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3.77 AVERAGE
3.77 AVERAGE
This was going to be airplane/trip reading for the exciting metropolis of Erie, PA. Sorry to say it didn't even rise above Erie - and that doesn't take much. I decided to give this a shot after reading The Autobiography of Henry VIII a number of years ago. It was a romance, to be sure, but the research seemed solid, and Ms. George breathed life into the characters. It was a pretty good read. "Helen of Troy," is also a romance, but Ms. George had much less a historical record to fall back on, and could only try to fill in the myths. Her Helen is a bit of a love struck/Aphrodite struck dolt, and the rest of the characters are all one dimensional. It's not even much of a bodice ripper. Zeus doesn't generate much heat with Leda, Menalius gets nowhere with Helen, and not much further with the servants, Paris seems a little too good to be true, and though he and Helen try to heat things up the writing isn't near prurient enough to be fun. I left it in the recycle bin in Erie and didn't even get to the fall of Troy. The book was too dull to continue, and too heavy to bring back home.
adventurous
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The story was interesting, but there were some contradictions that bothered me: she wasn't angry at Menalaeus, and then she was, there wasn't enough food and then there were great feasts for the funerals and Odysseus hid and disguised as a bum to find out who his enemies were when he went home and then later his son visits Sparta and says his father hadn't come home. (maybe I didn't read these parts right???
I was glad I read it, but I was just as glad to be finished with it.
I was glad I read it, but I was just as glad to be finished with it.
adventurous
dark
informative
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
I liked reading this book. I don't think I've read anything regarding Greek mythology since high school. This book did a good job giving a brief review of the gods. I really enjoyed reading about the great Trojan War from Helen's point of view. I would recommend this book to someone interested in wanting to read about the trojan war/ greek mythology.
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I really liked that this told Helen's story from her childhood until her death, her time before and after Troy is not something I had really considered previously and to my surprise, I enjoyed those parts of the book the most. I felt George's building of the historical settings was well done overall and the story felt rooted enough in Bronze Age Greece. My favourite part of the book were probably the last fifty pages, I really liked the ending.
That said, the middle part really stretched on for a long time. This book did not need to be 600 pages. I liked seeing the dynamics within Troy and its royal family and many of the characters we know from myth, like Hector or Priam, were done well enough. But, considering we already know what will happen, the story just became quite monotonous. Helen's perspective of course does not show a lot of parts of the war, as she is not on the battlefield, but I would have liked to instead have something of more substance about the goings on inside the city and among the women and those not directly engaged in the fight than relying on the author's flimsy solution of giving Helen a gift of prophecy that allowed her to foresee and witness things she should not be able to see. There's already enough prophecies and seers in Troy, we don't need one more.
Overall, it was just fine, the best parts those that are not actually set in Troy, but if I were asked to recommend a Homeric retelling, it would not be this one, except if you really want to focus on Helen.
That said, the middle part really stretched on for a long time. This book did not need to be 600 pages. I liked seeing the dynamics within Troy and its royal family and many of the characters we know from myth, like Hector or Priam, were done well enough. But, considering we already know what will happen, the story just became quite monotonous. Helen's perspective of course does not show a lot of parts of the war, as she is not on the battlefield, but I would have liked to instead have something of more substance about the goings on inside the city and among the women and those not directly engaged in the fight than relying on the author's flimsy solution of giving Helen a gift of prophecy that allowed her to foresee and witness things she should not be able to see. There's already enough prophecies and seers in Troy, we don't need one more.
Overall, it was just fine, the best parts those that are not actually set in Troy, but if I were asked to recommend a Homeric retelling, it would not be this one, except if you really want to focus on Helen.
Why was her childhood abduction by Theseus completely left out? Every other little inconsequential thing in her life is talked about in exhaustive detail.
What really gets me about this is a version of Menelaus that you almost never get. The author gave his relationship with Helen a depth that, to me, is far more interesting to hear about than Helen and Paris. The famously beautiful Helen is simply a woman in a marriage that didn't turn out as great as she thought it would, despite hope for the best on both sides. Helen wants to feel passion for the husband that she sees only as a faithful friend and companion and Menelaus is a humble good man whose cherished wife can barely muster warm affection for him, so he turns to another woman despite the love he still holds for Helen.
When Helen reveals that she knows of the affair he begs forgiveness, but she doesn't feel she can give it because she has also been unfaithful. "I loved Paris, was mad for him, although we had barely touched. Menelaus had lain down with this woman, but his loyalty was uncompromised. Who was the greater adulterer?" After this confrontation Menelaus leaves Sparta for a funeral and Helen runs away with Paris.
Paris and Helen aren't the fated lovers she imagines them to be. Paris is 16 to her 25, and is bold and seems mature for his age. Helen at first makes nothing of his flaws of character which steadily become more obvious as the story (very) slowly wears on.
So far this book has kept me interested, but it would be much easier if there weren't so many unnecessary parts to it. I really don't care to read about long long path to the turtle pen hidden deep in the forest and every twist and turn it takes to get there.
What really gets me about this is a version of Menelaus that you almost never get. The author gave his relationship with Helen a depth that, to me, is far more interesting to hear about than Helen and Paris. The famously beautiful Helen is simply a woman in a marriage that didn't turn out as great as she thought it would, despite hope for the best on both sides. Helen wants to feel passion for the husband that she sees only as a faithful friend and companion and Menelaus is a humble good man whose cherished wife can barely muster warm affection for him, so he turns to another woman despite the love he still holds for Helen.
When Helen reveals that she knows of the affair he begs forgiveness, but she doesn't feel she can give it because she has also been unfaithful. "I loved Paris, was mad for him, although we had barely touched. Menelaus had lain down with this woman, but his loyalty was uncompromised. Who was the greater adulterer?" After this confrontation Menelaus leaves Sparta for a funeral and Helen runs away with Paris.
Paris and Helen aren't the fated lovers she imagines them to be. Paris is 16 to her 25, and is bold and seems mature for his age. Helen at first makes nothing of his flaws of character which steadily become more obvious as the story (very) slowly wears on.
So far this book has kept me interested, but it would be much easier if there weren't so many unnecessary parts to it. I really don't care to read about long long path to the turtle pen hidden deep in the forest and every twist and turn it takes to get there.
Though a bit tedious at times, this is a wonderful novel. It contains both a female and a Trojan perspective in Helen. This work allows us to truly empathize with the Trojans. One can never really side with "the Greeks" (which I did prior to this novel) after reading this; nor can one presume the war was caused by two selfish lovers (all wars, as well as this one, were caused by a multitude of events).
I should have read this before reading The Song of Achilles, I spent the last 90 ages in tears and joy.
I read this 1/3 of the way through. When Helen finally meets Paris and finds herself 'aflame' and ready to run of with him in 2 pages of what could only be described uninspired words (prose wont even work)..i couldn't read another 500 pages. forget it.