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A review by hibaxx
Elektra by Jennifer Saint
1.0
i'm so serious when i say i'd rather read a book about only men than read about a woman like elektra ever again.
this book was a complete waste of my time, a waste of space on bookshelves, a waste of the trees sacrificed to make the pages for its useless words.
(full spoilers ahead).
elektra is by far one of the worst characters i've ever had the displeasure of coming across. a one-dimensional, infuriatingly single-minded, naive, hypocritical, delusional mess. her brain is a vast, empty, echoing chamber with a single brain cell dedicated to her vile father, agamemnon. her motivations made ZERO sense, her train of thought was absolutely baffling to me, her decisions and actions were so stupid that i was almost in awe. the way she alienated all the women around her to dedicate her entire existence to her disgusting father who murdered her sister was beyond my comprehension. the way she was wholly, utterly unmoved at hearing of her sister's murder, that she actually DEFENDED her father for it and VILIFIED her mother clytemnestra for taking her rightful revenge against agamemnon???? i was unfortunately stuck in this girl's head the whole time but i have no fucking idea what she was thinking. why didn't she care about her sister's murder? why couldn't she sympathize with her mother? why was she so completely obsessed with her father that it never occurred to her that he might throw her away too like he did her sister??? why was she SO OBSESSED with her father that she wanted to exchange places with the women he enslaved and raped just so she could be near him???? and i'm expected to feel an ounce of sympathy while reading pages upon pages of her grieving this revolting man.
and the nail in the coffin for me is that the narrative treated all of this in a pretty neutral way. sure, the story highlights elektra's hypocrisy and she herself recognizes it but ultimately the narrative rewards her for it so what was the point??? the book ends with her feeling at peace with herself and her life. i was truly bamboozled.
honestly, clytemnestra is the real protagonist of this story and elektra is, at best, the antagonistic side character. i genuinely don't understand the choice to title this book 'elektra'. she isn't even a well-written antagonist - she's so unsympathetic and her motivations are absolutely unfathomable, plus she's never confronted by the wrongness of her actions and she's never truly conflicted about whether she's on the right path. as someone who enjoys antagonistic, complex, difficult women characters in my fiction, elektra was simply boring. apart from her obsession with her father, there was literally nothing else to her. sorry i like my fictional women a bit more layered than that.
now clytemnestra was actually that layered character i love reading about and if only she had been the focus and the narrative had been on her side, my feelings would be so different right now. as for cassandra, the third POV, i have mixed feelings - it felt like her chapters were just endless suffering without any rhyme or reason. yes, women suffering at the hands of men is a reality that should be depicted in our media, but for me, there needs to be more to it than just that. i don't like reading about pointless suffering, but that's just me.
overall, sure it's a beautifully written book and a breeze to get through but at the cost of my sanity and my average storygraph rating? no thanks.
this book was a complete waste of my time, a waste of space on bookshelves, a waste of the trees sacrificed to make the pages for its useless words.
(full spoilers ahead).
elektra is by far one of the worst characters i've ever had the displeasure of coming across. a one-dimensional, infuriatingly single-minded, naive, hypocritical, delusional mess. her brain is a vast, empty, echoing chamber with a single brain cell dedicated to her vile father, agamemnon. her motivations made ZERO sense, her train of thought was absolutely baffling to me, her decisions and actions were so stupid that i was almost in awe. the way she alienated all the women around her to dedicate her entire existence to her disgusting father who murdered her sister was beyond my comprehension. the way she was wholly, utterly unmoved at hearing of her sister's murder, that she actually DEFENDED her father for it and VILIFIED her mother clytemnestra for taking her rightful revenge against agamemnon???? i was unfortunately stuck in this girl's head the whole time but i have no fucking idea what she was thinking. why didn't she care about her sister's murder? why couldn't she sympathize with her mother? why was she so completely obsessed with her father that it never occurred to her that he might throw her away too like he did her sister??? why was she SO OBSESSED with her father that she wanted to exchange places with the women he enslaved and raped just so she could be near him???? and i'm expected to feel an ounce of sympathy while reading pages upon pages of her grieving this revolting man.
and the nail in the coffin for me is that the narrative treated all of this in a pretty neutral way. sure, the story highlights elektra's hypocrisy and she herself recognizes it but ultimately the narrative rewards her for it so what was the point??? the book ends with her feeling at peace with herself and her life. i was truly bamboozled.
honestly, clytemnestra is the real protagonist of this story and elektra is, at best, the antagonistic side character. i genuinely don't understand the choice to title this book 'elektra'. she isn't even a well-written antagonist - she's so unsympathetic and her motivations are absolutely unfathomable, plus she's never confronted by the wrongness of her actions and she's never truly conflicted about whether she's on the right path. as someone who enjoys antagonistic, complex, difficult women characters in my fiction, elektra was simply boring. apart from her obsession with her father, there was literally nothing else to her. sorry i like my fictional women a bit more layered than that.
now clytemnestra was actually that layered character i love reading about and if only she had been the focus and the narrative had been on her side, my feelings would be so different right now. as for cassandra, the third POV, i have mixed feelings - it felt like her chapters were just endless suffering without any rhyme or reason. yes, women suffering at the hands of men is a reality that should be depicted in our media, but for me, there needs to be more to it than just that. i don't like reading about pointless suffering, but that's just me.
overall, sure it's a beautifully written book and a breeze to get through but at the cost of my sanity and my average storygraph rating? no thanks.