Circe

author: Madeline Miller
name: Wayne
average rating: 4.38
book published: 2018
rating: 5
read at: 2018/07/06
date added: 2018/07/06
shelves: favorites, sword-and-laser
review:
'Circe' by Madeline Miller is about a character in Greek mythology who is a witch. If that sounds dull and familiar, I can tell you that this book changed my mind on those thoughts as well.

Circe is the daughter of Helios, god of the sun. She is not powerful, but she has a way with herbs and words. She uses these powers, perhaps foolishly, and ends up creating the monster Scylla. Because she is feared, she is banished by Zeus to a remote island. There she lives in solitude, tending her herbs, The various men who show up on her shore are turned in to pigs when they show their true nature at her table. One day a different man arrives. His name is Odysseus.

I was somewhat familiar with this character, but the author has a way of breathing life into the old and known. When you can come to care about a character that you thought you knew, that is the mark of a truly gifted writer. Her prose is also extremely quotable. There are some truly lovely passages in this book, like the opening line: "When I was born, the name for what I was did not exist." This was a literary journey that I loved to have been on.

I received a review copy of this ebook from Little, Brown and Company, and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you so very much for allowing me to read this very fine ebook.


via Wayne's bookshelf: read https://ift.tt/2KVyIam