As the subtitle suggests, Anpao has been viewed as a Native American version of Homer's Odyssey since both chronicle the adventures of a young man who meets mythological creatures while on a journey. Critics have said that Highwater does for Native American culture what Homer did for the ancient Greek culture. As Anpao discovers the tales of a variety of native American tribes, Odysseus discovers the tales of the Aegean peoples. Highwater is careful to cite the original sources of the tales that he includes.

Highwater himself compares his writing to the Central and South American literature which is sometimes called "magical realism." As he states in "The Storyteller's Farewell," "Magic Realism is the outcome of the writing of Indians who are fully trained in both the language of the dominant civilization and the 'otherness' of Indian culture." Thus horses become magic dogs: "the products of...