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A review by amywong
Galatea by Madeline Miller
dark
reflective
sad
fast-paced
5.0
Madeline Miller has not let me down yet with her beautiful prose, creativity and reflective stories. I didn't know what to expect from a short story of hers as it is a different medium from a full novel but she has proven she doesn't lose anything going between these mediums.
Galatea is once again a progressive retelling of problematic Greek mythology. From her letter at the end of the book, it's inspired by Ovid's Pygmalion story. Same story except in the original, Galatea had no name and voice. She was only referred to as the woman. I love that she kept the emphasis on the blushing. It was something the original used as a feature for why he fell in love with his statue after she came to life. Her blushing was something the prostitutes he met didn't do and this he thought them vulgar. This is absolutely a feminist retelling for what the original Greek mythology has stripped of women and made them voiceless and an object to satisfy men's requirements of women. Galatea courageously fought back and saved her daughter and possibly another daughter, it seemed to me like it hinted that this new statue may come to life as well. I felt it symbolic for how she ended things as well. <Spoiler>She drowned him in the vast ocean. It started with Galatea feeling suffocated in a small room. It ends essentially with her suffocating but in a deep dark ocean with her creator and abuser. Water, if I'm not wrong cause I have no experience whatsoever with sculpting, would likely be an opposite medium for sculpting. Water degrades earth which is the medium for sculpting. </Spoiler> all in all, I loved this short story.
Galatea is once again a progressive retelling of problematic Greek mythology. From her letter at the end of the book, it's inspired by Ovid's Pygmalion story. Same story except in the original, Galatea had no name and voice. She was only referred to as the woman. I love that she kept the emphasis on the blushing. It was something the original used as a feature for why he fell in love with his statue after she came to life. Her blushing was something the prostitutes he met didn't do and this he thought them vulgar. This is absolutely a feminist retelling for what the original Greek mythology has stripped of women and made them voiceless and an object to satisfy men's requirements of women. Galatea courageously fought back and saved her daughter and possibly another daughter, it seemed to me like it hinted that this new statue may come to life as well. I felt it symbolic for how she ended things as well. <Spoiler>She drowned him in the vast ocean. It started with Galatea feeling suffocated in a small room. It ends essentially with her suffocating but in a deep dark ocean with her creator and abuser. Water, if I'm not wrong cause I have no experience whatsoever with sculpting, would likely be an opposite medium for sculpting. Water degrades earth which is the medium for sculpting. </Spoiler> all in all, I loved this short story.