A review by sidofherran
Circe by Madeline Miller

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.75

4.5-4.75 stars. wish i could write like madeline miller is2g 🥹

THE WAY MADELINE MILLER WRITES IS SO BEAUTIFUL!!! it was really lovely to see her retelling of the myths and her spin on it. this was a very poetic, lyrical and touching tale that explored the themes of patriarchal oppression & women's attempts to seek power and agency in unforgiving patriarchy, the casual cruelty of gods/immortals vs the beauty and humanity of mortals, power & corruption & fame and what morality means, what it means to live a good life and be good. 

the action scenes and plot twists, although based on various versions of the original greek myths, were really gripping and the body horror or other horrific moments
like how scylla became a monster, the birth of the minotaur etc
kept me hooked and riveted, eager to turn the page.

circe's characterization grew on me a lot, how she started out powerless, invisible, meek and sheltered and also impulsive and impetuous but gradually grew into this witch who was powerful and old and could hold her own and would
fight an Olympian goddess just to keep her son safe
.
i also enjoyed daedalus, ariadne, penelope, telemachus and telegonus' characterizations. this spin on
odysseus was also interesting, not the perfect greek hero but instead a flawed man who was changed irrevocably by war and the gods shaping him for their own purposes
. i loved the characterization of
telemachus as very true and honest and uncomplicated and entirely himself, to the extent that he dared to reject an Olympian goddess' offer just because he "did not desire it". i was also floored and losing my mind at how utterly impactful and well-written that line about telemachus was, about how odysseus would have been looking for the hidden knife but telemachus carried his blade in the open. goddamn that level of characterization, motifs and poetic lyrical prose. so goddamn stunning. i want so bad to learn how to write like that fr.



circle's love for her son was very touching, it made me better understand mothers i guess. it was touching how she could not bear to let her son go and yet in the end she loved him so much that she let him go even though it pained her so, because she knew that he needed to be able to see the world and grow into his own and would have suffered if she had kept him sheltered forever. and i like Penelope and her quiet shrewdness and steadiness and wit and presence and how she learnt to become a witch too in the end. i was weirded out by circe and telemachus at first ngl dnjndjs but somehow miller managed to make it feel not gross since circe only met telemachus way after she parted ways with odysseus and telemachus was already at least 30 when she met him. i was pretty touched by his uncomplicated, pure-hearted love for her.
also towards the end i had a feeling circe was gonna become mortal and it was cool to discover i was right. it was a very fitting end to her story bc she really hated divinity and had always been much more drawn to humanity.


one mild gripe i have is that the starting was a bit slow, but the plot twists and action later on quickly made up for it. another gripe i have is that some of the characters were portrayed rather 2-dimensionally or in a black-and-white manner. namely the villainous characters,
scylla, pasiphae and the other unkind immortals, were written a bit too black-and-white for my tastes - just cruel and shallow and lacking depth beyond wanting power or wanting to hurt others. it would have been interesting to see them have a bit more depth to them instead of evil for evil's sake. i also don't think the fucked up ness of what circe did to scylla was fully addressed.


(may come back and add more to this review as i remember)
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