Circe

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The word ‘classic’ is a wonderful word that is used to describe everything from characters to colours. It refers to things that are considered timeless, still holding their clout after thousands of years. Like the Greek myths of the Titans and Olympians. Like hundreds of other people, I have a love for Greek mythology and this week I decided to indulge that little pleasure with a book that explores the adventures and misadventures of a lesser-known goddess, Circe.

Born an unexceptional daughter of the Titan Helios and the nymph Perse, Circe lives a lonely childhood being neglected and shunned by her family, and then a lonely eternity when she is exiled from her home and sent to live on an isolated island where she becomes the Witch of Aiaia. But a great many things can happen when you have an eternity to work your magic and discover your true self.

Written by Madeleine Miller, Circe cleverly retells a bunch of classic Greek myths with the fresh spin of being told from the perspective of one of the bystanders. Circe as a character in Greek mythology is always on the fringes or tied in in some subtle way to a heap of great stories and Miller does a very clever thing here in which she alludes to these stories, but not necessarily retell them and it is that that keeps readers compelled to turn pages. Over the course of Circe’s lifetime, which spans just over three-hundred pages, we get to relive gripping tales such as that of Theseus and the Minotaur, Jason and the Golden Fleece, Odysseus and the Cyclops, and the Trojan War.

It's funny, I absolutely powered through this book but it kind of reminded me a little of my reading experience of The Slap. Most, if not all the characters in Circe are not particularly likable people and while some are overtly awful that they inspire hatred towards them on the part of the reader, all the others are subtly and inwardly awful and I found, personally, that it was no love of characters that kept me reading into the small hours of the morning. It was the familiarity of the setting and the classic narratives that were the driving force in this book. Of course this is for me, I can’t speak for anyone else. But I think that is what made this book clever in my mind: it’s not so much the fleshing out of a character that we’ve seen minutely and heard about briefly, but a piggyback novel that promises epic tales by constantly alluding to them and getting you excited. And I guess in a way you get them, but it’s a diluted sort of satisfaction, a bit like the watered-down wine people would have with breakfast back then.

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Miller’s prose is both blunt and flowery. It reads with a dramatic tone that absolutely works for the story and its setting, but also harbours some clever little tidbits that indicate just how much time has passed and language has changed. Initially, it’s a little jarring and discombobulating when you first encounter it, finding a weirdly modern-sounding phrase come out of the mouth of some character, but it’s actually a very clever way in which Miller shows us the passing of time. Keep in mind that we only follow Circe, an immortal goddess who lives alone on an island.

Circe is a fresh and clever dive into the classic world of Greek mythology and makes for a very good lunchtime, afternoon, and bedtime read. Stories within a story that’s filled with hope, yearning, drama, comedy, and of course, hubris. I quite enjoyed it.

Author: Madeleine Miller, 2018

Published: Little, Brown, & Company, USA, 2018.