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martmann47's review
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
malaika_astre's review against another edition
1.0
I didn't finish this. Maybe it's because I'm a classicist, but this wasn't fun to read. Haynes glosses through the stories, without time to develop the characters. And if you don't know the stories, that's fine, but I think most of us know them. The breaking point was how she wrote the goddesses. Again, could be my background, but I couldn't rhyme their behaviour with their personalities and backgrounds. I'll use this book for school and I'm interested in her other books, but his one didn't do it for me.
megarara's review against another edition
5.0
This reminded me of how much I used to enjoy Greek mythology and experiencing it from a different view was something I never considered. It's inspired me to read more greek myths
hiitsmecassie's review against another edition
5.0
super good!! i loved hearing the voices of those not mentioned
cozy_gh0st's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Rape
carlyboone's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
This was so good that I started and finished it in 9 hours
map415's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
aekl26's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
thetrashchan's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
alexan13's review against another edition
3.0
So I have kind of mixed feelings about this. I loved the conceit: the Iliad from the perspective of the women that are sidelined by Homer's epic and through this an examination of the effects of war on an individual and a society. However. I just didn't end up loving how the author did this.
From a craft perspective, this was great. I was surprised to find that the author was true to the Iliad in her storytelling methods. The novel focuses on vignettes and a collection of tales from many women, rather than diving into any one perspective to get a full understanding of each character. That's more or less what the Iliad does as well (it's there to tell you the story, it's not interested in a deep exploration of individuals). This also was instrumental to making the thematic point about grief and the effects of war being simultaneously individual and collective.
However, it simply wasn't the most engaging reading experience. I also have particular grief with Penelope's chapters: Penelope is one of the few characters that has multiple POV chapters, but really all we get from them is her retelling the events of the Odyssey and reacting to them, instead of insight to her own story and her own life outside of Odysseus. Not only was I not interested in reading a synopsis of the Odyssey, this felt like such wasted potential and didn't do much to complicate the narrative.
Overall, I would actually highly recommend this book. For me, it wasn't the most engaging and I feel like the author could have dove deeper thematically.
From a craft perspective, this was great. I was surprised to find that the author was true to the Iliad in her storytelling methods. The novel focuses on vignettes and a collection of tales from many women, rather than diving into any one perspective to get a full understanding of each character. That's more or less what the Iliad does as well (it's there to tell you the story, it's not interested in a deep exploration of individuals). This also was instrumental to making the thematic point about grief and the effects of war being simultaneously individual and collective.
However, it simply wasn't the most engaging reading experience. I also have particular grief with Penelope's chapters: Penelope is one of the few characters that has multiple POV chapters, but really all we get from them is her retelling the events of the Odyssey and reacting to them, instead of insight to her own story and her own life outside of Odysseus. Not only was I not interested in reading a synopsis of the Odyssey, this felt like such wasted potential and didn't do much to complicate the narrative.
Overall, I would actually highly recommend this book. For me, it wasn't the most engaging and I feel like the author could have dove deeper thematically.