RaveThe Washington Post\"Does the translator have a thoughtful, comprehensive vision? Does she have the skill to sustain it? Does she chart a coherent course between often mutually exclusive virtues such as literalism, musicality, clarity, beauty and readability? And, most importantly, does she tell the story well? In the case of Emily Wilson’s smart and exciting new Odyssey, the answer to all those questions is a resounding yes … Wilson’s language is fresh, unpretentious and lean. Though there are plenty of finely wrought moments, she isn’t looking to gild the poetic lily but rather to emphasize the emotional arc of the story, engaging readers first and foremost with the plight and character of Odysseus. Relying on this forward motion, she is able to create real suspense where other translations make the reader glaze over … It is rare to find a translation that is at once so effortlessly easy to read and so rigorously considered. Her Odyssey is a performance well-deserving of applause.\
