A review by occasionalyarnie
Galatea by Madeline Miller

dark sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

While I usually enjoy Madeline Miller's work, this was just a miss for me. I think it boils down to two things: I don't really care for short stories and I'm unfamiliar with the myth this one is based on. Ultimately, the story was too short to flesh out the context of the story as intricately as I would have liked, which meant I wasn't really invested in the characters or what happened to them. It looks like this was written for an anthology, so the length makes sense; it would have been really interesting to see what she could have done with it with more page space (I think it would have worked much better as a novella).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse and Forced institutionalization

Moderate: Pregnancy and Abortion

Minor: Body shaming

While I wouldn't say any topics in the content warnings are extreme cases, it feels a bit dark because the story is so short. There are also several fade-to-black/off-page sexual references or encounters, and (to me) it was unclear whether these encounters were consensual; if you're sensitive to dub- or non-con, it might be best to avoid this one.