Reviews with content warning for Sexual harassment - Circe Excerpt: The First 3 Chapters

An outstanding retelling of the myth of Circe. I grew up reading the Percy Jackson books so I felt right at home reading this book. The obvious main difference is that all of the themes were dealt with maturely and this was most definitely fore mature audiences. I love how the book showed a theme that may be incomprehensible to us - but it made it work. We felt for a divine being, we see this character become three dimensional and interesting. There are trigger warning scenes in the book, as a warning in itself. This book was a huge insight into independence and what it means to shape your own destiny, despite the challenges.

A recommended read for all of those who love realistic female leads, character growth and Greek mythology.

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volsairine's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

My favorite book.

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isabellamonco's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional reflective 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? No

5.0

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danycatreader's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional inspiring mysterious reflective relaxing slow-paced

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

4.0

The Greek gods are not like our Christian God. They are representations of what is true, instead of what is good. They are irascible, difficult, unknowable, like the feelings of humankind. And Miller’s depiction of Circe presents just that: a goddess whose blood runs red, who lives through generations but loves the mortality and the people who cross her. She is plain stupid and careless sometimes, but aren’t we all? Moreover, she has to navigate a world dominated by men and their rules, and somehow she finds a way to continue and survive, despite everything being structured against her existence.

However, does her story, or rather the one Miller carved for her, work in the 21st century? I truly don’t know. Circe is a minor player in the Greek pantheon, but a player nonetheless, and the rules she abides by and her end goal seem so distant from a modern audience’s perspective. I don’t know if Miller was capable of creating a bridge between her world and ours, because it depends on what one would call successful.

Did she create a feminist story? Perhaps. Depends on what one might call feminism.

Did she make a truthful story about women in Ancient Greece? Some would argue and some would not.

Was it faithful to the mythology? That we will never truly know.

But what I do know is that Circe is not the perfect piece like The Song of Achilles, because the goddess was never as perfect as the demigod was. Yet this story’s prose was as excellently crafted as with the other book, and the emotions that surfaced just as real.

And for that, I really liked this book.

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zhanghao's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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annasorrenti's review against another edition

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adventurous tense slow-paced

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

2.25

f you have a short attention span, don’t read this book. It kinda just felt like exposition for the first 340 pages and then falling action for the remaining 50. A lot of background info about Circe’s childhood is given that doesn’t feel super relevant or necessary to the rest of the plot, which is kinda scattered in and of itself. It feels very much like a biography.

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seanml's review against another edition

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challenging dark reflective 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

4.0

Madeline Miller evolves her craft with Circe in a way that is both a spiritual continuation of the Song of Achilles, while also being a completely independent narrative on its own. The pantheon and characters of Greek legend are all written very well, beginning as their one-note idealized selves, and turning into multi-faceted characters by the novel's end. A pleasure as always. 8/10.

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roadki77's review against another edition

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adventurous hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

A new and interesting perspective.

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