Miller, Madeline. Circe. New York: Holt 2017. Print.
When I was born, the name for what I was did not exist.
They called me nymph, assuming I would be like my mother and aunts and thousand cousins. Least of the lesser goddesses, our powers were so modest they could scarcely ensure our eternities. We spoke to fish and nurtured flowers, coaxed drops from the clouds or salt from the waves.
Description:
Quick. Harken back to your school days to answer this question: Who was "Circe"? Need a hint? How about "Odysseus?" "Sorceress?" "Deserted island?" Yes, Circe was a minor nymph goddess who lived on an island and interacted with Odysseus on his meandering voyage home after the Trojan War as depicted in The Odyssey.
Using these meager details from the epic poem, Madeline Miller fleshes out a complete history of the sorceress, from her birth to banishment from the heavens to her solitary, fulfilling life on her island in her high-entertaining, fascinating novel, Circe.
Circe begins with Circe's origins as one of thousands nymphs born to Helios, the Titan (original) god of the sun, and Perse, daughter of the great Oceanos, Titan god of the sea. Daughter Circe recounts her life wandering the halls of the gods, even attending the trial of Promethesus for giving fire to man. (Zeus had to think hard on how to punish an immortal god whose body easily repairs itself).
Other gods and mortals are cleverly described, their motivations and actions detailed in a manner that makes readers understand what it would be like to be one of these beings. Daedalus ("a craftsman almost equal to a god"), Minos (king of Crete, son of Zeus and a mortal woman), Helios (wrathful god of the sun and father to Circe), and Zeus (who rules them all) appear in Circe's world with good and bad affect on her.
But when young Circe falls in love with the mortal Glaucos and figures out a way to make him an immortal, she runs afoul of Helios. She is exiled to the remote island of Aiaia to live with her servants alone. But she is free to pursue her unique skills of potion-making and spell-casting, traits shared only by her brother and sister in all of Olympus. And her new world offered many plants for her to experiment with to master their power.
I was completely absorbed in this tale, these characters, and their world both external and internal as their thoughts and desires are laid bare. Highest recommendation, one of the best books I have read this year.
Quick. Harken back to your school days to answer this question: Who was "Circe"? Need a hint? How about "Odysseus?" "Sorceress?" "Deserted island?" Yes, Circe was a minor nymph goddess who lived on an island and interacted with Odysseus on his meandering voyage home after the Trojan War as depicted in The Odyssey.
Using these meager details from the epic poem, Madeline Miller fleshes out a complete history of the sorceress, from her birth to banishment from the heavens to her solitary, fulfilling life on her island in her high-entertaining, fascinating novel, Circe.
Circe begins with Circe's origins as one of thousands nymphs born to Helios, the Titan (original) god of the sun, and Perse, daughter of the great Oceanos, Titan god of the sea. Daughter Circe recounts her life wandering the halls of the gods, even attending the trial of Promethesus for giving fire to man. (Zeus had to think hard on how to punish an immortal god whose body easily repairs itself).
Other gods and mortals are cleverly described, their motivations and actions detailed in a manner that makes readers understand what it would be like to be one of these beings. Daedalus ("a craftsman almost equal to a god"), Minos (king of Crete, son of Zeus and a mortal woman), Helios (wrathful god of the sun and father to Circe), and Zeus (who rules them all) appear in Circe's world with good and bad affect on her.
But when young Circe falls in love with the mortal Glaucos and figures out a way to make him an immortal, she runs afoul of Helios. She is exiled to the remote island of Aiaia to live with her servants alone. But she is free to pursue her unique skills of potion-making and spell-casting, traits shared only by her brother and sister in all of Olympus. And her new world offered many plants for her to experiment with to master their power.
For that flower, so delicate it could dissolve beneath your stepping foot, carried within it the unyielding power of aporophe, the turning aside of evil. Curse-breaker. Ward and bulwark against ruin, worshiped like a god, for it was pure. The only thing in all the world you could be certain would not turn against you.It is to this island Odysseus comes when returning from his war in Troy and falls in love with Circe, and she with him. An idyllic life surrounds them, but Odysseus still feels the pull of travel and his faithful wife, Penelope, waiting for him in their home in Ithaca.
Living with him was like standing beside the sea. Each day a different color, a different foam-capped height, but always the same restless intensity pulling towards the horizon.That's a lot of plot to give to you, but the beauty of Circe is in the wonderful, flowing, captivating writing. Each scene and character is presented as a real being interacting in a real world with real emotions, desires, and frustrations, despite the fact they are gods and goddesses, the stuff of legend, or magical fantasies themselves.
I was completely absorbed in this tale, these characters, and their world both external and internal as their thoughts and desires are laid bare. Highest recommendation, one of the best books I have read this year.
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If this book interests you, be sure to check out:
If this book interests you, be sure to check out:
When Mendelsohn's 80-year-old father decides to quietly sit in on his son's college class on an introduction to The Odyssey, his conflicting opinions and nature soon emerge to disrupt the class and the author/professor. This memoir is a great chapter-by-chapter explanation of The Odyssey, along with the personal recollections and experiences between the father and son, An Odyssey is a compelling, intelligent read. Highly recommended (previously reviewed here)
