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pedanther's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Gore, Incest, Infidelity, Sexism, Sexual content, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Grief, Cannibalism, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and War
Minor: Cancer, Child abuse, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Excrement, Medical content, Kidnapping, Death of parent, and Pregnancy
deadnberried's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.75
I went into reading this thinking I knew what it was going to be and it was decidedly not what I imagined.
A huge fan of Madeline Miller's Circe and Song of Achilles, I expected Ithaca to be a similar blend of raw humanity, rich characters, and the thin veil between mortals and gods that infuses everything with magical potential, be it for good or ill. This book seems to have been written attempting to do those things, but through such an incredibly jaded, bitter lens that the story is a slog to get through.
Advertised as Penelope's side of the story (ra-ra, Penelope ruled Ithaca for ten years, let's see how this badass rose to the challenge!), we instead get an incredibly dejected, dispiriting novel about being crushed under the thumb of patriarchy. Women's lives and happiness don't matter, men are animals and will do what they want to women, even royal women can't escape man's ownership and brutality, even GODDESSES can't. Penelope is regularly condescended to by the council that 'helps' her rule Ithaca, while she does all of the actual work of keeping an economy running herself behind the scenes, her son is as different from his hero father as it's possible to be (and Odysseus isn't that great actually), Hera is almost powerless so she just hovers behind Penelope wringing her hands and bemoaning the fate of women in a man's world. This book is just a bummer.
Moderate: Child death, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Murder, and War
sauvageloup's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
pros:
- the characters all have distinct personalities and dialogue, which is written well. Penelope is focused, hera is snippy, telemachus is foolish, etc. but they're all complex too. there were some nice additions to the canon, kenamon and teodora (or I didnt remember them anyway), and it was nice having some decent characters.
- there is dry humor, especially in here's perspective
- I like the concept on focusing on outwardly quieter female power, and looking at hera and penelope, and the other women from a different angle than the mythology does.
cons:
- it did feel too slow a lot of the time, with a lot of meandering and introspection.
- it was frustrating seeing telemachus ignore his mother repeatedly, and aspects of the myths play out, but that's not a book criticism, just that inevitable tragedy isnt rly my genre.
so overall, I appreciated the writing quality and definitely enjoyed meeting Claire North and hearing her discuss her work, but this wasnt quite my type of book, a bit too slow.
Graphic: Child death, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Xenophobia
simonlorden's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Child death, Misogyny, Rape, Violence, and Murder
Moderate: Death of parent and War
booksthatburn's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
One of the difficulties in embarking upon retellings of Greek myths for a modern reader is that merely trying to lay out the relevant backstory involves listing several people Zeus assaulted, and a great deal of other violence, just to say the origins of a particular hero or the parentage of a demigod. ITHACA has a refreshing and circumspect approach to this and other similar difficulties which come from delving into stories where women were generally not considered to be full persons. ITHACA aims to tells the stories of the people the poets ignored, the women and slaves who were excised from their own stories (unless relegated to paragons of virtue or warnings of catastrophe). Hera is the narrator, telling what happened while Odysseus was on Calypso's Island, indulging in passion, and Penelope is at home in Ithaca, keeping dozens of suitors at bay. She keeps them just hopeful enough to refrain from war against Ithaca to claim her hand and her husband's responsibilities. In this retelling, there’s a cleverness and frustration to Hera. She, who was the goddess of queens, made small by Zeus and the imaginations of mortal men. Squeezed into the role of the goddess of wives, stifled by the implication that wives and mothers are less than men and distinct from warriors. Instead, ITHACA slowly disrupts that status quo as Penelope shows how she is a queen in fact and in name.
Because everything is from Hera's perspective, she doesn’t know exactly what Penelope is thinking. Hera's most frequent interactions are with Athena and Artemis, as she is deliberately hiding her activities from Zeus, and any god who might carry tales to him. There’s a loneliness and a hunger in Hera, as the way she can only accomplish things while beneath Zeus's notice mirrors the way that the wives, mothers, and queens, who pray to her must conceal their cleverness. When they produce something that men like, their ingenuity is misunderstood, or assumed to have another cause. When their cleverness threatens the men, either truly or only in their minds, then the women must be stopped through social pressure or violence.
The suitors cannot believe that Penelope continues to feed so many without gold, refusing to accept that she is a shrewd tradeswoman who manages her household well. Those who press her on the matter seem to think that hidden gold is a readier explanation than competent husbandry of goats. As if feasts are made of metal and gems, the men refuse to understand that barter and bargain can produce feasts with the resources of the farms and fields.
I’m very pleased with the worldbuilding, the narrative style, the focus as shaped through Hera, and many small moments in the story. I’m very excited to read more, and I’m glad this is a series instead of a standalone book.
Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Violence, Blood, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Infidelity, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, Grief, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, War, and Classism
Minor: Child abuse, Incest, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Kidnapping, and Pregnancy
theblerdnewsletter's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Moderate: Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Incest, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Death of parent, Sexual harassment, and War
brazenbookbabe's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Moderate: Child death, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, Death of parent, and War
tinybluepixel's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Murder, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Incest and War