This book is one of all my time favourites. It's really wonderfully written and brought light to a character from the Odyssey that I had always wanted to know more about. I haven't read the Song of Achilles yet, but I am truly in love with Madeline Miller's writing style. I think I saw somewhere that she was writing a Pandora book at the moment? Definitely on my "to read" list. I won't lie though, I am a little concerned about an HBO series; I just hope they don't give it the Game of Thrones treatment
Also!!! I created a list for you guys of all the books I could find about the Ancient Greek & Roman world :) Overtime I'll be updating this (and adding sections for Egypt, the Near East, Mesoamerica etc), so check it out via this link www.moaninc.co.uk/books/the-ultimate-classics-book-list
I loved this book so much! Have you ever read any books by Mary Renault? I just finished her series on Theseus (The King Must Die & The Bull From the Sea) and I was so blown away. You can tell she REALLY did her research and it definitely paid off… Coming from someone who despises him it was really an interesting perspective and she did incredible things with his story! Her other book The Last of the Wine is also amazing. Madeline Miller really feels like a modern version of Renault sometimes so I would totally recommend her books 😊
Circe is a murky, sad and depressing read for the first 300 pages, but that isnt a bad things. madeline miller perfectly encapsulates how much of bi**h greek myth is and i love it. i love how it stays sad, depressing and tragic as thats what greek myth is. My biggest problem with this book is the last 50 or so pages. the first 300 pages are a tragic read and then out of know where circe gets a happy life and cleans up her misdeads, even makes her self mortal so she can be happily married. This book was a greek tragedy, and it shouldve stuck to that.
Thanks for posting. So it's like a biography of Circe based on the myths but with a few embellishments to make a better continuous story? Might take a look at this when I've finished my own translation of the Aeneid - which at the rate I'm going won't be before next Autumn - if I live that long!
This is probably the best review of the book I have read/heard. I first read the book, which I bought twice because I wanted the UK cover of the hardcopy, but got the US one, so I had to buy it from the UK. Bummer. Then I purchased the audiobook and that floored me. I must have listened to it at least a couple of dozen times (not in its entirety, but certain passages and a cure for insomnia). Let me clarify, the narrator is masterful and the only reason I used it to go to sleep was because I knew it so well and I could let myself fall into embracing Morpheus. My first listen of the book was the total opposite, I sat there until the wee hours listening to the story and the narrator's voice (with whom I am completely in love). I studied the classics in Italy, growing up. By necessity, my knowledge of them was limited to the highlight and it doesn't compare to what I know now. On the other hand, despite the difference in historical and geographical setting, there is something to say for studying the Odyssey, The Iliad, The Aeneid and the rest of the mythology from a classroom in Rome overlooking the forum and the Colosseo. Sure, it wasn't the plains of Troy, but to my middle-school mind is was good enough. Anyway, get the audiobook if you loved reading the book. It's completely worth it.
I agrree that the additions that weren't from mythology were good from a character development standpoint, but I also think it's worth noting that mythological events that Circe was inserted into weren't just random selections based on a sort of "best of" of Greek myths, but were carefully selected by connections that you'd pointed out, such as her being aunt to both the minotaur and medea. Even the daedalus connection - her sister had been the wife of his captor, so it still fits.
I had briefly seen this, but now it’s a definite purchase! Thanks! OMG! “HBO’s “Rome”, is one of my all-time favorite tv series! I bet their “Circe” would be awesome!And may I recommend Philip Matyszak’s “Hercules: The First Superhero” as a possible future review on your channel? I think you would enjoy it immensely also.
I've been saying Kirk in my head for years :p But its because of the Russian transcription of it. "Zirzae" sounds much more beautiful. This was also the book that got me into mythology and your channel :)
There was a lot to like about this book. It left a big impression on me and I felt it enriched my soul and provoked me to feel hope. She was a resilient character of depth snd real substance. The themes of rape, bullying, alienation, first love, first heartbreak, the suffocating side of patriarchy, loneliness, existential turmoil, motherhood and a girl’s journey into womanhood were handled beautifully. Yet I had a few issues with the inconsistencies. If she is a fearsome sorceress who attains her powers by sheer discipline and studying, which is admirable, then why is her house in a such a rundown state when Odysseus’s son arrives the island? He literally has to fix things like a repairman. He works in the garden, fixes a tables leg that is too short… Circe is more or less a god-head who is supposed to be living in an untouchable palace worthy of the daughter of the Sun even if she was ostracized. It was silly to make her situation so… haphazard and wabi-sabi. Cheap attempt to make her relatable to female readers who are also incapable of fixing things around the house? Lol Why was it so easy to rape her? By mortal men no less? Why did she have to be mediocre looking aesthetic-wise? To further amplify her feminist character? Can’t exceptionally beautiful women, like the actual Circe of the Myths, be powerful and independent; signifying the ideals of gender equality? Circe is a character to be feared. She has always been. As insidious as unsettling. As dangerous as vindictive. This Circe was quite softener-drenched. And her beauty is an extremely important aspect of her whole character and choices. She is driven by all her powers and uses them as a device to simply exist and conduct a way of life! She is so beyond tapered and tailored with the concern of being relatable that she actually chooses immortality… which would have been infuriating if it wasn’t so laughable. How about being sure of yourself and having pride in your own immortality? How about bringing about a new meaning to it by daring to be more active in mortals’ lives? She sure has had her pull. Who would choose demise and decline once they’ve survived as much as she does? When they have been as defiant as she had been, standing up and against the likes if Athena and Helios? All those were big inconsistencies.
The english pronounciation is like that, the original and most common is kirke, in russian its tzirk (the tz like the zz in pizza). Its fine, it doesnt really matter at the end.
Im only here because Erica is looks like a Greek goddess! She’s Gorgeous and classicist! That’s amazing! I’d give her a golden Apple everyday consequences be damned! I’m a classicist too! Keep up the good work Erica
Book was terrible. Circe is portrayed as an immortal idiot. She is surrounded by women and children and never learns. She is dim and her interest in anything, including mortals, is shallow and fleeting. The reason of why she's "looked down on" by her other family members is ridiculous. In the end, even her magic is nothing special. I was waiting for the empowered, clever, powerful witch. She never showed. Awful. Circe deserved better.
