An Odyssey

I went into this expecting more of the memoir about a father taking his son's course and their subsequent voyage retracing the Odyssey (how the book was marketed . . . ), but the book is instead an academic look at the themes of personality and the father-son relationship of the Odyssey then projected onto Mendelsohn's exploration of his father's life. It was interesting to read from an academic standpoint–although at times Mendelsohn's descriptions and asides come off as condescending and pretentious–but my favorite part of the book was the final chapter where Mendelsohn abandons most of the academic reflections for the more emotional look at his dad's aging.