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3.77 AVERAGE
3.77 AVERAGE
I can't stop thinking about this damn book. The ending sold it for me and now I am considering it a favorite because every time I think about it (the characters, the setting, the entire world) my heart aches. It could be because of how biased I am in favor of the Trojan War but ugh I can never not think about this anymore. It has its flaws, the pacing in the middle was pretty slow but the last 400 pages of this 600 page book made me want to cry of emotion.
I couldn't bring myself to pick this back up. I'm maybe 300 pages in, and not feeling the love. I'm giving up.
3.5. I liked the writing and the premise. It was fun to read about helen from her perspective. It felt long though which was my biggest complaint. I know the war was ten years but it crawled by. There were some amazing quotes in the book and the characters were fantastic but it didn’t hold my attention like George’s other books.
Homer gaves us the story of the end of the Trojan War and the great tale of what happened to the Odyssey when it lost its way. There are numerous tales of the greatest warriors that fought the war and endless stories of the watching gods. Margaret George tells a different story. It is the story of Helen and how she went from being Helen, Queen of Sparta to Helen of Troy. And the story is told through her eyes. From her childhood when she strained against her restraints and resented the fact that she had to wear a veil and stay hidden. Hearing rumors and whispers all her life about how she wasn't her father's daughter how in fact she was in fact the daughter of Zeus. To her marriage to Menaleus where she resigns herself to a passionless life and finally to the day she meets Paris after an encounter with Aphrodite. Aphrodite promised Helen that she would bestow passion on her life, and Helen believing that she would finally have a passion filled marriage returns home and runs into Paris. After that first glimpse she knows what true desire feels like. And things go down hill from there.
Knowing that she can no longer live without Paris in her life they decide to let the chips fall where they will and escape together. Thus begins the most passionate love filled adventure of Helen's life. And what follows her and Paris is not joy and a long life of love together but destruction and hatred. Thus begins the Trojan war. All due to a promise that was made when Helen chose Menaleus as her husband that all the other suitors would band together if their marriage was questioned.
Written from Helen's perspective the story takes on a new energy. I know the some of the stories of the Trojan War and what led up to it. This gives it a different flavor and we are able to see the war as Helen saw it. She truly had love for Paris and her adopted country of Troy and hated watching the Greeks destroy it. I highly reccomend this book to anyone who has an interest in historical fiction and Greek mythology/history. It really is an amazing read!
Knowing that she can no longer live without Paris in her life they decide to let the chips fall where they will and escape together. Thus begins the most passionate love filled adventure of Helen's life. And what follows her and Paris is not joy and a long life of love together but destruction and hatred. Thus begins the Trojan war. All due to a promise that was made when Helen chose Menaleus as her husband that all the other suitors would band together if their marriage was questioned.
Written from Helen's perspective the story takes on a new energy. I know the some of the stories of the Trojan War and what led up to it. This gives it a different flavor and we are able to see the war as Helen saw it. She truly had love for Paris and her adopted country of Troy and hated watching the Greeks destroy it. I highly reccomend this book to anyone who has an interest in historical fiction and Greek mythology/history. It really is an amazing read!
Good retelling of Troy, but heavily fictionalized.
This book is perfect for people who love reading about Greek myths, epic tales, the Trojan War, and Helen of Troy. Prior to reading this book I had very few knowledge of antiquity and Greek mythology, only knowing the basic from my Classic Culture class at University but I've always been interested in this subject so, reading Helen of Troy, I was able to learn a bit more about it.
I picked up this book from a display at Barnes and Noble, not knowing what to expect. It was absolutely brilliant. The story of the Trojan War told from Helen's perspective, Helen turns out to be so much more than the face that launched a thousand ships. The character is engaging and the book was nearly impossible to put down.