Scan barcode
A review by michela_wilson
Circe by Madeline Miller
4.0
✨ spoiler free ✨
4 1/2 stars!
As someone who was obsessed with exploring greek mythology as a kid, Circe was the perfect book to for me to dive back into that world.
Exploring the tales of the Minotaur, Jason and Medea, Odysseus, Icarus, and so much more through the lens of Circe, a female titan, brings a perspective to mythology that I had never seen before. Reading about Circe’s femininity and how it translates to how she viewed divinity and the gods interference in the mortal world was incredible.
Circe explores not only the realities of being a women in a patriarchal society, but also explores the idea of a hero. Oftentimes the heroes we’ve heard of (especially in greek mythology) are pure, strong, and chosen because of their high values, but Circe explores the flaws in those ideals. Heroes are also often male in greek mythology, but Circe explores the feminine side to those stories (especially through the tale of Jason and Medea).
Madeleine Miller’s writing style is beautiful and it fully transports you into Circe’s world. Miller does an excellent job at showing the complexities of greek mythology without confusing the reader. The story is completely understandable without any prior background in greek mythology so even if you had never heard of Hermes or Titans or Daedalus you will enjoy this book!
Once I had the time I could not put this book down! However there were a few points where I felt the novel was a little slow and had too much exposition (which might have been because of my own prior knowledge of greek mythology) so I did have to take 1/2 a star off, but honestly it’s an incredible book!
I will always be a sucker for books about female divinity and Circe has become one of my favorites on that topic (alongside the Witch of Portobello).
4 1/2 stars!
As someone who was obsessed with exploring greek mythology as a kid, Circe was the perfect book to for me to dive back into that world.
Exploring the tales of the Minotaur, Jason and Medea, Odysseus, Icarus, and so much more through the lens of Circe, a female titan, brings a perspective to mythology that I had never seen before. Reading about Circe’s femininity and how it translates to how she viewed divinity and the gods interference in the mortal world was incredible.
Circe explores not only the realities of being a women in a patriarchal society, but also explores the idea of a hero. Oftentimes the heroes we’ve heard of (especially in greek mythology) are pure, strong, and chosen because of their high values, but Circe explores the flaws in those ideals. Heroes are also often male in greek mythology, but Circe explores the feminine side to those stories (especially through the tale of Jason and Medea).
Madeleine Miller’s writing style is beautiful and it fully transports you into Circe’s world. Miller does an excellent job at showing the complexities of greek mythology without confusing the reader. The story is completely understandable without any prior background in greek mythology so even if you had never heard of Hermes or Titans or Daedalus you will enjoy this book!
Once I had the time I could not put this book down! However there were a few points where I felt the novel was a little slow and had too much exposition (which might have been because of my own prior knowledge of greek mythology) so I did have to take 1/2 a star off, but honestly it’s an incredible book!
I will always be a sucker for books about female divinity and Circe has become one of my favorites on that topic (alongside the Witch of Portobello).