Book Review: Theo's Odyssey

Often, people don’t have any interest in learning about religions because of how these religions have been introduced to them. This is definitely understandable—stuffy textbooks that go on for about one hundred pages on the origins of the Copts do not inspire people to learn about this religion or any others. In order to have your knowledge of world religions stick in your head, you need a good book with a lively dialogue and a good story line to it.

Theo’s Odyssey by Catherine Clement has all of these elements—and is quite humorous at times, as well. What really hooks readers as they begin the book is that the story doesn’t begin with an analysis of a religion: it begins at the house of the Fournay family in Paris. The author introduces our main character—Theo, an intelligent 14-year-old who adores his computer games and books on ancient Egyptian and Tibetan mythology and is proud of his Greek heritage. Clement also introduces Theo’s best friend (and perhaps girlfriend) Fatou, a girl his age from Senegal who tells him stories about her homeland and her religion—Islam.

When the story begins, Theo is diagnosed with a mysterious terminal disease. Doctors expect him to die, and his parents, siblings, and Fatou lose hope for him. Theo stays at home all the time, “drifting on a sea of weakness,” slowly but surely pining away.

Then his eccentric Aunt Martha comes to the rescue. Aunt Martha arrives in Paris and announces that she will be taking Theo on a tour of world religions. They will travel to Jerusalem, Istanbul, Rio, New York, Prague, and more—except she makes a game out of it: Theo must read a clue at every city, and guess the next city that they will be traveling to. Fatou will be his “Pythia” or oracle, and will read him clues and teasers over the phone.

Theo and Aunt Martha depart soon after, and arrive in Jerusalem, their first stop. Here, Theo is introduced to three of Aunt Martha’s friends: Rabbi Eliezer, Father Dubourg, and Sheik Suleiman. Thanks to them, Theo is taught about Judaism, Catholicism, and Islam, and visits the Wailing Wall, the Basilica, and Bethlehem, among other places.

Next stop is Egypt, and after that, Rome, and after that........Theo continues to journey all over the world, battling his illness—and learning about a strange “twin” from the Underworld who speaks to him.

Theo begins his journey not affiliated with any religion. Aunt Martha is an atheist, and doesn't encourage him to follow a religion during his odyssey--the book, therefore, does not advocate conversion or adopting a faith, but it promotes unbiased learning of world religions. My personal favorite chapter is when Theo is learning about the whirling dervishes of Islam in Istanbul. This chapter shows the mysticism that goes along with many religions.

So, if you would really like to study world religions—but haven’t found a good book yet—I would really recommend Theo’s Odyssey. This book combines learning religions with humor, sadness, and joy. It’s a great read for late elementary and up, since it does contain some content inappropriate for younger ages.  Read it again and again—and you will have a complete knowledge of the major religions of the world.