Narrated by Laural Merlington and Margaret Atwood, The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood has a runtime of 3 hrs 34 mins on Audible.
Publisher’s Summary
WITH A NEW FOREWORD BY THE AUTHORNow that all the others have run out of air, it’s my turn to do a little story-making . . . So I’ll spin my own thread.
Penelope . . . immortalised in legend and Greek myth as the devoted wife of the glorious Odysseus, silently weaving and unpicking and weaving again as she waits for her husband’s return from the Trojan war.
Now, in Atwood’s wise and witty retelling of the myth, Penelope wanders the underworld, spinning a different kind of thread: her own side of the story – a tale of lust, greed and murder.
Audiobook Details
- Narrated by: Laural Merlington and Margaret Atwood
- Length: 3 hrs 34 mins
- Publisher: Canongate Books
- Release year: 2012
- Audible category: Literature & Fiction / Genre Fiction / Literary Fiction
Listener Ratings
The Penelopiad holds an average listener rating of 4.1/5 from 36 Audible ratings.
On Audible, ratings for this title break down into narration performance and story separately:
- Performance (narration): 4.2/5
- Story: 4.1/5
- 5-star ratings: 44% of all ratings
What Audible Listeners Are Saying
5/5 stars — “A fantastic read with excellent narration!”
I was so impressed with this book. It absolutely stands as an outstanding contribution to the mythologically-based fiction genre. The pacing keeps you engaged, and the story Atwood chooses to tell is refreshing and enticing. The narrator does an amazing job at capturing the tone and attitude of Penelope, and the Chorus of Maids segments were haunting and immersive.(There are two editing errors in the audiobook, both where a paragraph is read twice, and there is also classical music playing during these errors? Not a big deal, but worth mentioning!)
— Helen Williams, Audible listener
3/5 stars — “Audio file with errors”
There are some unedited parts of the audio that repeat (eg towards the end of chapter 16).— Arina, Audible listener
5/5 stars — “Great story, narration—not so good”
I love Atwood. Her work is always interesting, insightful, and beautifully crafted, and if what you want is an Atwood novel, this is a good. That said, the sound effects and narration style made me deeply consider returning the book, specifically the effects for the maidens voices was just poorly done. The main narrator is otherwise ok.— Sasha, Audible listener
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