CIRCE

By MADELINE MILLER

…..A Journey of Self Discovery……

” But in a solitary life, there are rare moments when another soul dips near yours, as stars once a year brush the earth. Such a constellation was he to me.”

You probably read the quote from the book and rolled your eyes thinking, God please not another love story. Well hold on, let’s not jump into conclusions; Circe is a story about a Greek goddess’ journey of self-awareness and self-love. So it’s kind of a love story but not your conventional love story. Not the whole boy meets girl, boy falls in love with girl and they ride into the sunset…blah blah blah *rolls eyes. The plot of the book is more of a girl feels inadequate, a girl is lonely, the girl rises above the bullshit and the girl realizes she is AWESOME!!!! ( Now that’s a story I can get behind…Go Go …Girl Power!!)

If you are familiar with Greek mythology, you recognize Circe as the goddess, Odysseus encounters on the island of Aeaea. According to the story, Circe turns his sailors into pigs and Odysseus has to coerce her into reversing the spell (*rolls eyes* Well trust history to brand a woman an evil witch without telling you the reason behind her actions. Thankfully this book addresses that. God Bless You, Madeline Miller.)

MY SUMMARY

Madeline Miller takes us way back; to the halls of Helios, the Titan God of the Sun and here is where the story begins (by the way Circe is the narrator) Circe begins by telling us that when she was born, the name for what she was did not exist. (Ouch! Get ready for some daddy and mommy issues.). You see Circe was the daughter of a mighty Titan, Helios and a sea nymph, Perses. She was openly ridiculed by her Family because she lacked the power of her father and the allure of her mother so she cowered in the halls of her father as an outcast.

In a bid to rid herself of loneliness, she turns to mortals for companionship (the mortal in question is a man; so you can guess how that turned out *side-eye). At least there sis discovers that she is indeed powerful and possesses the power of witchcraft. In usual fashion, a powerful woman with unique abilities is viewed as a threat (death to misogyny!!!) hence Circe is banished to a deserted island by Zeus. There she harnesses her powers in solitude with only tamed wild beasts for company. On this island of isolation, Circe encounters famous figures and characters from Greek mythology and somehow still manages to incur the wrath of the Gods. I didn’t get this part sis was living her best life on an island you relegated her to and yet you’re still angry….wow just WOW!

MY VERDICT

Whew!!! This was an epic journey and I tried my best to keep out any serious spoilers so you could all equally enjoy your personal journeys with this Book. I have always been fascinated with Greek mythology like I literally drilled holes with my eyes in my copy of the Iliad by Homer.

One of my personal turn-offs about the myths was the strong presence of misogyny, greed, and vanity. Another was the lack of strong female characters. So you can imagine my joy when I picked up this book and Gbam!! There was Circe. Don’t get me wrong Circe has a lot of issues (I mean a whole lot.). However, she was able to rise above it. I found myself sharing in her disappointments and her loneliness; wanting to smack her on the side of the head when she made some mistakes (believe me you would too). In the end, I was unbelievably proud when she found her voice and stood up for herself.

I can’t wait for you to dive into this story, it was truly epic. By the way, I wasn’t quite sure about the pronunciation of Circe. So, I kept reading as Cersei as in Cersei Lannister, weird huh?

Valar Morghulis (*wink *wink) ,