B.'s volume is a highly engaging study on the symbolic value and religious importance of meat in the Odyssey. B. suggests that the theme of meat-eating comprises one of the ‘unifying forces’ in the poem, and adduces detailed and convincing evidence – both literary and linguistic – to support his argument (p. ix). In his eight chapters, B. explains the significance of both aristocratic feasting and humble meals, but focuses on ‘problematic feasting’ that includes the episodes of the Cyclops, Circe and the Cattle of the Sun, in addition to the mass slaughter of the Suitors at the end of what was essentially a three-year banquet involving the systematic plundering of Odysseus' herds (p. xi). Throughout, B. examines the relationship of meat consumption to civilisation and to the divine, particularly when that consumption occurs in transgressive contexts.

In his first two chapters, B. lays the groundwork within which he will discuss the significance of feasting. Chapter 1, ‘Epos and Aoide’, deals with tensions between the aoide, or ‘matrix narrative’ – that is, the entire poem – and the epos, or ‘embedded utterance’, with specific reference to Odysseus' tales within the overall narrative. Important here is B.'s discussion of the proem, with its seemingly odd emphasis on the Cattle of the Sun episode, and its connection to Odysseus' initial conversation with Alcinous, which also emphasises the deaths of the Companions: epos and aoide are interdependent in both content and language. In Chapter 2, ‘Nostos as Quest’, B. continues his examination of the ‘complex interplay’ between the stories of Odysseus and of the poet (p. 13), reviewing the narrative typologies proposed for the Odyssey, such as the Aarne-Thompson tale-type of the ‘Homecoming Husband’. B. notes that none of these typologies fit the Odyssey well enough; for example, ‘Usually, there is only one villain-suitor … but at Ithaca the villain has been multiplied into a crowd’, and ‘usually the returning husband has been as chaste as his wife during his absence’, but Odysseus has not (p. 14). B.'s objections seem odd. There is no need to straightjacket the entire Odyssey into one particular tale type; moreover, the characteristics B. cites apply to later folktale versions of the ‘Homecoming Husband’, and his interpretation of them indicates a too-stringent reading of what are simply folktale variants (also, B. does not use Uther's 2004 update of Aarne-Thompson). Ultimately, B. proposes his own narrative typology, based partially on Propp, and partially on an analysis of the semantic range of the Greek term nostos and the relationship of nostos to the concept of a completed quest.

Chapter 3, ‘Meat in Myth and Life’, provides background on the importance of meat in heroic society ‘as symbolic capital’ critical to the economy in the way meat is divided and distributed and consequently confers status on characters as lofty as Agamemnon (in the Iliad) and as lowly as the ‘beggar’ Odysseus (pp. 37, 40). Feasts – which centre on meat – allow a community to reaffirm its cohesion as well as to maintain its relationship with the gods. Yet feasts can also be problematic: they can be an occasion for argument, disrupt into a brawl, or even provide an opportunity for assassination. It is within such contexts that B. situates the Suitors' transgression, which, ‘Besides being a moral outrage and a social and political crime of the first magnitude’, is also ‘a major violation of religious custom’ (p. 47).

The book's three central chapters examine in more detail the extensive relationships between Odysseus' Wanderings and the situation at Ithaca. Although B.'s observation that ‘the Wanderings provide essential exemplars for the crimes committed in Odysseus’ house in his absence', is not new (p. 35), his particular focus on the significance of meat certainly adds an interesting new angle to the scholarly discussion of these adventures. Chapter 4, ‘Of Hunters and Herders’, focuses on the Cyclops episode, reminding us that both the aoide and epos endow the Suitors ‘with clear Cyclopean qualities’ in terms of their meat consumption and lack of hospitality (p. 54), while also pointing out that Odysseus himself will play the role of Cyclops when punishing the intruding Suitors, evidenced not only by plot similarities but also by repetition in the Greek, as both Odysseus and the Cyclops enact ‘the master's return’ (p. 69). In Chapter 5, ‘Feasting in the Land of the Dawn’, B. continues to explore the theme of eating and ‘being eaten’ (p. 75), focusing principally on the Circe episode which, like that of the Cyclops, begins with Odysseus' men hunting for food. Their metamorphosis into swine may allegorically reflect their gluttony, but B.'s discussion of the connection between humans and pigs, with its references to cannibalism, suggests that ‘Circe's actions have not only laid bare man's nature as an eating animal, but have also drawn attention to the dangers of eating’ (p. 87). The chapter ends with an interesting and detailed comparison between Circe and Eumaeus juxtaposed with a comparison of the Suitors to swine. B. connects Chapter 6, ‘The Revenge of the Sun’, with Circe by stressing solar symbolism and its seasonal connection with ‘the return of the king’ (p. 97). Circe's father Helius is himself ‘an important owner of livestock’ (p. 101), and sacred cattle were not unique in Greek mythology or actual religious practice though, importantly, they were distinguished from meat animals in that they were not to be sacrificed or sold. The verb σίνομαι (‘harm’), used in the warning to Odysseus and his men against touching the Sun Cattle, also ‘seems formulaic in inscriptions dealing with prohibitions’ concerning land and the animals on it (p. 102), and connects Helius' cattle with the importance of real-life herds. The Companions' devouring of the Sun Cattle thus becomes not just a transgression in a sacred sanctuary and a perversion of the heroic feast, but a depletion of non-renewable economic resources, a recklessness that would resonate with the poem's audience and that helps explain why the Companions meet with such a severe punishment.

In Chapter 7, ‘The Justice of Poseidon’, B. adds a new perspective to the argument that Odysseus' interactions with the Cyclops led to the doom of his crew. Much attention has been given to Polyphemus' prayer, but B. takes a closer look at Odysseus' subsequent sacrifice of the Cyclops' ram to Zeus and tries to address the problematic aspects of this scene raised by previous scholars, such as why the Companions were not punished until much later. The Companions were not at fault in the Cyclops episode, but Zeus must appease Poseidon by granting at least part of Polyphemus' prayer – and so Zeus later traps the men on Thrinacia at a point when Odysseus' leadership, which failed them on the Cyclops' island and became increasingly less effective, is at its nadir and the crew is now ‘unified in opposition’ to their captain (p. 127).

B.'s final chapter, ‘Remembering the Gaster’, contextualises hunger and looks specifically at uses of this word in the poem and how the term plays a key role in the ‘interformulaic’ aspects of the poem. Here B. acknowledges his debt to the detailed work of P. Pucci on this topic, including the contrast between thumos and gaster and the restricted use of the latter term to describe lower class people, such as beggars, characterised by hunger – as Odysseus is upon his arrivals at Scheria and Ithaca. But B. demonstrates a connection between gaster and thumos via menos, and thus a linguistic connection between Odysseus as wandering beggar and hero simultaneously.

In the epilogue, perhaps anticipating scholarly objection to his reliance on the interpretation of formulaic repetition as highly significant to linking episodes (as opposed to being simply a basic characteristic of the oral tradition), B. successfully addresses the poetic and semantic problems raised by his method. B.'s concise study, clearly written despite the occasional heavy reliance on technical linguistic arguments, is an enjoyable, useful and important addition to the vast field of Homeric studies.