Rating: 
Summary: Good overall, but too many British words.
Review: As I remembered, the translator is of British nationality, and therefore the translation is a bit... forgien, to Americans, that words not used in American English were used. Nevertheless, it's a great way of learning new words.
Rating: 
Summary: This is not Jason and the Golden Fleece
Review: Despite the similarities, this is not the tale of Jason and his quest for the golden fleece.This earlier work has many similarities, but if you are not a student of ancient Greece, avoid this book. For entertainment value, read about Jason instead.
Rating: 
Summary: Captivating epic poetry.
Review: Fitzgerald's translation of The Odyssey is a great, readable yarn. The verse is transparent, more captivating than much best-selling fiction. It was the first classical Greek or Roman literature I read, and I re-read it every few years. I read little poetry, but I recommend Fitzgerald's translations highly; The Odyssey is my favorite.
Rating:
Summary: Home, by way of every where else
Review: For ten years after the sack of Troy, Odysseus wanders around the Medditerainian Sea trying to get home. I liked this Homer tale a little better than I did "Iliad". That is because this one has more monsters, more mythic happenings than the war story. Not that it's a bad book, but I liked this one because it is more a complete story, with a begining, a definiate end. I find it hard to critisize a classic, so I won't; I'll just say that this is one of the best stories, certainly one of my favorites, and it has stood the test of time.
Rating:
Summary: Home, by way of every where else
Review: For ten years after the sack of Troy, Odysseus wanders around the Medditerainian Sea trying to get home. I liked this Homer tale a little better than I did "Iliad". That is because this one has more monsters, more mythic happenings than the war story. Not that it's a bad book, but I liked this one because it is more a complete story, with a begining, a definiate end. I find it hard to critisize a classic, so I won't; I'll just say that this is one of the best stories, certainly one of my favorites, and it has stood the test of time.
Rating:
Summary: A Tale For The Ages.
Review: Homer's Odyssey, as translated by Robert Fitzgerald is a spiritually moving piece of literature. Through the translation of this old Greek text -- the fire that has burned within man -- the insipiration to create stories, of light and darkness, and to profess the truths of mankind has broken down the distances of time and space, to bring our distant peoples who speak a foriegn tongue the gift of this powerful expression of humanity! The tale of one man pitted against the curling waves of the sea, and tossed around by the will of the gods -- is more than some archaic ramblings of more acient poets, but the tale of all men, and thier families, and war, and religion, and all that is above the heavens, and all that is below, in one epic poem, attoned to the rythem of the soul, that will guide any readers heart on the journey of understanging.
Rating:
Summary: An Excellent Tale, Truly a Classic
Review: I find it somewhat odd to be sitting here writing a review of a book that is older than our calendar. I'm not sure when this book was actually written. I suppose nobody really does, or even who the real author is for that matter. All of these facts cause a book review such as this to be held under a somewhat strange circumstance. I'm not going to justify giving this book 5 stars. It is what it is. Thousands, if not millions before me have dubbed it a masterpiece. I'm certainly not going to change the collective consciousness and its opinion of this book in 2002. What I will do with this brief review is try to explain just what this book is and who might be interested in reading it. Simply put, this is a simple story about a simple man and his complex adventure to get home. It's a straightforward tale about man and his relationship with the gods. With this, you get an excellent perspective of what man thought of the gods and how they acted and reacted. How everything was decided by the gods. And how everyone was at the mercy of those gods. The travels away from Ithaca and back to Ithaca are the meat of the book. I'm not going to summarize other than to say that a strong, brave man (Odysseus) finds his was into a number of complex situations. Through these situations he continues to rely on his strength and bravery, of both mind and body, to find a way out of them. What I do find most interesting is that Homer portrays the gods as veritable children in the way they act. Often times they seem no more mature than teenagers that fly off the handle when little things fail to go their way. This is an interesting perspective in terms of personifying these entities that were thought to rule the heavens. As we follow Odysseus, we generally know what will come to pass. Because the oracles and seers and gods want something to happen, there is little chance the prophecies will not come true. These predicted events come to pass as the story moves on. We travel with Odysseus back to where he started while the gods shape his course. The story is simple, while at the same time complex. It's interesting to realize that this was the literature of the time; very basic, very structured, and very grand. One imagines it was a spoken tale that was eventually written down by Homer. Again, I don't rightly know. So why read this book? Well, to be honest I was moved to read this after I saw the movie O Brother, Where Art Thou? I was curious to see how closely the story followed. Well, the parallels are obvious and there's no need to go into that. After I was 1/4 of the way through the book, my interest level was beyond what it started as. I suddenly wanted to read the story on its own merit, and not because of the movie. The book is the epitome of what I disliked in college. That was a few years ago, and now I can positively say I very much enjoyed this book. I think a lot has to do with the translation, and WHD Rouse does a sensational job to make his version as timeless as possible. Much of my enjoyment also has to do with the fact I was taking my time, trying to proceed as slowly as I could with the story. I think my final suggestion would be this. Read this if you've got a fairly strong desire to. I know that sounds easy, but my point is this. Don't casually pick it up and decide you're going to read it because you want to read a classic. There are other books which can fill that need. This one demands for you to be in tune with it. If you're not going to try to carefully get through it, I think it could easily bore you. This is a classic that you should read if you're moved to. Otherwise, you could end up being one of the people who swear all of the classics simply stink. But if you do approach it with the right mindset, it can be an extremely enjoyable read.
Rating: 
Summary: comme-ci, comme-ca
Review: i had to read this dumb book for school which made me lose all interest in it. i am sure it is a great epic poem and all that but if it is so great, don't make us lose all hope by forcing us to read it
Rating:
Summary: Invigorating!!!
Review: I read this book for a Humanities class that I was taking at UCLA....at first I thought that the book would be a cure for insomnia, however, it ended up being one of the best epics that I have ever read. The story is action-packed (sex, alchol, women, etc.)! Read it!!!!
Rating:
Summary: Doesn't live up to its reputation
Review: I read this epic in English my freshman year of high school. I had heard many great things about this classic, but was sorely disappointed. It is repetitive, there is little to no character development, and each book (kind of like a chapter) is practically the same story line. Perhaps this edition is a bad translation. I might try the Fitzgerald one.
A note: I think it's time we get some modern books into school curriculum. Just because they are considered classics doesn't mean they are any good by today's standards.
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