A review by laurendenton
Galatea by Madeline Miller

dark mysterious reflective tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

The short story Galatea is mediocre at best, a quippy feminist piece that seems as though it was written by anyone but Madeline Miller. On it's own, I would probably give it a 3-star rating. It was okay. It kept me entertained for about half an hour and sucked me in, sure, but the story itself lacked depth. The extra 0.5 stars comes from the Afterword by Miller included at the end, which details the history of Galatea's story and the ways in which she had shaped the character into a more straight-forward and feminist individual. I personally found this section of the book the most intriguing - seeing the way that Madeline Miller was able to take a sparse and misogynistic story about women and their relationship to male desire, and crafted her into a badass heroine who risks it all to grant her daughter freedom. 
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