The Odyssey is set in the worst place I can imagine: a massive cruise liner full of people. And that is only the beginning of Ingrid's chaotic surroundings. Will a new mentorship programme be the making or breaking of her? Thanks to Zando Projects and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. My sincerest apologies for the long delay in reviewing, I have no idea why it took me so long.

In the best possible way, Williams' The Odyssey reminded me of Temporary by Hilary Leichter, which I adored. Not many novels manage to capture that feeling of utter impermanence that life sometimes has, but both Williams and Leichter nail it. It is in the way time just seems immaterial, how the protagonists switch from one position to the other, one relationship to the other, and are always trying to figure out who they are in relation to other people. It is not necessarily a fun reading experience, in the sense that you won't be kicking your feet and giggling at it, but there is something almost pleasant about such a sharp dissection of our own discomfort. I always love reading books about women on the edge for this exact painful pleasure and The Odyssey is definitely added to that list now. I also love the title of the book and how it ties into Homer's epic poem. That text is about a man trying to find his way home to his loyal and loving wife and son, conquering all kinds of dangers and getting himself into trouble. It is a stunning text and a classic for a reason, but a female odyssey would indeed look very different. Ingrid is not hungering for home the way Ulysses is, but both excel at dissembling and telling different kinds of stories and/or lies. Looking at the two alongside one another, with the endless sea as their shaky foundation, is intriguing.

Ingrid works on the WA, a massive luxury cruise liner which seems more like a floating city than a holiday space. She has worked a variety of different jobs there, but is currently finishing her rotation at the gift shop when she is accepted into a mentorship programme, led by the captain, Keith. He is an odd one, devoted to the concept of wabi sabi, meaning everything starts and ends in nothingness. With Ingrid's ties to her own self and her life already fragile, the programme will either push her over the edge or reveal her true self. As Ingrid switches jobs, drinks herself into oblivion during land leave, and battles memories of her life before the WA, the ship and she begin to slowly disintegrate, revealing an internal rot. Ingrid is not a great person, objectively. Her heavy drinking is damaging not just to her, but to everything and everyone around her. Her superiority complex is slimy as well as undeserved. And yet, underneath it all, there is a character there that is deeply in search of connection and understanding, a gentle touch and clear boundaries. I cannot necessarily speak to whether Ingrid's alcoholism is depicted in a realistic way, but I did feel like it gave me extra insights into why people might drink to excess continuously, what it is that they're hoping to get for it, and how they lose control over it.

Supper Club has been on my to-read list for a while, but I'm oddly pleased that The Odyssey was my first time reading Lara Williams. As I mentioned above, it fits right into the kinds of books about women that I enjoy reading. There is, however, also just something about the writing that really struck me and sucked me in straightaway. I think it is something about how Williams manages to create an underlying sense of terror that just suffuses everything. To someone like me, for whom staying even a single weekend on a massive cruise liner sounds like a nightmare of horrors, this terror felt like the right kind of atmosphere for the setting, but it also worked as a way of explaining Ingrid's chaotic sense of self. Ingrid's odyssey is icky and uncomfortable, covering all kinds of issues from motherhood, family, health, bodily integrity, violence, and more. This fits quite well with something else I discovered, which is the collection The New Abject, to which Williams contributed a story. The abject, the thing that disturbs boundaries, that grosses us out because it is both part of us and not, is so up my alley that I'm dying to get my hands on it asap. I can't wait to read more by Lara Williams.

The Odyssey was a revelatory read for me, full of stress and terror and oddness, all clinically dissected and yet given the space to be messily human. For those who enjoy reading about women on the edge and the odd lengths humans go to to feel real, Lara Williams' book is it!

Unfortunately when it came to this novel, the "disaffected millennial" of it all really didn't work for me. I understand that a certain blase attitude is trendy in fiction these days, but I think it's a little over done at this point, and I was pretty bored during my reading experience.

Very late review, but I did end up reading this book because even though i missed the deadline, it was really intriguing. This was not what I was expecting, but it was interesting. I do like a negative protagonist, but I struggled with this overall.

I was already feeling kind of slumpy when I picked this up and when I saw the average Goodreads rating (an abysmal 3.26), I was nervous. I thought this would edge me further into my reading slump and that I'd have another DNF on my hands. Instead, I found myself pulled straight in to Ingrid's story. A crewmember on an immense cruise ship, Ingrid is a strange person having strange experiences. It's hard to say more without getting into spoilers, but I found this to be a delightfully messy and confusing book. There both is and isn't much in the way of plot and the characters themselves are odd and difficult to connect with. I can see why this isn't for everyone, but I felt like Lara Williams did a great job here and I'm glad I finally got around to picking this up.

As a lover of strange or weird books The Odyssey's synopsis instantly intrigued me. Its description of being a "merciless takedown of capitalism" and being for fans of Sally Rooney, Ottessa Moshfegh, and Convenience Store Woman (aka ME!!) was the cherry on top. 

The story follows Ingrid, who works on a luxury cruise ship. Readers slowly learn about the past she has left behind for this job, which essentially becomes her whole life. 

This book is strange. Readers follow Ingrid as she takes on different jobs around the ship, hangs out with her friends, and occasionally spends a day wherever the ship docks. There were moments when I was intrigued by the strangeness of the story and the hints of Ingrid's past, but there were also times where I found myself a little bored. Williams is successful at critiquing consumer capitalism and presenting a character trying to look for meaning or something to believe in. I feel like this story could have done this in a shorter page count. When I got bored, the story started to lose me no matter how weird it got. 
I would recommend this if you like weird books, but you definitely have to go in okay with the fact that not everything will be explained!

I’ll read any book that refers to ancient Greek myth and literature, even if it’s only loosely based on it. The Odyssey borrows it’s title from the Homeric epic, tying into the grand journey of self-discovery Williams’ main character, Ingrid, finds herself on. Unfortunately for me, the title is the only thing I enjoyed about this book. This book is weird and quirky, but I found it hard to connect to or even like any of the characters. It falls under the subgenre of “Moshfegh-adjacent” novels, with strange plots and unlikeable characters. As someone who enjoyed Williams’ The Supper Club, I still hope to read more of her books on the future, but The Odyssey just did not do it for me.

This book made me think, in the beginning, of Alissa Nutting's Made for Love - bizarre and surreal. And from there, it just became stranger and more confusing. It reminded me of the TV series Severance, total mind f*ck. The meetings with Keith were like a session in the "break room". If you don't have any idea what I'm talking about, then you understand how I felt reading this book. I kept waiting for understanding but was left completely confused.

I still have no idea if I loved or didn’t really like this book but I definitely didn’t hate it. It was funny but also confusing so I really don’t know how to feel about it.

I really wanted to enjoy this book-it started out great but quickly devolved in to story line that I couldn't make heads or tails of no matter how many times I reread it.

Ingrid works on a cruise ship where she is assigned a series of monotonous jobs, until she’s selected for a special mentorship program where her loyalty is put to the test. This book has an original concept, and I’m always a fan of dysfunctional / delusional main characters (Ottessa Moshfegh vibes). I did leave this book not sure that I completely understood it.

What in the world did I just read? This book, which comes out today (!), is the second novel from Lara Williams after her incredible debut SUPPER CLUB. THE ODYSSEY is very unlike that one though. The surreal elements still draw a through line between the two, but THE ODYSSEY is beyond weird and I worry it may have gone over my head a bit.

Ingrid works on a cruise ship, has a strange relationship with a pair of siblings on board, and rarely leaves the boat. She gets picked to be mentored by the CEO (or captain?) of the ship, and that's where things take a turn. We know she struggled with alcoholism and a bad divorce in her recent past, but we know very little else about Ingrid and why she has chosen to run away from her life and live on a ship for the past few years. This is a great set-up, but for me, the novel was way too sparse and impenetrable for me. I also don't know why it's being advertised as funny because I actually found it rather depressing.

Wow! What a strange and interesting read! I didn't really know what to expect with this one and I was not disappointed.

As a comment on capitalism and culty workplace culture, this one really resonated. It was also the perfect length for a book like this, this genre is best when it's short and make its points quickly and clearly. Williams certainly succeeded in this regard.

I think this book will be polarizing, but it will be well-liked by folks who enjoy this type of read.

Strange, entertaining book with a narrator who leaves her home to work on a cruise ship and become part of a bizarre mentorship program. It is the kind of book that is better to read without much description. It is probably not for everyone. But, if you enjoy unique novels, and don't mind an unlikable narrator, you may appreciate. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC!

I tried so hard to enjoy this book, but unfortunately I didn't like the writing style and didn't particularly care for the characters.

Oh wow this was such a surprise/is now one of my new favourite books of 2022. 5 stars all round. This book has me on the floor for how weird/wild and wacky this truly was. I didn’t know anything about it going into it, I advise you all to do the same.

Full of twists and turns that just leave you once you’ve read the last page like WTF was that I’ve just read/will leave you contemplating and wondering wether what you just read was a fever dream or was in fact your own eyes that has read the going’s on of this book 😅

This one won’t be for everyone, let me just tell you that but it’s one I advise anyone to give a go who knows like me you could come away from it and have it become a surprise fav of the year… all you gotta do is that that leap of faith 👀

this is yet another addition to the young-ish alienated woman trend in literary fiction. and because there are so many similar titles, this one just didn't come across as particularly refreshing or interesting. besides the setting, ie the cruise, it was a rather milquetoast affair. but even if i was bored readers who haven't read a lot books that fall into the 'female malaise' subgenre might find this more engaging.

I have no idea what I just read, but I found myself unable to put it down. What does it mean? Is Ingrid in a cult or an mlm management scheme? Does the author truly understand wabi sabi? Does anyone? Cruise ships are scary.

Do not go on a cruise

This was a very strange book but I highly recommend. It.

This was an extremely bizarre novel! I was initially drawn in by the concept of a luxury cruise liner with cult undertones and the promise of an unlikeable narrator, and at face value, that seemed to be what The Odyssey was about. But as I got farther into the novel, I started to wonder about the point of it all. Ingrid's life on the cruise ship was as weird and unpleasant as her life off of it, and despite her growing, eerie closeness to her boss Keith and her growing alienation from her few friends, as in Ottessa Moshfegh's My Year of Rest and Relaxation, both protagonists seemed to end up right where they started, lacking any growth or satisfying narrative arc. However, I did enjoy the novel's smart language and some of the satirical aspects did amuse me.

Thank you to Zando Projects and NetGalley for the digital arc!

So, there is this brand of fiction of 'I'm disenfranchised and miserable and self-destructive and join me for a while and then I'll reveal my inciting incident and then you can empathize with me.' And, I'm not not here for that. I'm not entirely unsympathetic as a person and I have the occasional millennial (though let's not pretend for a second that this gen invented the trope, okay???) self-pitying instinct, so you know, I get the brand.  
But we all have that fictional trope that isn't for us. That fills us with rage. That, just, ruins everything. This book features mine, so this book was not for me. And I hated it. 
I could argue that the blurb doesn't match the style, that the book's style is inaccessible, that the ending is the only good part. But, honestly, this wasn't fun enough to be worth working harder to organize a thesis around, so I'm out. 
In a very late attempt to be fair. The book features an imaginative hook and the writing is intentional and intelligent.

A zany novel that contains clever observations and some great scenes. But, overall, there is no THERE, there. The plot, and the point, gets lost in the quirky telling.