Reviews with content warning for Mental illness - Ariadne

This started out very promising but it started to lose its luster for me as Ariadne made ridiculous choice after ridiculous choice. It’s odd that the premise of the book is how in Greek mythology, women were often punished and tortured for the crimes and desires of men and Ariadne is so keenly aware of this at the very beginning and claims to want to change her fate and yet she just does nothing? She’s brace when she assists Theseus but from that point on she just chooses to sit by and do literally nothing and allow the men in her life to save her or torment her or continue to do as they wish with her.

Juxtapose that with her little sister Phaedra (who is the far more complex and fascinating narrator here, particularly when dealing with Post Partum Depression) who is so bold and headstrong and vibrant and also determined to live her own life despite her status as a prize for Theseus (and she succeeds! She convinces him to keep adventuring so she can do as she pleases while he’s away!) until

she literally out of nowhere becomes obsessed with her 14-year-old stepson?

Now, yes, that’s correct in terms of the original mythology but I thought the whole point of the book was to flesh out female mythological figures more? This book offers ZERO explanation for the insanely drastic change in character when it comes to Phaedra. Was she being used to punish Theseus? Did she upset Aphrodite? Was she just mad? We literally never find out. Her only reason for loving Hippolytus is because he’s different from Theseus but it still feels bizarre to me that a 28-year-old woman, who as far as we know was completely sane, would fall in love with a child literally out of nowhere.

I’m really not someone who needs media spelled out for me but in this case some explanation would have been great because it truly is that sudden of a change. It’s a storyline that feels rushed, like the author felt she had to shoehorn in that myth about Phaedra because it’s so well known but she didn’t really connect it very well with her version of Phaedra that she created for this book.

Jennifer Saint is a talented writer. She paints vivid pictures and there’s a lot here that’s compelling and interesting but to me, this book just didn’t quite stick the landing.

Content Warnings

biancafrancisco's review against another edition

Go to review page

reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

3.0

I'm a simple woman, I see feminist greek retelling and I read

Buuuuut this one disappointed a bit. I enjoyed reading it, the writing is as pointed out in my cover "lyrical".
However, it does not do what it sets out to do.

Ariadne as a character lacks luster as she is very passive.

She has barely any role in defeating the Minotaur (Dedalous gives her the thread and Phaedra steals the weapon), with this characterization one wonders how she even had the conviction to betray her father (I guess the explanation is her falling in love immediately by looking at Theseus....istg).
While she lives in Naxos with Dionysus she also shows no interest in the sister she left behind or on what her husband does on their island.

She is lulled by her comfortable beliefs and leaves everything at that.

When the two sisters came to be reunited I thought the story's purpose might be revealed, that it would be about these two woman and their bond (once again pointing to the supposed feminist undercurrent of the book), but the only reason Phaedra went to Naxos was to further her plot and they seemed to add nothing to each other.

Through the book there is an emphasis on the gods being careless and cruel and innocent humans, particularly woman, suffering for it. This attempt at criticizing the treatment of woman in classical myth falls short as the plot of the book goes by. You would think Ariadne would go against this and, even if the ending had to be as in the myth, she would be shown fighting her fate.

Yet, she merely goes where she is pushed most of the time and both Phaedra's and her death feel pointless and void of meaning.

Phaedra's struggle with motherhood seems to also be looking to shed some feminist light, but the message gets lost along the way.

At the beggining of the book Ariadne
speaks of seizing her destiny for herself, but we see her do nothing of the sort throughout the book. In her own words, after a decade of marriage, she says "I had been trusting and obedient. I had thought that was the right way to be". She ends up being disappointed by Dionysus also and it seems the only lesson to be learned is a weird dichotomy of men are bad and woman good mixed with a Madonna-whore complex where woman who reclaimed and used their power were seen as evil (Medea and Hera, for example) while passive woman like Ariadne were good.

I realize this is to be a tragedy, but why retell a story if not to shine a new light on it? The women end the story the way they began, Ariadne without purpose and Phaedra miserable and heavy with humiliation.

It is not a terrible book, it was enjoyable to read - it just didn't convey its own message. If you have started it searching for something akin to Madeleine Miller's Circe, you will not be totally satisfied.

Content Warnings

dummehure's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

This book means a lot to me. Retelling ancient stories from the women's perspective is such a heartbreaking and important task and I am thankful for all the different authors that have made it they're quest to show the world how terribly mistreated women have been for centuries.
As an afab person I feel and understand the struggles that Ariadne and Phaedra face to a certain extent and it makes this book a very painful and heartbreaking read.
I felt like the pacing was a little slow at times but I had a really good time reading this and especially the ending solidified that feeling.
Generally I book that I would recommend to any lovers of ancient greek mythology.

Content Warnings

bimbo_andthe_bookworm's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
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

Ariadne was super cool to read, mostly I wanted to read it because of the waterstones displays and the cover is super pretty. Also mythology books are fun. This was less fun and more, a good feminist retelling of a story that I aparently only know the first...quarter of? It is like a way to say, hey, there are great women behind 'great' men.

It was pretty slow at times but I did really enjoy it. Lots of self-reflection and story-telling but thats what you get with greek mythology.

dont expect it to not end like the mythology!

you will cry.

Content Warnings

More...