Reviews with content warning for Infidelity - A Thousand Ships

This book made me very emotional, but I very much enjoyed it. It reads more like a series of short stories that are tangentially connected than a novel which at times made it feel a bit slow for me, but there is a plot there as well as a cohesive message.
When I read a book that is extremely sad, I look for things to break through the tension and bring delight back to reading. The chapters from the perspectives of Calliope and Penelope really do this. Both of the women use sarcasm and irony well which puts readers at ease. Calliope has so many thoughts on the other characters (especially Helen) that readers can easily feel connected to her and her outsider point of view.
If you like Greek mythology, I think this is a very interesting perspective as women truly are kept out of the limelight unless they are goddesses. This novel goes out of its way to highlight women, whether their actions seem heroic or not. It shows how the women are often products of their backgrounds, but it also depicts them as full people, capable of experiencing the same levels of -- if not more -- tragedy.
Overall, I would read this novel again, though I think I need a fun book break to relieve the heavy feeling A Thousand Ships leaves.

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galexy_brain's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

I found it incredibly realistic that the women in this novel didn't necessarily realize that some of their thoughts and belief patterns about themselves and about other women were because of the patriarchy they are under.

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icarusandthesun's review against another edition

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challenging informative tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

slow and lenghty; 350 pages that felt like an eternity.

i found it really hard to enjoy this one. as someone who's read quite a few mythology retellings, surprsingly little was new to me, and even though it's advertised as very feminist and "epic", it didn't feel revolutionary at all.

i love that haynes introduced me to a couple of women and aspects in greek mythology that i hadn't previously heard of, but the stories themselves were a little, hm, flat maybe? i found myself unable to feel for the characters sometimes.
part of it's probably because of the amount of information in this book. haynes tried to fit the whole iliad (and odyssey) into 350 pages and all of it, all of the things that happened (though retold from the women's perspectives) felt textbook-dry.

i expected something emotional and fiercely feminist, but it ended up being unexciting and not entirely feminist either i feel like??? because though penelope wrote those letters, they were basically just retellings of the odyssey, of odysseus' adventures. we got the occasional "it's very lonely without you and there are suitors who invade our home", but other than that she was just retelling her husband's stories. idk.

i appreciate this book as a means to aquire knowledge (i learned many women's names that i've never even heard of), but as a novel it was mediocre at best.

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sareidle's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

It took a little while to get into the structure of the book - the chapters switch between different women affected by the Trojan War - but it built momentum by the halfway point. There are moments of humor to lighten the tragedies described.

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