A review by goblinhearted
Circe by Madeline Miller

5.0

I knew before the end of the first chapter that this was going to be a five-star book. 

First, Miller’s writing style: it is absolutely gorgeous. Her writing style, the metaphors and similes she sprinkles throughout her prose are wonderfully accurate for a Greek and mythological setting. Below is an excerpt of when Circe is taken to her father, Helios’, field of white cows. 

“I had never seen a cow before, of any kind, but it did not matter: the animals were so obviously beautiful that I needed no comparison. Their coats were pure as lily petals and their eyes gentle and long-lashed. Their horns had been gilded – that was my sisters’ doing – and when they bent to crop the grass, their necks dipped like dancers. In the sunset light, their backs gleamed glossy-soft.”

Now just imagine an entire novel told with this level of care and intensity of imagery. I’ve always felt that I had some form of aphantasia - when the brain doesn’t form mental images as part of imagination - but this novel has me doubting even that.

I love Greek mythology. There has always been something exceedingly beautiful and fascinating about it. Despite my love for it, I don’t know all of the details of all of the myths - there are so many - but I remember deeply appreciating them when I encountered them in school. Now, the focus here is on Circe, but her story is intertwined with the stories of others which are told in passing - such as the story of Daedalus and Icarus, and King Minos and the Minotaur to name a few early ones. The most striking and impressive aspect, to me, is how Miller keeps each story accurate exactly as they are told - retaining the family tree exactly as it existed in the classics. So in this way, her writing becomes less of something which is loosely based on the myths and takes creative license based on that foundation, to something that has been impressively and meticulously researched yet strung together in a beautiful, literary way, from a fresh perspective.

My only complaint, which is really just a side-effect of what I have explained above, is that the parts with Odysseus, Telegonus and Telemachus which converge more directly with the events in The Odyssey, were less compelling to me - partly because I was already somewhat familiar with that story, but also partly because the focus seemed to be pushed away from Circe and onto characters that already have received a ton of coverage. I recognize it is unfair to praise a book for staying impressively true to source material, but then turn around and say that it should have deviated. I think I just would have loved to see more of Circe's independence.

It has been such a long time since I loved a book this much. I took this one slow, savoring each chapter because I knew from the beginning that I didn’t want it to end.