The Odyssey Book 1

Recently, I read the first book of The Odyssey for a school homework assignment. The first book was quite short. Also, it wasn’t as boring as people have told me it was going to be. The size of the book and how serious it sounded did intimidate me a little, but actually it wasn’t that bad. Although I had to reread certain paragraphs a couple of times throughout the story, I still enjoyed the book. However, what I didn’t enjoy was all the tricky wording the author used. Words like “cloisters” and “propitiate” had me confused. Something I found surprising was the way Telemachus treated his mother. He wasn’t kind to her when she tried to voice her opinion, Even though the book was difficult to read; I used the strategy of active reading to help me understand The Odyssey more. Taking notes and summarizing things in the margins of the book helped me remember what was happening. Visualizing helped me get a mental picture of the scene and I could comprehend the story much easier. Also, periodically I would ask myself questions about what I just read. That strategy helped my mind focus. The active reading techniques were really helpful to me while I was reading The Odyssey