Circe - Madeline Miller - ★★★.¼

AUTHOR: Madeline Miller

NARRATOR: Perdita Weeks

GENRE: Greek Myth Retelling

PUBLICATION DATE: April 10, 2018

RATING: 3.25 stars.

In a Nutshell: A mythological retelling of the life of the Greek goddess Circe. Lyrical writing, episodic narrative, somewhat distanced in its storytelling, interesting characters (credit for this goes to Greek myths) but in limited roles, slow pace. A good-enough read but not sure if it lives up to the hype or if my expectations were too high.

Plot Preview:

When Helios, the mighty Titan and god of the sun, and Perse, a bewitching ocean nymph, had their first child, they didn’t expect their daughter to be so unlike them. Neither powerful nor beautiful, Circe finds herself ignored by the parents and hence turns to mortals for company. Unexpectedly, she discovers her power of witchcraft, though not the kind that the gods would be happy about. Threatened by her skill, Zeus banishes Circe to an isolated island, where she uses her time to perfect her prowess while, at the same time, interacting with many famous gods and humans who happen to enter her abode.

The story comes to us in Circe’s first-person perspective.

I had been eager to get to this book ever since I had enjoyed this author’s debut work, ‘The Song of Achilles’. Many of my friends had told me then that ‘Circe’ was even better. Now that I finally read this, I am not so sure I agree. ‘Circe’ isn’t a bad book, but in terms of storytelling and character development, ‘The Song of Achilles’ was much better. Of course, I had read the latter in 2019, and I have grown much as a reader-reviewer since then. (i.e. I have turned more critical!) I am not sure if I might change my opinion now…

The start of ‘Circe’ is actually quite good, with proper background information about the Titans and the Olympians, helping us understand Circe’s lineage. Up until the point that she was banished, the story stayed fairly gripping. However, once Circe’s exile began, the book failed to hold my attention. Conversations dominated the show, and emotions and actions were forgotten. The pacing dipped terribly and I started feeling bored. Even when there were triggering scenes such as murders or sexual assaults (which shouldn’t come as a surprise considering Greek mythology), I felt barely a thing because the book was just telling me events instead of expressing the character’s feelings. The story picked up some pace again in the final few chapters, but by then, it was a bit too late for me.

In ‘The Song of Achilles’, despite Achilles and Patroclus being the characters in focus, the overarching plot is of the Trojan war. So we get proper plot plus character development. Circe’s track in Greek mythology doesn’t allow for this kind of storytelling, so this novel feels more like a collection of episodic, interlinked short fiction.

In the Greek myths, Circe isn't much of a main character and plays a relatively passive role as an enchantress who mostly steps in either to hinder the hero’s plans or to help him proceed. Given that a major chunk of this story comes to us from Circe’s POV after her banishment to the island, she is just a bystander to many key events and hence we get to see only minimal first-hand action. Most of the plot feels like a series of vignettes, with a revolving door of gods and humans coming to and going from her island as and only to the extent needed. While I was impressed by the cast, I also felt like a checklist was being ticked, as most of those characters stayed active only until they were interacting with Circe on her island. Their quest before and after is, in most cases, a hurried side-note.

(On an aside, I think you will appreciate this book better if you have some awareness of the original legends. My familiarity with the many Greek myth characters popping up regularly was of great help.)

I think a part of my dissatisfaction stems from having read Rosie Hewlett’s ‘The Witch of Colchis’ just a few months ago. It was also slightly episodic but Hewlett somehow managed to keep Medea’s character development in focus and we could see her growth (not necessarily in the right direction) as the story progressed. It was a villain-origin story in the true sense of the word. In that regard, Miller’s Circe feels a little flat because she stays and sounds almost the same from start to end, even though the plot spans multiple decades. We know some things that drive Circe, but on the whole, we only learn what she does without really getting the whys and hows. Considering that the narrative in her own first-person POV, this leads to a slightly distanced reading experience.

Circe shows spine in some of the scenes. I wish this trait of hers had been explored better. It is frustrating to see her make the same mistakes over and over despite declaring otherwise in her inner monologue. As such, I couldn’t see her as a feminist icon the way many readers did. Many of her choices were anti-feminism. (Merely being a rebellious woman doesn’t make one a feminist. No true feminist will do things that hurt another woman.)

This doesn’t mean that the book is a total disaster. For anyone who enjoys Greek myths, it provides a chance to see the events from the perspective of an otherwise ignored and maligned character. We also see several popular names make an appearance; some of them such as Daedalus make a big mark even in their limited roles. The writing is also quite lyrical, with many thought-provoking quotes.

Overall, I did like the book. I just don’t think it was as fabulous as it could have been. Perhaps my expectations were also too high.

The GR ratings prove that I am somewhat an outlier in my opinion. Most of my friends have given this novel gushy 5-star reviews. So do read other reviews and take a better call on this work.

Recommended to fans of Greek myth retellings with complex female leads and don’t mind slowburn storytelling dominated by conversations.

This was a library read, accessed as an audiobook narrated by Perdita Weeks. She was outstanding, and I have no complaints about her performance.