An Odyssey

A Father, a Son, and an Epic

By: Daniel Mendelsohn

Narrated by: Bronson Pinchot

Named a Best Book of 2017 by NPR, Library Journal, The Christian Science Monitor, and Newsday
A Kirkus Best Memoir of 2017
Shortlisted for the 2017 Baillie Gifford Prize

From award-winning memoirist and critic, and bestselling author of The Lost: a deeply moving tale of a father and son's transformative journey in reading--and reliving--Homer's epic masterpiece.

When eighty-one-year-old Jay Mendelsohn decides to enroll in the undergraduate Odyssey seminar his son teaches at Bard College, the two find themselves on an adventure as profoundly emotional as it is intellectual. For Jay, a retired research scientist who sees the world through a mathematician's unforgiving eyes, this return to the classroom is his "one last chance" to learn the great literature he'd neglected in his youth--and, even more, a final opportunity to more fully understand his son, a writer and classicist. But through the sometimes uncomfortable months that the two men explore Homer's great work together--first in the classroom, where Jay persistently challenges his son's interpretations, and then during a surprise-filled Mediterranean journey retracing Odysseus's famous voyages--it becomes clear that Daniel has much to learn, too: Jay's responses to both the text and the travels gradually uncover long-buried secrets that allow the son to understand his difficult father at last. As this intricately woven memoir builds to its wrenching climax, Mendelsohn's narrative comes to echo the Odyssey itself, with its timeless themes of deception and recognition, marriage and children, the pleasures of travel and the meaning of home. Rich with literary and emotional insight, An Odyssey is a renowned author-scholar's most triumphant entwining yet of personal narrative and literary exploration.

A voyage for all of us

This is an astounding and moving book. Part psychological meditation on identity, part linguistic and mythological explication, having Mendelsohn as a guide is having the best teacher you could imagine. His compassion, insight and love of both his father and his students--as well as his subject--were spot on. I was sorry to reach the end.

nice story

it's like being in a real good book club for Homer's The Odyssey, different perspectives and insights throughout.

Beautiful story

This was a beautifully told story about how stories connect us across generations — told with both heart and

History woven into a nice tribute to a father

I enjoyed this book. It was well written and the narration was fabulous. It did get tedious at one or two points when the college professor couldn't help but lecture on and on. However, if you stuck with it, he wove the tale of Odysseus, his father Laertes, and his son, Telemachus, into his own life, where his dad played a starring role. I really enjoyed the portrayal of Dr. Mendelsohn's father, who enrolled in his son's seminar on the Odyssey. The voice of the authors' parents were so well rendered and so colorful it kept me going through the more pedantic passages.

Breathtakingly poignant

I was swept away by the beautiful descriptions of a father and son and the epic poem through which they connect. The narration was as tender-hearted, finely tuned and compassionate as the prose. Bravo!