The Odyssey book club questions

1. 1.

   Homer opens with Odysseus already twenty years gone and begins the poem with his son, not the hero. Why start a homecoming story so far from home, and with the boy who barely remembers his father?

2. 2.

   Odysseus survives by cunning — lies, disguises, false names. Do his deceptions make him more admirable or less? Where is the line between clever and untrustworthy?

3. 3.

   Blinding Polyphemus is a brilliant escape, but Odysseus can't resist shouting his real name as he sails away, which brings Poseidon's curse down on him. What does that moment reveal about him?

4. 4.

   Every stop tests the ancient code of hospitality. What is the modern equivalent of xenia, and do we still hold hosts and guests to any comparable standard?

5. 5.

   Odysseus arrives home alone, having lost every man he set out with. Is he a hero, a failed leader, or both? How much of the loss is his fault?

6. 6.

   Penelope waits twenty years but is never passive — she schemes, tests, and delays. Is she the poem's other great strategist? How has the way readers see her changed over time?

7. 7.

   Odysseus chooses mortal Penelope and home over immortality with Calypso. Would you make the same choice? What is the poem saying about what makes a life worth living?

8. 8.

   Even after Odysseus reveals himself, the reunion is delayed — Penelope tests him with the secret of their marriage bed. Why does Homer make the two of them prove themselves to each other?

9. 9.

   The slaughter of the suitors is total and merciless. Is it justice, or is it excessive? Does the poem want us to be comfortable with it?

10. 10.

    In the underworld, the dead Achilles says he'd rather be a landless servant among the living than king of all the dead. How does the Odyssey's view of glory differ from the Iliad's?

11. 11.

    Which of Odysseus's trials — the Lotus-Eaters' forgetting, the Sirens' song, Circe's island — is most tempting to you, and what does that say about what might keep you from getting home?

12. 12.

    Three thousand years on, the Odyssey is still the template for the journey story. Which modern books or films most clearly inherit its shape, and what do they keep or discard?

How to run the discussion

• Pick six to eight, not all of them. An hour of real discussion covers fewer questions than anyone expects, and racing the list is what makes a book club feel like homework.
• Open with what people noticed, not what they concluded. Asking for a verdict first hardens opinions before anyone has heard each other.
• Let the disagreement run. The questions below that split a room are the ones worth the time; the ones everyone answers the same way can be skipped.
• Ask the quiet person a specific question. A direct, narrow question is far easier to answer than an open invitation to contribute.