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Reviews tagging 'Rape'
Ariadne: Princesa. Irmã de um monstro. Amante de deuses e heróis. by Jennifer Saint
384 reviews
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Moderate: Rape
dark
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A surprisingly grim and, ultimately, flat take on the Cretan princesses Ariadne and Phaedra.
The story of Ariadne is fairly well-known in pop culture. She's a princess who helps the Athenian hero Theseus defeat the Minotaur and make it out of the labyrinth alive thanks to her gift of a ball of twine. (If y'all watched the Disney animated Hercules series, it was "magic twine." And the Minotaur had an amazing baritone voice. It was fun.)
Afterwards, Theseus and Ariadne head back for Athens together... except Theseus, Asshole Extraordinaire, decides to stop on the way and maroon our heroine on an island. The Greek god Dionysos finds her and, smitten, proposes marriage to her. Happily ever after. In most versions anyway. Except if you've read the Greek poet Nonnus's Dionysiaca . (Saint borrows the Dionysiaca ending but excises the more epic bits.)
The version we get here adheres pretty closely to the original tale up until Ariadne's marriage to the Greek god of wine, religious ecstasy, and (to some extent) indestructible life.
But it doesn't add anything to it except for one message over and over again: women are powerless against the cruelty of men and gods. Saint illustrates this with Pasiphae (mother of the Minotaur) and a brief mention of Medusa (who... wore her punishment like a crown and turned it on people? I mean... that's not untrue but I can't imagine how empowering it feels to live in total isolation and turn anyone who comes near into stone, except for the very gods who imposed their punishment on her...). Ariadne mostly tries to compartmentalize her daily misery until she meets Theseus, and when she meets Dionysos she quickly falls back into this pattern. Ignore, ignore, ignore, and maybe aspire to be as "brave" (?) as Medusa.
By contrast, Phaedra gets some really interesting chapters where she deals with the loss of her sister, her growing suspicions and hatred of Theseus, her cunning efforts to gain power and slowly become the de facto ruler of Athens, and her guilt at being a mother who never wanted children. I thought these were great details because they didn't worry about making Phaedra likeable. They just made her feel human, and that was something sorely missed in a book where hardly any characters have proper relationships with each other (and therefore few opportunities to show off character development).
Unfortunately, the Phaedra/Hippolytus plot line goes a route I can't abide. It refuses to let anyone we may like in the slightest make a MISTAKE. Or worse, a purposefully selfish or bad decision that actively harms someone.
So... in the original Euripides and Seneca plays, Phaedra confesses her love to Hippolytus, Theseus's stepson by an Amazon, and when he rejects her, she accuses him of trying to rape her. This makes Theseus murder Hippolytus via godly death wish. Phaedra kills herself either before this happens or after, depends on which play you read.
What about Saint's version? It's a mish-mash, mostly from the Euripides version where Phaedra leaves a not accusing Hippolytus. Except that this new Phaedra doesn't accuse Hippolytus of anything. She just kills herself out of fear that Theseus will hear about her propositioning her stepson, and Theseus finds a piece of paper with his son's name on it. That's it. She never does the thing that makes Phaedra really, really difficult to write. I don't understand this choice. Throwing the entire rape accusation plot-point onto Theseus, who is admittedly awful, takes away Phaedra's agency and ability to make bad choices. Choices with massive consequences. And I don't know what it leaves me with at the end. Who is Phaedra in this version? A woman who tried to find love and then immediately killed herself out of terror? After all the work she did to attain power and build a life for herself? After finding her long lost sister again? It's unsatisfying. The second half of Ariadne's plot follows a similar path: there are no happy endings. There are no happy marriages. Gods are just as untrustworthy as Theseus the mortal man, and any efforts to strive for happiness will end in misery and death. Dionysos becomes bored of Ariadne and their children. He begins a "creepy" (?) cult of maenads and animal sacrifices, the latter of which Dionysos can reverse thanks to his godly powers. He transforms into an increasingly power-obsessed god, a far cry from the caring deity who wiped Ariadne's tears when she found herself abandoned. Then, in a failed bid to gain more followers, he causes the death of all the babies in Argos because his power don't seem to work on humans and he can't bring them back to life. Ariadne during the Argive invasion of her island, with Medusa's head turning her to stone. Why? Because that's what Nonnus wrote in his Dionysiaca. But otherwise, why? And why does Dionysos seem barely affected? Why doesn't this death affect me? Why is this the end of a story where Ariadne never got to do anything at all?
Ultimately, I don't know what Saint was trying to say about these myths. When I hear about cowardly, treacherous Theseus and how he betrayed Ariadne in a book on Greek myths, or an opera, or a play, I weep for her circumstances, and I feel for her situation. I'm not thinking, "well, them's the breaks, and of course women could never be happy in ancient times." Instead, I wait for Dionysos to come find her. I wait for that one, miraculous relationship between a god and a mortal that does end well.
And when I watch Phaedra, I think of a person so twisted by a desire that it destroys everything around her--not unsympathetically. I wonder what could have driven her to such measures, and why she chose to take these horrible steps when she could have avoided them. Or maybe she couldn't. Maybe that's what tragedy is about.
But this novel isn't a tragedy, and neither is this book's take on Ariadne. What Saint gives us is a tale where nothing is possible besides misery and death. There is no inner struggle.
Recommended if you feel driven to seek out every mythological retelling. I otherwise suggest you seek out other books. Maybe the plays? Or another mythology-based book?
The story of Ariadne is fairly well-known in pop culture. She's a princess who helps the Athenian hero Theseus defeat the Minotaur and make it out of the labyrinth alive thanks to her gift of a ball of twine. (If y'all watched the Disney animated Hercules series, it was "magic twine." And the Minotaur had an amazing baritone voice. It was fun.)
Afterwards, Theseus and Ariadne head back for Athens together... except Theseus, Asshole Extraordinaire, decides to stop on the way and maroon our heroine on an island. The Greek god Dionysos finds her and, smitten, proposes marriage to her. Happily ever after. In most versions anyway. Except if you've read the Greek poet Nonnus's Dionysiaca . (Saint borrows the Dionysiaca ending but excises the more epic bits.)
The version we get here adheres pretty closely to the original tale up until Ariadne's marriage to the Greek god of wine, religious ecstasy, and (to some extent) indestructible life.
But it doesn't add anything to it except for one message over and over again: women are powerless against the cruelty of men and gods. Saint illustrates this with Pasiphae (mother of the Minotaur) and a brief mention of Medusa (who... wore her punishment like a crown and turned it on people? I mean... that's not untrue but I can't imagine how empowering it feels to live in total isolation and turn anyone who comes near into stone, except for the very gods who imposed their punishment on her...). Ariadne mostly tries to compartmentalize her daily misery until she meets Theseus, and when she meets Dionysos she quickly falls back into this pattern. Ignore, ignore, ignore, and maybe aspire to be as "brave" (?) as Medusa.
By contrast, Phaedra gets some really interesting chapters where she deals with the loss of her sister, her growing suspicions and hatred of Theseus, her cunning efforts to gain power and slowly become the de facto ruler of Athens, and her guilt at being a mother who never wanted children. I thought these were great details because they didn't worry about making Phaedra likeable. They just made her feel human, and that was something sorely missed in a book where hardly any characters have proper relationships with each other (and therefore few opportunities to show off character development).
Unfortunately, the Phaedra/Hippolytus plot line goes a route I can't abide. It refuses to let anyone we may like in the slightest make a MISTAKE. Or worse, a purposefully selfish or bad decision that actively harms someone.
What about Saint's version? It's a mish-mash, mostly from the Euripides version where Phaedra leaves a not accusing Hippolytus. Except that this new Phaedra doesn't accuse Hippolytus of anything. She just kills herself out of fear that Theseus will hear about her propositioning her stepson, and Theseus finds a piece of paper with his son's name on it. That's it. She never does the thing that makes Phaedra really, really difficult to write. I don't understand this choice. Throwing the entire rape accusation plot-point onto Theseus, who is admittedly awful, takes away Phaedra's agency and ability to make bad choices. Choices with massive consequences. And I don't know what it leaves me with at the end. Who is Phaedra in this version? A woman who tried to find love and then immediately killed herself out of terror? After all the work she did to attain power and build a life for herself? After finding her long lost sister again? It's unsatisfying.
Ultimately, I don't know what Saint was trying to say about these myths. When I hear about cowardly, treacherous Theseus and how he betrayed Ariadne in a book on Greek myths, or an opera, or a play, I weep for her circumstances, and I feel for her situation. I'm not thinking, "well, them's the breaks, and of course women could never be happy in ancient times." Instead, I wait for Dionysos to come find her. I wait for that one, miraculous relationship between a god and a mortal that does end well.
And when I watch Phaedra, I think of a person so twisted by a desire that it destroys everything around her--not unsympathetically. I wonder what could have driven her to such measures, and why she chose to take these horrible steps when she could have avoided them. Or maybe she couldn't. Maybe that's what tragedy is about.
But this novel isn't a tragedy, and neither is this book's take on Ariadne. What Saint gives us is a tale where nothing is possible besides misery and death. There is no inner struggle.
Recommended if you feel driven to seek out every mythological retelling. I otherwise suggest you seek out other books. Maybe the plays? Or another mythology-based book?
Content Warnings
Moderate: Suicide
Minor: Rape
dark
emotional
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Moderate: Miscarriage, Rape, Suicide, Pregnancy
challenging
emotional
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Ariadne filled the void that has been lingering since I finished The Song of Achilles, the void that can only be filled with beautiful, heart wrenching tragedy. Ariadne is brutal and unforgiving in places, but truly celebrates and centers women, in all their glory and folly, their strength and their perseverance, all their messes and triumphs.
Slow at times, but instead of being stuck in the mud, the pace is more like slowly pouring honey. It’s meant to lure you in, until like a bug, you’re trapped inside it’s sweet and poisonous spell. I look forward to what’s next from Saint, and this book is a must read for any fan of SOA or greek myth.
Slow at times, but instead of being stuck in the mud, the pace is more like slowly pouring honey. It’s meant to lure you in, until like a bug, you’re trapped inside it’s sweet and poisonous spell. I look forward to what’s next from Saint, and this book is a must read for any fan of SOA or greek myth.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Murder, Abandonment
Moderate: Child death, Rape, Suicide
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I couldn't help but compare this to Circe. It's alike in many ways, but also different. I really enjoyed it and can't wait to see what the author does next.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Abandonment
Minor: Rape
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Death
Moderate: Suicide
Minor: Rape
emotional
sad
slow-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
A wonderful insight into the pain of being a woman in Greek mythology.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death
Minor: Child death, Rape
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Death, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicide, Blood, Grief, Pregnancy
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment
Minor: Animal cruelty, Rape, Suicide
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Minor: Child death, Death, Rape, Suicide
This fell flat for me & it was super overhyped. It was extremely slow paced and the main character felt like a side character in her own story.