Circe by Madeline Miller, can be best described as a woman's ordeal and search for identity and power. The plot is so smooth that so many women can connect with Circe's character. A powerless woman searching for the true meaning of life in her own way was something to brace upon. But, the book doesn't have much Greek action, as the story is narrated from the main character's viewpoint.

Although the plot slowed down in the middle, the narrator's voice kept me hooked. It was the latter half of the book that was far more interesting and something to set your mind on. Circe's character development from Helios's daughter to a mother was amazing. It is the first time I am reading a Greek Mythology from a woman's POV. I read the book as a part of the #52booksin52weeks reading challenge. Definitely, the book deserves 4 stars and I am all set to read the next book by the author. ( )

This was an excellent audiobook. It took me a long time to finish, mostly because I was listening to other things along the way, and it kept getting returned at the library, but I enjoyed it pretty consistently throughout.

Circe tells the story of the goddess Circe in a “fictionalized” form, meaning that it fills in the gaps in the mythology to make a full story of her life that is consistent with the times she pops up in actual mythology. For fans of the Odyssey or greek and roman mythology in general, this leads to lots of nuggets of interest interspersed in the story like Thesus and the Minotaur, Scylla, the Trojan war, etc.

What sets this book apart is that the author (and narrator) do an excellent job of bringing Circe to life as a relatable character, and telling a surprisingly realistic story about someone who is fundamentally not realistic - a god sentenced to live forever on a vaguely hidden island in the Mediterranean. If you’re a fan of female perspectives, mythology, or good writing, you’ll enjoy this. And specifically, I’d recommend the audiobook for the excellent narrator that perfectly fits the text. ( )

read

I was brought up on Greek myths. I knew the lot, and read and re-read them constantly (I was a Latin teacher's daughter, after all). So I was half looking forward to, half wary of this book. Would it be a re-hash , and disrespectful one at that, of some of my favourite stories?

Well, no. Miller is steeped in these legends, as I was. But she has considered them, and thought how it might actually feel to be a god, a nymph, and above all a woman in Ancient Greek and Olympian society.

Circe, immortal Circe tells her story through the hundreds of years of her life. She's known Prometheus; Daedalus and Icarus; Ariadne and the Minotaur; Jason of Golden Fleece fame, and most importantly, Odysseus, and has stories about all of them. She herself, a bit of a misfit to Helios, her sun god father and her naiad mother, is eventually exiled to the uninhabited island of Aeaea, where she discovers and then hones her skills as a witch. We witness her growing independence; her satisfactions as she develops her spells; her joys and loneliness. She takes lovers as they come her way, but never abandons herself to them: self-protection matters. She's to some extent realistic about their - and her faults, but is to a large extent blind to the shortcomings of her next-to-last lover, Odysseus.

Her struggles with the powers of the gods, with those characters who come her way over the centuries are interesting psychological battles. Though in many ways the last section of the book, in which the story between herself, Penelope, Telemachus and her own son Telegonus resolves itself, is a little too neat: more contrived than I found the rest of the story.

I enjoyed this treatment of tales with which I was once familiar: their weaving into one satisfactory narrative. Most of all, I enjoyed the development of the character of loner, out-of-step Circe, all but outcast in her younger years, but growing to effective independence over the decades of her isolation from the world of the gods. ( )

Circe, a character from Mythology is represented here as a feminist heroine. Exiled and abandoned, she lives an independent life, defending herself against mortals and gods. Beautifully written.
I have to admit, I don't know a lot about Greek mythology. The book includes a "cast of characters", including Olympians, Titans, humans, and monsters. The book has inspired an interest in reading more about these characters! I also enjoyed listening to an interview with the author in which she describes her reasons for choosing to write about Circe, and also recommends further reading. ( )