Mythological Mansplaining and Madeline Miller's Circe 

The ending was totally heartwrenching for me. This book is definitely a must-read!

My biggest issue with Circe: 1) It made "Song of Achilles" lower in my hit parade 2) Made every other book pedestrian, maybe forever. 3) I spent a fortune on the eBook, the Hard Cover and the Audiobook. I never spent this much money on a book before. Bonus gripe: I seriously doubt Madeline Miller can write another book like this one, even if she decides to rewrite the Iliad, Odyssey, The Aeneid and Dante's Inferno, I doubt it will be this good.

No other book gave these much powerful emotions like Circe. I was really heartbroken when I completed it because I wanted the story to go on. I love Circe that much. It is now my most favourite book and I can't stop recommending it to other people. Two years passed but still no other book could replace Circe from my personal favorite list.

If you’re intimidated to pick it up, do yourself a favor and listen to the audiobook!!! Worth it!

Great review! The whole reclaiming theme of this book was what made it excellent for me - Circe reclaiming her prison to be her OWN space, Circe reclaiming Homer's version of her life, Circe reclaiming her own life...you go, girl! Also fantastic use of the Ace Venture GIF.

a room of her own, i love that subtle nod to virginia woolf

Margaret Atwood presented us with Penelope's story when she wrote The Penelopiad in 2005. We got to see her side of the story while she is presumed to be sitting around, waiting for Odysseus to return and fending off vulture suitors for 20 years. It's really good and a quick, short read at less than 200 pages. I highly recommend it if you haven't read it. Canongate Books actually published an entire series of rewritten stories from other POVs but this is the only one I've read so far.

Circe is on my nightstand right now and the next book I'm picking up buuut after your review I'm even more excited to read it now!

This was a fantastic review! You're seriously really good at this!!

Your reviews are fantastic! I am so happy I discovered your channel today; I had pretty much given up on booktube as being just for the YA crowd. I am already loving your videos!

Wow this was amazing! The way you explained everything truly made me want to pick up Circe! 💜

Real Housewives of Oceanus XD. I'd watch that lol. Great video!

Your voice is lovely and I love how you structured this video!

I absolutely love this narrative. I laughed and laughed. Thank you! Poor Cerse.

Great review, great book. Thanks for the spoiler warnings, because I'm trying to let myself forget as much as possible before my 2nd read, currently scsheduled for late 2023. If society and I are still around, of course.

i just got this, can't wait to read!

Loved this so much!!

Awesome video as always!

you have that professional voice that can hold my attention. I think im gonna subscribe

sad I missed the discord talk as I ended up LOVING THIS when the audio book came in from the library.

Excellent review! I wasn't particularly interested in reading Circe until now.

thank you so much for this!! i finished the book in 3 days, and every time i read a review that described the plot as boring, critiquing miller's approach to the greek myths, and/or "an attempt at feminism", it just boggles me because the story is simply about a lesser acknowledged figure, definitely coming of age as you have mentioned, and her finding her way in the world living is not pretty and it doesn't require gigantic acts of heroism which is ironically, what circe was making a point of, and her building the courage, the trials and errors, and making peace with herself and her existence at the end, is what readers should really take from this book

another great vid that makes me want to read the book. . . that said! the original encounter between Odysseus and Circe is a bit more climactic than how you described it :) but point taken

I watched Infinity War without having seen any marvel movie before. And I enjoyed it. And I read Circe knowing many staff from Greek mythology (cause I am Greek) and I think its much more fun when you know all the other stories the book mentions. Cause it gives you new perspectives to stories you have heard 100 times from the same point of view.

This is next on my library reads and I'm even more excited for it now. I loved The Songs of Achilles and I'm sure Circe is just as good, if not better.

I really need to pick this up!

Great book . So enjoyable .

My only gripe with Circe was that there wasn't any mention of Hecate. A Titan and a Cthonian together? That would have been awesome to see.

Oh no, I grew up with the Hercules series. What a blast from the past. I had completely forgotten about it.

This was brilliant! I read this book a few weeks ago and loved it. Somehow I missed seeing a parallel to mean girls in high school and the Real Housewives series in there. What is wrong with me????? Hahahhahah. Your review sparkles with fun and a passion for the novel that was a joy to share in. Thanks for this review 😊.

This video has brightened my day. Thank you.

Song of Achilles is in my top ten fave books of all time and now i can't wait to have this book in my hands! Thank you for the video, i hope you make one for song of A if you decide to read it as well, much love from Croatia

Is there a way to read all the books at once? 🤔 Great review David, I could listen to you all day 😄

It’s a really neat book. I’m still not sure what to make of it. So much going on!

Oh goodness, those birth scenes were harrowing! Great review for a great book. For all the reasons you enjoyed it, I think you'd like Pat Barker's Silence of the Girls too.

The reality is that Circe is a representation or an archetype of the malevolent feminine that men need to be aware of. The women are wonderful effect was clearly not shared by the ancient Greeks, which both men and women in the contemporary West seemed to be spellbound by.

I kind of assumed Circe was just screwing with Odysseus, both literally and figuratively. Like she was pointing out the hypocrisy of Odysseus being more of a girl hound than even Zeus and his err critique of certain other characters, let's say. (Also Omg poor Penelope indeed!) I've decided to read a bunch of different translations of the Odyssey (and maybe the Iliad) next year for my year of Homer. This will be a great in between book for that. Oh and Song of Achilles. I'm excited and can we just stop for a moment to gush over the cover for Circe? Wow!

The best book I've read in years Off the chain perspective. The depth is Layered. Audible reader is also incredible!!!! Those men deserved to be pigs!

circe is quite literally a 4.9/5 for me just because as of the last 50 pages. the first 300 pages are a tragedy and then out of no where it ramps straight up to a happy ending. it should've stayed as a tragedy, because greek mythology is a tragedy

Indeed Circe was a daughter of a solar god 🌞 and an ocean nymph 🧜‍♀️.

Housewives of oceanus i would watch it

"the real housewives of

So you said that your enjoyment won't be diminished having not read the Odyssey, but does Miller trust her audience to know a bit about it? I had to dnf Song of Achilles because the foreshadowing to the events of the Trojan war were so cringy. I'm hoping this is different because Circe technically a pretty minor character in the Odyssey, so Miller had alot of room to work, but I'm still very hesitant.