Yay, book club!! 🎉 I also gasped and got excited/nervous once all the familiar Trojan War stuff happened, haha. Love Mimi’s question about what makes a retelling good, definitely an interesting conversation. I would agree with what you said, and I just want there to be a good mix of likeable and unlikeable characters (mainly the second one because… greek mythology 😂). Also I want the atmosphere to be a major element of it, something that draws me in and really sets the scene. I would have liked for there to be more gods and magical elements in Clytemnestra, now that you mention that! Haha, I’m glad you chuckled at my question about Agamemnon 😂 I had absolutely no compassion for him either!!! I was intrigued by Elektra too and would love to read the book about her! Would also love a book with Helen’s perspective, I feel like I was surprised by some things in this book after reading The Song of Achilles, especially around the whole kidnapping part. It seemed like Helen openly chose to leave with Paris but then the Greeks spun it as her being kidnapped in order to start a war with the Trojans that they already wanted to start… 🤔
😄🎉 I don't know how I could have forgotten, but there was a lot of other things that had happened already so I blame that! 😅 Yes, that was a great question! I agree, atmosphere is super important! I think the gods etc contribute to that as well, because there was some atmosphere in this, in terms of environments and activities like the dining hall or nature elements and things like that, but too many frescoes and too few gods for my liking 😄 There was definitely a mix of characters, that's probably my favorite part about this book, all the different relationships and types of people, both women and men. I thought there was a lot of nuance in that, and a lot of believable characters and behaviors. Like parents only listening to some of their children and being dismissive to others when they asked questions, because they don't take them seriously, things like that. Loved your question! 😂 Agamemnon, what an idiot. Yes, Helen's perspective would be interesting, I'm sure there are books about her. I think it was discussed in Song of Achilles as well, whether Helen went willingly or not, but you're right, that is definitely still unclear and the Greeks were absolutely happy to have any reason for war! And either way, I know Helen is sometimes blamed for the war, but like... even if she did go willingly, her husband could also just... get over it. 👀 Or cry. Or go after his wife alone. Don't tell me there weren't other options! 😂
Super interesting! Also, your thoughts about hating Agamemnon and the wasted emotions that would be was so wise - I don't know if it's because you've been reading so many retellings, but you're starting to speak like a philosopher ^^
@@Curious-Cat Hahaha 🤣 That might be it! It might also be personal experience of wasting emotions on people who couldn’t care less, and all it does is leave me like a balloon with all the air gone out! Fun times! Trying to learn from my mistakes! 😅 I’m sure the old Greeks went through some things too though haha 😆
GOT MY CUP OF TEA. I'm reading for this video so hard ☕ Always LOVE hearing your thoughts. I 100% agree with why you wear drawn towards the book because that's why I wanted to read it too. There isn't enough Greek retelling/myths of women that haven't been overly eggsualized (trying not to get jailed 🫠). The gasp moment was definitely something that happened to me too! I personally enjoy knowing the broad strokes of the story similar to how you described having met the characters, and experienced a story that occurred in the same timeline. I do like them staying true to the original myths, and what I want out of them is more personality, more backstory, more depth for the characters. That's a HUGE part for me to enjoy myths, but for me, Clytemnestra didn't really do that 🥲I find that they skim over a lot of potential characters development (eg. I wanted to see more of her relationships with her kids -- I feel like it'll make the feeling more intense). Even trying to show how she decided and created the long term revenge. I wanted to see more of her scheming, how to win over the people's trust now that her husband is gone, how she showed that she is a fair and effective ruler. It's all SAID but not seen. So it really took away from the empowerment and satisfaction we would've felt IF the author had done that. Maybe even talk about how great the city is without is rule/ruled by a woman would've been a good revenge too. I think the story felt really 1:1 known... which is good, but in a retelling, I want to see more parts of her lives dramatized or created. This just felt like we were given what the myth was. I really love the chart you made!!! 😍I was obsessed over it LOL. The big point for why I asked was because of Tantalus. The front had a lot of descriptions of characters but they really skimmed Tantalus. I had to relook up some information because Tantalus is a pretty well known Greek God that I've seen in multiple books. So I was surprised he was a character, but wasn't specified it was the character known from the word "Tantalizing" 😅 Agemonnon though 🤮🤮 It was definitely a struggle to read about him. I agree with what you said, LOL, I wish I could get my memory back reading about him.
