bookfairy95
This was a fantastic read! Circe is not a widely known persona in Greek mythology. The only story she ever really appears in and in which she is important to the storyline is the Odyssey. Therefore the author is a genius in choosing Circe to retell the events in Greek mythology. Madeline Miller has lots of creative freedom. She didn't have to stick to all the events in Circe's life as scarcely anything is known. However, even though Circe does not play a role in all the myths and legends we get an overview of everything or almost everything that happened in Greek mythology. In Circe's childhood we get to know the god Prometheus. We get to know what he did for mankind and why he was punished. We get to experience this punishment from the eyes of a very innocent child. Circe meets lots of different gods over the course of her lifetime. She witnesses the birth of the Minotaur because Pasiphae (mother of the Minotaur) is her sister, which calls for her and pauses her exile for Circe to come and "help" her. Circe gets to know Daedalus and Icarus. She gets to know Ariadne (Pasiphae's daughter) and Jason. She meets Hermes the messenger god who tells her all sorts of stories about her family, other gods and humans she got to know along her way. She meets Odysseus when he lands on her island during his journey from Troy to Ithaca. She meets the goddess Athena and stands up to her. We basically experience the entire story of Greek mythology through Circe's eyes, through her experiences but also through tales and stories she got told by others. Throughout the entire book or rather Circe's life she makes a tremendously big development. In the beginning of the novel she is this very naive innocent little "girl" that is kneeling at her father's feet and doing everything to be noticed, to be appreciated and to make her father proud despite being different from the other gods and despite being not as shining and beautiful as her siblings and other nymphs and having a voice "like a seagull". She doesn't understand why she is different and why others look down upon her, because no-one told her, but she also doesn't really care. More and more she becomes a strong independent woman though. She starts thinking for herself and does not accept what other gods tell her is true anymore. Especially male gods. While reading this book my buddy read partner and I discovered that there is quite a feminist undertone to the story. The norm is that male authority is inviolably. There are lots of occasions when it is said that "sons are not punished" or that "humbling women seems to be a chief pastime of poets". However Circe does not accept this male authority and continuously does what she wants and what she thinks is right. This way she developed from the naive little girl we saw in the beginning to a strong woman that is willing to face her father and has no need to be afraid of him anymore. Compared to all the other gods who are unchanged throughout the entire story she develops a whole lot and witnessing this was truly amazing. I could go on and on about Circe, the different stages in her life & the side characters that formed her into the person she is in the very end. But the only thing that really matter is that this book is amazing and everyone who likes Mythology should definitely read this. Madeline Miller did an amazing job!
