เราซื้อเล่มนี้มาอ่านเพราะว่าชอบภาษาของ Miller มากๆ (ถึงแม้จะไม่ค่อยชอบ The Song of Achilles ก็ตาม) และเล่มนี้ก็ได้รีวิวดีเหมือนกัน อ่านนี้อ่านแล้วไม่ผิดหวัง ให้ 4/5 ดาว 🌟
I went into this book knowing very little about Circe (just that she's a character Odysseus met in The Odyssey, on his journey home from Troy) and I really enjoyed it - gave it 4/5 stars. 🌟
The first thing I loved about this book was of course the language. Miller's writing was so beautiul and so detailed. There were sentences that I read and went like.. oh that was good!
Another thing I liked was that she picked Circe as the protagonist. It's a fresh change from all the usual heroes who were destined for greatness.
Although she was daughter of a Titan (Helios) which could’ve meant great things, Circe wasn't beautiful or powerful, she was the odd one out, and she was basically bullied. Then, through her exile, she grew, sufferered, fought, and I couldn't help but root for her too - like how people like to root for the underdog.
But then this brings me to a point which I disliked about the book: it being "too feminist." A review called it “a feminist take on Greek myth” and I agree but I felt like the feminism was a bit overdone. Every female character was like, I know what I want and I'm gonna do whatever it takes to get it because I know I can and I don't need men to help me or tell me what to do because men are actually weak and (male) heroes are actually fools. That.. or maybe it's just me.
Another thing that got the book minus one star was that some parts were a bit boring. Considering this is a story of an exile of a goddess, it was quite fun to read, but I did lose interest in some parts.
Overall it was a pretty good read and I enjoyed most of the book and there were some parts that really got me hooked (maybe partly because I didn't know the story of Circe or Odysseus well enough - I wonder if some parts stayed true to the sources or if they were Miller's adaptations and I still don't know because I'm too lazy to figure those out). I'd recommend this especially if you like Greek myth. If not, it's still a good story, but you may not enjoy it as much.