![](https://image.librarything.com/pics/fugue21/magnifier-left.png)
![Circe : a novel by Madeline Miller](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/P/0316556327.01._SX180_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg)
Click on a thumbnail to go to Google Books.
Loading... Circe : a novel (original 2018; edition 2018)by Madeline Miller
Work InformationCirce by Madeline Miller (2018)
![]()
» 58 more Witchy Fiction (10) ALA The Reading List (14) Books Read in 2019 (35) Best Fantasy Novels (359) Best Historical Fiction (268) Books Read in 2023 (62) Favourite Books (547) Books Read in 2021 (130) Historical Fiction (231) Books Read in 2022 (303) Female Author (307) Female Protagonist (241) Mix Tape 📚 (5) Books Read in 2018 (2,108) Overdue Podcast (270) Lit Lattes Ep 004 (12) SHOULD Read Books! (57) SFFKit 2020 (1) 2023 (28) Abuse, Grief, Loss (39) Books to Read (62) Booktok Books (15) Best Mythic Fiction (27) No current Talk conversations about this book. ![]() ![]() 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.
“Circe” will surely delight readers new to the witch’s stories as it will many who remember her role in the Greek myths of their childhood: Like a good children’s book, it engrosses and races along at a clip, eliciting excitement and emotion along the way. Miller has taken the familiar materials of character, and wrought some satisfying turns of her own. [W]hat elevates Circe is Miller’s luminous prose, which is both enormously readable and evocative, and the way in which she depicts the gulf between gods and mortals. Written in prose that ripples with a gleaming hyperbole befitting the epic nature of the source material, there is nothing inaccessible or antiquated about either Circe or her adventures. The character of Circe only occupies a few dozen lines of [the Odyssey], but Miller extracts worlds of meaning from Homer's short phrases. AwardsDistinctionsNotable Lists
In the house of Helios, god of the sun and mightiest of the Titans, a daughter is born. But Circe is a strange child -- not powerful, like her father, nor viciously alluring like her mother. Turning to the world of mortals for companionship, she discovers that she does possess power -- the power of witchcraft, which can transform rivals into monsters and menace the gods themselves. Threatened, Zeus banishes her to a deserted island, where she hones her occult craft, tames wild beasts and crosses paths with many of the most famous figures in all of mythology, including the Minotaur, Daedalus and his doomed son Icarus, the murderous Medea, and, of course, wily Odysseus. But there is danger, too, for a woman who stands alone, and Circe unwittingly draws the wrath of both men and gods, ultimately finding herself pitted against one of the most terrifying and vengeful of the Olympians. To protect what she loves most, Circe must summon all her strength and choose, once and for all, whether she belongs with the gods she is born from, or the mortals she has come to love. No library descriptions found.
|
Current DiscussionsNonePopular covers
![]() GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)813.6Literature English (North America) American fiction 21st CenturyLC ClassificationRatingAverage:![]()
Is this you?Become a LibraryThing Author. |