Reviews tagging 'Slavery'

Circe Excerpt: The First 3 Chapters by Madeline Miller

78 reviews

rd77's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Finished this book in ~5-6 hours because I could not put it down! Madeline Miller has a really good way of modernizing mythology into a format that is appealing to read and without the difficulties of reading the original stories (phrasing, colloquies ,etc.) but still retains the beauty, wonder, and magic of these stories. Circe’s character development was done wonderfully, and it was really cool to get more depth into a character that’s often villainized (as women often are in mythology) that shows just how resilient she can be. I also really liked that

Circe became less and less infatuated with Odysseus as she began to realize the gravity of the things he had done to other mortals once she had her own son to look after. It was nice to see that Odysseus (as Greek heroes are meant to be) was portrayed as multidimensional, full of hubris, and often morally wrong.

 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Rape and Sexual assault

Minor: Animal death, Blood, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Sexual violence, Slavery, and War

skudiklier's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring reflective tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This book was amazing. It was a bit slow to start, but I had heard such good things and loved SOA so much--and wow am I glad I kept going. This book made me feel every possible emotion. Everything I knew about Circe came from reading the Percy Jackson series as a kid, so I knew nothing of what to expect with the plot. It was just incredible. Miller is a fantastic writer, and I copied so many beautiful quotes and passages into my notes. I love the whole concept of this book, of telling the story of Circe's life, of making the epic about her and the stories that never get told. I'd recommend this book to anyone I could convince to read it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Violence, Murder, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Pregnancy, and Grief

Moderate: Abandonment, Self harm, Fire/Fire injury, Slavery, Physical abuse, Animal death, Torture, Suicide, and Child death

Minor: Sexual content and Suicidal thoughts

laurajeangrace's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Medical trauma, and Medical content

Moderate: Violence, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, War, Child death, Death, Rape, and Confinement

Minor: Sexual content and Slavery

ambdocksey22's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Abortion, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, Child death, Chronic illness, Colonisation, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Incest, Infertility, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Racism, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Torture, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Violence, and War

queer_bookwyrm's review against another edition

adventurous informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

 4 ⭐ CW: violence, whipping, slavery, rape, bullying, emotional abuse by parents, descriptions of blood and gore, descriptions of childbirth and c-sections, beastiality, swearing

"I thought once that gods are the opposite of death, but I see now they are more dead than anything, for they are unchanging and can hold nothing in their hands."

Circe by Madeline Miller is a Greek mythology retelling of Circe, the Witch of Aiaia, with whom Odysseus spent time in The Odyssey. This book was so beautiful. Miller writes dazzling prose and imagery that makes you feel like you are there.

We follow Circe, daughter of Helios, who is not much loved by her parents or her siblings. We see her as a naive, powerless nymph yearning for companionship. We get see the Greek gods and Titans through her eyes, but get her story. She eventually gets exiled to the island Aiaia, because of her witchcraft of turning a mortal to God and the nymph Scylla into the monster she is known for.

This was very much a story about Circe's relentless loneliness and neglect and her feelings of powerlessness. We get to see her come into her own and find her strength and power. We see her more than just a pit stop that delayed heroes like Odysseus. She is not the evil witch she is painted to be by the bards.

The common themes seem to be themes of femininity and how women are put into two boxes: a cold harpy or the perfect, loyal woman. Circe defies this dichotomy and is wonderfully multifaceted and flawed. The bards think women only belong in stories if they are damsels in distress, crawling a s crying, but Circe is resolute, and chooses to be something different. Ultimately this is a novel about choice.

We also see classic themes of never being free if the gods' will or whims, and the pride of mortal men will be their downfall. We also see the thankless nature of motherhood and how that also contributed to her loneliness instead of ending it.

In the end, all Circe wanted was a simple life of freedom with a companion to keep the loneliness at bay. I also think that Circe might be at least Demiromantic, DM me if you want to know my reasoning. I will definitely be looking forward to more of Miller's work. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Rape, Bullying, Child abuse, Blood, and Gore

Moderate: Slavery

onefineelephant's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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

8/10. I am quite a fan of Greek mythology already so I knew most of the events of the story but I was still ignorant to a lot of what Circe went through before and after she met Odysseus. I quite liked that Circe is a main character that is real instead of overly likable. I also was pleased that the story went in chronological order and told events of the past as stories instead of flipping back and forth between past and present/future like in <i>The Oddyssey</i> and other classic Greek stories which made it more easily digestible. The only part I didn't care for is the ambiguous ending. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Blood, Death, Gore, Grief, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Murder, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, and War

kallan's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Rape

Minor: Blood, Death, Gore, Murder, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Slavery, Violence, and War

tabbybabbles's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad slow-paced

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

4.25

Was really well written, but felt slow. Redeemed by the fact that I still couldn’t put it down. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Murder, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Animal death, War, Torture, Slavery, Sexual violence, Sexism, Self harm, Pregnancy, Pedophilia, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, Incest, Grief, Genocide, Fire/Fire injury, Emotional abuse, Drug use, Domestic abuse, Cursing, Confinement, Colonisation, Cannibalism, Blood, Body horror, Animal cruelty, Alcohol, and Abandonment

deveyway's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Violence, and War

dannythestreet's review against another edition

reflective fast-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual assault, and Violence

Moderate: Abandonment, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Murder, and Physical abuse

Minor: Incest, Kidnapping, Slavery, Stalking, and War