Humbling women seems to me a chief pastime of poets. As if there can be no story unless we crawl and weep.
Most people with a passing interest in Greek Myths would have heard of Circe, the ruthless and powerful sorceress often depicted luring naïve and helpless sailors to their death. Any casual search will tell us who she was — an archetype of the predatory female and a figure of fear and desire, as some say.
This book isn’t about who Circe was. It does trace her life, from her insecurities and delusions as a child, through her jealous nature and rash decisions until she adapts, rebels and finds worth in her life. It tells us how she became the person we know her as. It doesn’t speak of a specific incident or even a series of incidents. Instead, Circe tells us about a person molded by incidents she’s made to experience and people who float in-and-out of her life until she achieves a degree of finality in her journey.
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.
But there is danger too, for a woman who stands alone, and Circe unwittingly draws the wrath of both men and gods[…] 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.
~ extract from the publisher
Personally, I started reading this book without looking at the blurb or at reviews by anyone. I fell in love with Madeline Miller’s writing when I read The Song of Achilles a few years ago and that plus the bare minimum knowledge I had about Circe in mythology had me restlessly waiting to start the book. I suppose it’s safe to say I went in with high expectations while simultaneously having no idea of what I was supposed to expect.
To start positively, the style of writing definitely met my expectations. Have you ever had a dream in which you feel like a ghost walking alongside yourself and watching everything that happens? That’s what reading this book feels like. The descriptions are incredibly captivating, one moment you are adjusting your blankets, the next moment your feet are sinking in the soft sand of a beach.
Circe is a wonderful character and watching her through the book felt like something very personal. From a young girl taught to base her identity around the men in her life to a powerful sorceress who is determined to form an identity for herself, I think Circe is a character a lot of us can both relate to as well as hope to be someday.
The story too has fascinating themes. How do you live when you’re imprisoned, not just on the physical limits of an island but within your immortality? Are the choices you make truly your own or do your experiences and circumstances force your hand? It is worth living if there’s no death waiting afterwards? Circe’s story deals with all of these.
My only problem is that the book was extremely slow. Unlike TSOA, where we’re aware of how the Trojan War ends for Achilles, Circe has no defined moment to look forward to so there is nothing that pulls you to finish the book.
I guess it was to be expected, after all, it’s the story of a person and not of any events. Maybe if I’d read a few reviews or known that this wasn’t a conflict based story I wouldn’t have been disappointed by how long it took me to finish the book. Regardless of this, I really enjoyed Circe. If you aren’t in a rush, I recommend taking your time to enjoy each arc, understand the side characters, and savor this book.
goodreads rating: 4.5 stars | Circe
— neha🍄
enarchxve 
Leave a comment