Madeline Miller (1) (1978–)

Bit disappointed in this. It's perfectly fine - nicely written, interesting story - it just didn't have an enlivening spark. There was little wonder or magic in the retelling. The biggest weakness for me was that I didn't really get a sense of Achilles' and Patroclus' friendship in the early section of the book. Miller, sadly, didn't capture for me the closeness or intensity of childhood friendships - we're told how great their love for each other is, not shown it. With that being unconvincing, the early section of the book does tend to drag.

It has made me want to go back and read the classics though.… (mer)

This was a natural read for me given that I loved Greek mythology as a child and also studied the Odyssey at school. I didn't remember much about Circe, other than her being a sorceress who lives on an island and turns Odysseus' crew into pigs at one point. However, this book sets out to give her an entire back story from childhood onwards, that makes her actions perfecctly understandable.

Circe is the eldest daughter of Helios, the sun god, and a nymph Perse. She grows up in the undersea palace of her father, a dark and forbidding place when he is not there to illuminate it. The place is packed with umpteen hangers on, minor nymphs mostly, but also the odd god or goddess. None of the Olympians, however. These are the Titans, predecessors of the Olympians, whom the Olympians have mostly supplanted from their previous roles, so that gods such as Oceanus are now subservient to Poseidon. Only her father and one other have maintained their pre-eminent roles, by taking the side of Zeus, King of the Gods, in the war between him (backed up by his siblings, the other Olympians) and the Titans, to whom Circe's parents and the other "people" among whom she grows up belong.

The Titans and Olympians are all one and the same, however, when it comes to self absorption, callous disregard for the lives of mortals, or lack of respect and consideration for the less powerful among their own ranks, such as Circe. Because she has a strange voice - which she later discovers is like that of a mortal - and yellow eyes, she is a figure of fun for many of them, and is neglected by her own parents. As a child she is made to witness the flogging of Prometheus, the only one of their number with compassion for mortals, and secretly brings him some nectar to revive him between stages of his awful punishment. Later she becomes more estranged from her own kind when she discovers that the youngest brother she idolises actually views her with contempt. The brother and sister who come in between the two siblings treat Circe like dirt from the beginning.

Circe falls in love with a mortal sailor and, having heard of plants that grew from Titan blood during the war, and which have the power to bestow godhood, she feeds him a draught she has prepared. He turns into a sea god with powers of his own, but is quick to disdain her and prefer another. She uses her herbal skills to transform her rival - the flowers have the power to make someone most perfectly 'like themselves' and the hard-hearted and cruel nymph becomes the ravening monster Scylla of Greek mythology - and when she is driven by guilt to confess her deeds, she earns lifelong exile to an island. For it transpires that she and her siblings have the power to imbue herbs with magic, a power that no other god or Titan has and which secretly frightens Zeus and the others. Her mother is forbidden to have other children, and Circe becomes the scapegoat for all four.

The rest of the story is about her life on that island, with a brief visit to Crete which her sister engineers when she requires Circe's help, and her interactions with the various visitors who land on the island, the most famous of whom is Odysseus. However, Circe compassion for mortals is blunted after a terrible experience (trigger warning for rape scene) involving the criminal crew of a ship. Thereafter, she uses her herbal powers to turn such men into pigs.

I enjoyed a lot about the story, certainly up to the point after Odysseus' departure. I wasn't keen, however, on the portrayal of Odysseus which emerges after that. And I found the section a bit wearing where her son, born after Odysseus departs, is a difficult baby. One difficulty for the author, I feel, is that Circe is mostly stuck on her island so apart from the visit to Crete, she doesn't view the momentous current events for herself, but is told about them by visitors. However, the development of her character is very well done and the ending is a natural outcome of that. So, with the small reservations I had about it, this is a 4 star read.… (mer)