A review by snikhtha
Clytemnestra by Costanza Casati

challenging emotional reflective 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

3.5

The writing is blunt and on the nose, but I thought it worked well for a retelling set in Ancient Greece. It was a slow pace but only slogged in the first bit of the book.

My main issue with this story is that it stopped before getting to the end of Clytemenstra's life. It stopped before we really got to see the fallout of what she did, and it felt like we stopped in the middle of her arc right before things got juicy. I think it would've been more interesting to see what her mantra of "better to be hated than forgotten" ends up costing her and why she's okay with losing those thing rather than ending on what felt like a "high note".

It's a good book, but if it dived into the latter part of Clytemenstra's life (especially her relationship with Elektra) it would've been excellent.
Expand filter menu Content Warnings