Circe by Madeline Miller (2018)

Pre-review note

I’ve not liked the titles to the posts I’ve been making so I’m changing it from now on to just be the title, author, and year. This might not always work depending on what I read, but it will cover most of it (hopefully). Any thoughts/comments are welcome.

Review

As with most of the books I read, I went into Circe relatively blind. I knew it was about Greek mythology (something I grew up enjoying/learning about through series like Horrible History), but aside from that I knew nothing of the legend of the witch of Aiaia. Despite this being a re-telling of an old Greek tale, I am happy to say that this was my favourite book so far this year.

What I found most compelling about the book was its namesake. Circe, despite being a Goddess (kind of?), is one of the most human characters I’ve read this year. Despite having immortality and sorcery, she is a being who is constantly shown her faults and is asked to grow. And the author gives her plenty to think about and actually manages to reach a satisfying (although unsurprising) conclusion to her tale. From Circe’s upbringing in the halls of the Titan Helios (her father) to her exile on her island, Circe slowly but surely comes into her own and by the end of the story is someone I genuinely felt like I knew and was proud of. The author helps you care about Circe’s struggles by grounding them in the human aspect of it. While I can never relate to having my flesh seared down to the bone and having to recover from that, I can certainly relate to being scolded for something unjustly. The author does a great job making Circe appear mortal throughout the book, which added to my enjoyment.

While Circe is wronged many, many, MANY times throughout the story, I appreciated that she was also show to have wronged others. While much of what happens to Circe is horrible (from childhood basically until the end), I think the author made the right choice to show that Circe was never always the one being wronged. Circe causes immense pain and suffering on others, sometimes deserved, sometimes not, and the author uses this to show Circe’s struggles. Not to spoil too much, but around halfway through the book Circe confronts her sister on how she had abused Circe before Circe’s exile, and her sister tells her that that’s how it is for everyone. While this didn’t make me think any better of Circe’s sister, it did make me realize how self-centered Circe was. And, brilliantly, Circe realizes this as well, and begins to reconsider her upbringing until that point, realizing that others around her are also suffering in the same system. Circe then grows into a stronger, more empathethic, character because of this.

The story also uses the theme of “letting go” heavily. Circe always has to let something go at all points in the story, but it’s always at her expense. I was worried when reading that the whole thing would be a Greek tragedy, and that the ending would be as painful as most of Circe’s life. Thankfully, the end of the story has Circe use the theme of letting go for herself, which makes the conclusion near perfect in my opinion. I’m not sure whether to attribute this to the original source material or the author, but given that the author was the one who made me want to root for Circe, I will give credit to the author.

While I wish I could simply sing its praises, there are some notable flaws with the tale. Many of the side characters are very one-dimensional, for example. Some of these characters are introduced only to be killed a chapter or two later. Some of the only side characters that matter to the story are the ones Circe has relationships with, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it does get a bit tired by the end. Some of the “antagonists” (in parentheses because there aren’t really any in the traditional sense) also are not given enough time to develop. Circe’s father, for example, starts as an asshole and ends as an asshole. He’s not very complicated to understand, and while that may have been the point, I didn’t like it.

Despite these minor issues, I thoroughly enjoyed Circe. It was a brilliant re-telling that I think most would enjoy and find meaning in. I will be reading the authors other work at a future date, and I would strongly recommend this novel.

Verdict: 4/5