A review by danycatreader
Circe by Madeline Miller

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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