In Circe, Madeline Miller tells her version of the mythological life of the demigod, Circe. Circe is the daughter of Helios, the sun god, and Perse, an ocean nymph. She grow up alongside her two brothers and sister watching the Titan Gods humiliate, punish and torture humans and each other. Unloved by her parents, she doesn't understand the constant struggle for power and the need to demonstrate it, Circe would rather wander in nature and among animals. Unloved and mocked, especially by her father, she is denied marriage and longing for a place to fit in.
After angering her father, she is banished for eternity to an island, Aeaea, where, for a time, she is allowed no visitors (except Hermes who brings her news from time to time). On Aeaea she spends hundreds of years learning and perfecting her magic. Over the eons she is allowed to leave the island once to help her sister give birth and occasionally receives visitors including Odysseus. She raises a son alone and is confronted with the very human emotions around him growing into his own person.
In Miller's version of Greek mythology, she gives Circe more of a human heart, than god-like characteristics. Circe doesn't understand the games that the gods play and it costs her not only love but her own freedom. Her empathy with humans and her human-like feelings are unique among the gods.
This book didn't capture me in the same way that her first book, Song of Achilles, did. It took a while for me find the 'story' (stick with the book until Odysseus appears -it picks up then) and I didn't like Circe herself until our book club discussion. I was one of the few that didn't thoroughly enjoy it, so I wouldn't take someone out of reading it.
Comentários