The reading stopped at "... was not to be." (13.199)
Summary:
“In Book 5 of The Odyssey, Odysseus leaves Calypso's island, is harassed by Poseidon and is finally beached at the mouth of a river in the land of the fabulous seafaring people, the Phaeacians. Odysseus hides in a thicket to sleep off his exhaustion and in Book 6 is eventually awakened by the activities of the Princess Nausicaa and her maids-in-waiting, who have come to the river to do the palace laundry” (Gifford, 13.1-1306).
A far cry from the Joycean style which we have gotten to know in the previous episodes, the style here is one of over-sentimentality. The very first sentence sets the tone for the entire episode. It is 8 p.m. Three girl friends - Cissy Caffrey, Edy Boardman, Gerty MacDowell - are seated on rocks on the Sandymount strand. Four year old twins, Tommy and Jacky Caffrey, have come along with the girls, who have also brought with them an eleven month old baby in a pushcart.
Most of what was read today was about Gerty MacDowell, her looks, her dress, her dreams and her yearnings.
