Man, I loved this book. I read it for one of my book clubs, and it took a while for it to grow on me -- I found myself frustrated by the protagonist for the first hundred or so pages, and then once it hooked me I was really and truly hooked.
The central concept of the book is a retelling of various ancient Greek myths from the perspective of Circe, who is a minor character in The Odyssey and now takes central billing in this re-centering. I have never read The Odyssey, and most of my knowledge of Greek myths feels at best second-hand, although there is the argument that all knowledge of the myths don't exist from primary sources. But it meant that I have very little sense of exactly how transformative the book is or is not; my impression is that it's quite a leap, but I truly don't know. I loved what this journey is, though, and the way it made me think about the plays and poems I've read, and how many of them are translated and interpreted by men, and prioritize the male experience to the exclusion of basically everyone else.
Part of what I loved about this book was how the passage of time was experienced by a goddess, and how that contrasted with all mortals, and what that means for all the myths about the gods and their disputes. I came away from this book wanting to read Emily Miller's translation of The Odyssey, and to go back and reread the Greek plays and poems I read and only barely understood in college. If the story of a goddess who's framed as a witch in a story about a man but is centered as the protagonist in in this novel appeals to you, I would definitely recommend reading this.
Grade: A
The central concept of the book is a retelling of various ancient Greek myths from the perspective of Circe, who is a minor character in The Odyssey and now takes central billing in this re-centering. I have never read The Odyssey, and most of my knowledge of Greek myths feels at best second-hand, although there is the argument that all knowledge of the myths don't exist from primary sources. But it meant that I have very little sense of exactly how transformative the book is or is not; my impression is that it's quite a leap, but I truly don't know. I loved what this journey is, though, and the way it made me think about the plays and poems I've read, and how many of them are translated and interpreted by men, and prioritize the male experience to the exclusion of basically everyone else.
Part of what I loved about this book was how the passage of time was experienced by a goddess, and how that contrasted with all mortals, and what that means for all the myths about the gods and their disputes. I came away from this book wanting to read Emily Miller's translation of The Odyssey, and to go back and reread the Greek plays and poems I read and only barely understood in college. If the story of a goddess who's framed as a witch in a story about a man but is centered as the protagonist in in this novel appeals to you, I would definitely recommend reading this.
Grade: A
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