TL;DR
Overall rating: 5/5
Genre: Fantasy; retelling
Length: 394 pages
One-sentence summary: This novel provides the backstory of a minor character from Homer's Odyssey.
Tough topics: sexual assault
Read-alikes: books by Ursula K. Le Guin, Psyche in a Dress, The Silence of the Girls, The Song of Achilles (also by Miller), XO Orpheus (short stories)
Available formats: Print, audio, electronic
If you've read Homer's Odyssey, then the name Circe might be familiar to you. On the way back from the Trojan War, Odysseus and his crew stopped at Circe's island of Aeaea to rest. Offended by their manners, Circe turned Odysseus' men into pigs. Odysseus managed to convince her to return them to their human forms and he and his crew remained on Aeaea for a year, during which time Circe bore Odysseus sons.
While Homer's Circe takes up just 15 pages in the epic poem, Miller's Circe makes her the main character, following her from the halls of her parents--a sea nymph and the Titan Helios, god of the sun--to her exile on the lonely island of Aeaea. Here she grows and gathers powerful herbs and uses them to hone her witchcraft.
She's not totally isolated, though, and the others with whom she comes in contact read like a Who's Who of Greek mythology: Hermes, messenger of the gods, and Athena, goddess of war and wisdom; Odysseus, the adventurer; Scylla, the horrible monster who eats a dozen of his crew members; the half man, half bull Minotaur; Daedalus, who creates a labyrinth to contain the monster; and his son, Icarus, whose ignorance kills him. If you enjoy the Greek myths, you'll be hooked on this book, which, like Wicked did for The Wizard of Oz, provides the story behind those stories.
Circe is told in vignettes--short scenes that don't necessarily combine into one through-storyline. That it's organized this way is reminiscent of Greek myths: they may feature the same characters multiple times, but in different small stories. Also, the bite-sized pieces made it easy to pause for a break. The author's style is poetic, which sometimes bothers me. I like stories to get to their point, already! But I could have enjoyed Circe's descriptions of her island and the ocean all day long.
Circe has everything: family rivalry, palace intrigue, romance, suspense. It also reveals the dangers and triumphs of being a powerful woman in a world run by men. I listened to Circe and I HIGHLY recommend that experience. The narrator, Perdita Weeks, is truly a voice actress and that, paired with the fact that Miller's story is told in the first person, brings Circe to life, as though she was sitting next to you and telling you her story.
Circe is available through the North High library in print, audio, and electronic formats.
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