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A review by themermaddie
Clytemnestra by Costanza Casati
5.0
"Gods are never merciful. How much mercy do the gods show?"
this book is SO beautiful, i wish i had known clytemnestra's story better before i read this but honestly maybe it's for the best bc now i'm a clytemnestra stan. i loved helen and clytemnestra's relationship, and i loved the way helen's character was written; she and clytemnestra are such good foils and representations of different types of female strength. their devotion to each other was one of the strongest parts of the story, one of those relationships that shapes who you are as a person. i've never seen helen depicted like this, and it was really refreshing to see these two generic characterisations of greek women work in tandem instead of against each other.
one of my favourite things about this wave of feminist greek retellings is when authors are able to make readers understand the characters' motivations in a modern sense without losing the original greek values and customs, and i think casati does that really well. themes of loyalty, filial piety, vengeance, justice, and love are done so so so well and you feel so hard for all these characters. clytemnestra gets so much hate as a traitor and a murderess in mythology despite the hypocrisy of the men around her, and this retelling really goes in for highlighting the double standards for women in power but with a light enough hand that it's obvious but not heavy handed. hers is one of those stories that's just like, one tragic thing after another, which could've felt really depressing and overwhelming, except for these moments of light and joy in between. scenes with helen, with tantalus, with eileen, even aegisthus at the end; i loved these little soft moments that clytemnestra got to have, even if brief.
"Human lives are based on pain, but to have a few moments of happiness, lightning tearing the darkness of the sky, that, is worth it."
i thought it was an interesting choice to end the book there instead of following clytemnestra to the grave, but i really liked it. sometimes even if you know it's a tragedy in the end, even if you can see it approaching on the horizon, you can choose to give your story a happy ending if you just end it when the character is finally happy. as much as i would love to follow up and see the emotional fallout of elektra and clytemnestra upon orestes' return, maybe the characters deserve to have their catharsis live in a perfect moment on the page, where everyone still alive remains alive with no more bloodshed. that's what happens when we tell myths, isn't it? we get to rewrite their stories and the way they're remembered, even without changing the events. all the big stories are tragedies, but just this once i feel better for seeing clytemnestra get a breather, a moment of justice and triumph over Agamemnon, before the inevitable festering resentment of elektra somehow pushes the loving orestes to an act of matricide. i am curious how casati would've depicted that betrayal; if orestes would've felt honour bound to avenge his father and didn't actually want to do it, or if he would've felt the same anger and teamed up with elektra to conspire; if clytemnestra would've gone to her death willingly, knowing she'd raised a good son and understanding his obligations, or if she would've felt betrayed by a family member one last time.
"She wonders: how? How is someone not killed by such sorrow?"
god this book is just so heart-wrenching and i feel amazingly insane about it, this is everything i want in a modern greek retelling. it just reframes clytemnestra's story as one of deep sorrow and intense vengeance, and it just makes sense to end the story where it did. it's not a clytemnestra biography retelling, it's specifically a story about her quest for vengeance, and so it ends when she achieves her goal and is ultimately, finally free.
this book is SO beautiful, i wish i had known clytemnestra's story better before i read this but honestly maybe it's for the best bc now i'm a clytemnestra stan. i loved helen and clytemnestra's relationship, and i loved the way helen's character was written; she and clytemnestra are such good foils and representations of different types of female strength. their devotion to each other was one of the strongest parts of the story, one of those relationships that shapes who you are as a person. i've never seen helen depicted like this, and it was really refreshing to see these two generic characterisations of greek women work in tandem instead of against each other.
one of my favourite things about this wave of feminist greek retellings is when authors are able to make readers understand the characters' motivations in a modern sense without losing the original greek values and customs, and i think casati does that really well. themes of loyalty, filial piety, vengeance, justice, and love are done so so so well and you feel so hard for all these characters. clytemnestra gets so much hate as a traitor and a murderess in mythology despite the hypocrisy of the men around her, and this retelling really goes in for highlighting the double standards for women in power but with a light enough hand that it's obvious but not heavy handed. hers is one of those stories that's just like, one tragic thing after another, which could've felt really depressing and overwhelming, except for these moments of light and joy in between. scenes with helen, with tantalus, with eileen, even aegisthus at the end; i loved these little soft moments that clytemnestra got to have, even if brief.
"Human lives are based on pain, but to have a few moments of happiness, lightning tearing the darkness of the sky, that, is worth it."
i thought it was an interesting choice to end the book there instead of following clytemnestra to the grave, but i really liked it. sometimes even if you know it's a tragedy in the end, even if you can see it approaching on the horizon, you can choose to give your story a happy ending if you just end it when the character is finally happy. as much as i would love to follow up and see the emotional fallout of elektra and clytemnestra upon orestes' return, maybe the characters deserve to have their catharsis live in a perfect moment on the page, where everyone still alive remains alive with no more bloodshed. that's what happens when we tell myths, isn't it? we get to rewrite their stories and the way they're remembered, even without changing the events. all the big stories are tragedies, but just this once i feel better for seeing clytemnestra get a breather, a moment of justice and triumph over Agamemnon, before the inevitable festering resentment of elektra somehow pushes the loving orestes to an act of matricide. i am curious how casati would've depicted that betrayal; if orestes would've felt honour bound to avenge his father and didn't actually want to do it, or if he would've felt the same anger and teamed up with elektra to conspire; if clytemnestra would've gone to her death willingly, knowing she'd raised a good son and understanding his obligations, or if she would've felt betrayed by a family member one last time.
"She wonders: how? How is someone not killed by such sorrow?"
god this book is just so heart-wrenching and i feel amazingly insane about it, this is everything i want in a modern greek retelling. it just reframes clytemnestra's story as one of deep sorrow and intense vengeance, and it just makes sense to end the story where it did. it's not a clytemnestra biography retelling, it's specifically a story about her quest for vengeance, and so it ends when she achieves her goal and is ultimately, finally free.