a mishmash of disjointed sputterings that made no sense at all. I found the 'stories' uninteresting, dull and without merit. Even Simon Vance couldn't turn this into anything of value. Perhaps others will have a happier experience but I cannot recommend this at all. One of the biggest flops from Audible ever for me.