Reviews with content warning for Emotional abuse - Elektra

I don't know why but this was an emotionally very draining read for me. Language-wise, Jennifer Saint was stunning, as always. Her narrating style is just such a wonderful flow of words and really, really enjoyable.
But - it was very hard for me to like any of the characters.

In fact, I think the only one I could really sympathize with was Georgios and how Elektra treated him and that she left him in the end - it made me so FURIOUS. He was the only sincerely kind and good person in the whole book, HE DID NOT DESERVE THIS.

Then again, I have to give the author credit for this, because it's not easy to create round characters and make them all unlikeable at the same time. And with that I don't mean there were only round characters, because there weren't. For example Agamemnon, or Aegisthus. The main characters though, they were pretty well rounded. Especially Clytemnestra, she was so full of emotions (mainly grief and anger, but I'll let that count, too), and it was almost painful to see her realize all her misbehaviour and actions that led to the events happening as they did when it was already way too late. Cassandra was okay, too. It hurt me, too, how nobody believed her, it hurt to think of how things could have ended if people had just listened to her. But I know that's how the tale is told, so Jennifer Saint would only have made a mistake in changing that.
Now, to Elektra. I don't think it's too much to say that I really despised her at the end of the book. Which was so surprising to me, because from reading the cover of the book I had thought she would be this heroic woman, brave and kind and sincere. And maybe she was brave, but she surely wasn't kind and she wasn't sincere, too. I think she was just furious, just angry, and completly filled with grief and the longing for revenge. I don't know how to feel about that because on one side it's pretty dissapointing, on the other side it's pretty genius by Jennifer Saint to create her like that as I'm sure many other readers were surprised, too.
The events themselves weren't too thrilling, because I'd read about the core plot already in "The women of Troy", "The silence of the girls" and "The song of Achilles". So I wasn't surprised when like 90% of the characters died or got slaughtered or died again. So yeah, that sadly took out a big chunk of tension for me, but I won't credit that negatively, because it's no one's fault but mine to be interersted in Greek mythology.
So yeah, judging by the fact that I'm again unable to keep my review short and could say so many more things about this book, you know it's defenitely worth a read, even though it was not my favourite favourite one. (And this is all because of you, Madeleine Miller...)
Still an impressive and somewhat kind of women-empowering piece of literature that's worth giving a try.

Content Warnings

mamaowlbear's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

4.0

Content Warnings

nialiversuch's review

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dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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nicnevin's review

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adventurous dark emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Good story but I feel like the titular character honestly didn't have much to do with her own story, especially since the more interesting aspects were with Cassandra and Clydemnestra.

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taliatalksbooks's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

Elektra by Jennifer Saint was worth the wait! I really fell in love with Saint’s writing when I read her other novel last year, and this follows suit. I read this book so fast, and it is a great retelling of Greek mythology. I love the characters and the emotions they convey throughout the pages, and while I was a little confused at first, the characters that Saint selected to narrate were fantastic. I loved the juxtaposition between Elektra and her mother, and I loved the edition of Cassandra, to see Agamemnon’s wrath from different angles (wife, child, and enemy). This is a really great read, and I can’t recommend it highly enough. I know this one just came out, but I can’t wait for Saint’s next book!!

Content Warnings

maaikereadsbooks_'s review

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dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

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

3.25

Many thanks to Headline Audio and Jennifer Saint for the advanced audio copy of Elektra via NetGalley, in return for my honest and unbiased review. Quick note: I don’t recap plots in my reviews, as it’s easy enough to read the book’s synopsis and blurbs, I purely focus on my feelings & opinions of how the books makes me feel.

Disclaimer: the negative slant on the audio perspective is largely due to my misophonia. I have an intense dislike for ‘mouth noises’. Audible swallowing, smacking noises, general un-edited auditory mouth *stuff* really gets to me and put me off this audiobook.

Elektra follows an interesting retelling of the Trojan war, from some of the key women’s point of view. Jennifer Saint has woven in figures of myth and legend along with those of flesh and blood with a matter-of-fact-ness, which isn’t seen as often in this type of retellings. Often in this type of story there is a veil of supernatural syrup, a ‘playing with the gods’ tale. But this story felt much more solid. This is told in a more ‘this is real life’ sort of way. And real life just happened to have the occasional god, or demi god, walking around in it. As you do.

I suspect that ‘Elektra’ was not Saint’s original title of choice, as she was not the protagonist of the book. But as Clytemnestra was already taken this season, it would have to do. Perhaps a different title may have suited the story better, however.

The narrators suited the individual characters well. However, I found it extremely difficult to get into the story as, after the first three chapters, they did not announce the character at the beginning of the chapter, instead expecting the listener to have already memorised the narrator’s voice. Unfortunately I’m not that good and I was confused, and annoyed. And as my misophonia had me well and truly distracter, I almost stopped listening at this point. Eventually I got the hang of who was who, and got into the story. It definitely took me a while, though.

Overall, the story was interesting. It was perhaps a bit over-long for my taste. I hope there is a final edit to smooth out the ‘mouth noises’ for future listeners’ enjoyment!

Spice: 1/5

Trigger warnings: Animal death, Blood/Gore, Cheating, Death, Death of a family member, Kidnapping, Murder, Physical or mental abuse, Pregnancy, Rape, Self Harm, Sexism, Sexual abuse/assault/harassment, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Violence, War

Rating

Story: 3.5/5

Audio: 3/5

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