A review by briarrose1021
Wrath Goddess Sing, by Maya Deane
4.5
Though not included in Homer's Iliad, the story which sets up the heroism of Achilles in the Trojan War, there is a story that takes place before Achilles joins the war. Achilles' mother Thetis, in an attempt to save his life, sends him to live on Skyros as a woman among the other women there. In the original tale, Achilles develops feelings for Deidamia, one of King Lycomedes' daughters, and the two end up having two children. Depending upon the source, when Odysseus exposes Achilles as a male and takes him off to fight Troy, Deidamia either takes up a spear and follows him or stays behind and pleads for him to return to her.
Using that story as the source material, Deane makes a single change and goes from there. Instead of Achilles dressing as a woman hiding on the island of Skyros as a man, Deane posits that Achilles is a trans woman, and is living on Skyros as a woman to be true to herself. From this small change comes the rest of this story, though it may be better to think of this as a story entirely on its own, instead of a simple retelling of the myth - especially as this story continues on through the Trojan War. In that sense, it evolves into a retelling of The Iliad, even though the myth of Achilles on Skyros is not included in the original Iliad. I also think it's important, at this point, to mention that Deane is a trans woman. Her own experience informs this story in a way that is very powerful. And while there are some critics who will say that there's no way Achilles was trans, revisiting the myth with an open mind shows that it's not a big stretch and makes sense in many ways.
For those of you who are very familiar with The Iliad and the events of the Trojan War, it should be acknowledged that Deane uses the name Wilusa for Troy in this novel. If that is confusing to you, there is a historical and archeological basis for the change. Wilusa was a late Bronze Age city and has been identified/connected with the archeological site of Troy. Additionally, if you listen to the audiobook, the pronunciation of many of the names is slightly different from how many people say them today. The most noticeable is Achilles' name. Rather than her name being pronounced as "ah-KILL-eez" as most people do, it is pronounced as "AH-kill-eez," with the stress on the first syllable instead of the third. While slightly disorienting the first few times I heard it, I got used to it very quickly, and after the first hour or so, I no longer noticed it; it was just the way Achilles' name was pronounced. The same was true of the other names whose names are pronounced slightly differently.
While listening to the story, I was impressed multiple times at the sheer amount of research that Deane must have done prior to and during the writing. Though the story is centered around Achilles, and thus the Greek pantheon of gods, the other cultures and countries in the area are not ignored. Included are the various factions present in the Mediterranean, including the Hittites, the Achaians, the Amazons (Can I just say, one of my favorite parts is when an Amazon woman threatens Achilles, as she has killed several members of the woman's family, with killing her and dragging her (Achilles) body behind her (the Amazon) horse. I loved the ferocity of the interchange in the scene.), and even Egypt. Not only did Deane use the Greek pantheon of gods, which do figure prominently in the story and are shown to be predatory and bloodthirsty, and who view mortals as little better than playthings to amuse themselves with, but she did not ignore their counterparts that were worshipped in the other countries/kingdoms of the Mediterranean. Again, so much research. I am in awe.
I do want to take a moment here to discuss one of the critiques that Deane has received, and that is the accusation of racism because Achilles, who is white, takes Brisewos, who is black, as a slave. The problem with this accusation is that Brisewos isn't black in the way those making the accusations think of a black man. Brisewos is a Hittite and Anatolian. It is worth pointing out that he is a trans man, and that is one of the reasons he chose to seek out Achilles; he is like her, though he didn't have the benefit of a goddess changing his body the way Achilles did, and instead cut himself (i.e., he performed his own top surgery) to gain the physical body that matched his gender. As for his slavery, he is a slave, yes. But it is important to remember that slavery was a part of life during this time in history. Deane doesn't try to portray slavery in a positive light, but simply as a fact of society at the time. To call that racist is to try and whitewash history, and that isn't fair to history. You are more than welcome to disagree with slavery and to condemn it (and I fully agree with that), but one cannot call an author racist for using a practice in a historical novel that was socially acceptable in that time period.
Okay, stepping back down off the soap box, I will finish by talking about the audiobook. It was narrated by Katherine Pucciariello, and she did an absolutely fantastic job. This is the first book or hers that I have listened to, and I loved it. Due to the length, I had to break up my listening over a few days because of work (how dare my job get in the way of me listening to an amazing story!), and I found myself struggling to stop listening each time I needed to. (Please, can't I just listen to one more chapter? Well, not if I'm going to get enough sleep to go to work in the morning...grr...). I have already added her to my list of narrators that I will listen to, no questions asked, and I definitely encourage you - if you enjoy listening to audiobooks - to listen to this audiobook. It. Is. Marvelous.
Using that story as the source material, Deane makes a single change and goes from there. Instead of Achilles dressing as a woman hiding on the island of Skyros as a man, Deane posits that Achilles is a trans woman, and is living on Skyros as a woman to be true to herself. From this small change comes the rest of this story, though it may be better to think of this as a story entirely on its own, instead of a simple retelling of the myth - especially as this story continues on through the Trojan War. In that sense, it evolves into a retelling of The Iliad, even though the myth of Achilles on Skyros is not included in the original Iliad. I also think it's important, at this point, to mention that Deane is a trans woman. Her own experience informs this story in a way that is very powerful. And while there are some critics who will say that there's no way Achilles was trans, revisiting the myth with an open mind shows that it's not a big stretch and makes sense in many ways.
For those of you who are very familiar with The Iliad and the events of the Trojan War, it should be acknowledged that Deane uses the name Wilusa for Troy in this novel. If that is confusing to you, there is a historical and archeological basis for the change. Wilusa was a late Bronze Age city and has been identified/connected with the archeological site of Troy. Additionally, if you listen to the audiobook, the pronunciation of many of the names is slightly different from how many people say them today. The most noticeable is Achilles' name. Rather than her name being pronounced as "ah-KILL-eez" as most people do, it is pronounced as "AH-kill-eez," with the stress on the first syllable instead of the third. While slightly disorienting the first few times I heard it, I got used to it very quickly, and after the first hour or so, I no longer noticed it; it was just the way Achilles' name was pronounced. The same was true of the other names whose names are pronounced slightly differently.
While listening to the story, I was impressed multiple times at the sheer amount of research that Deane must have done prior to and during the writing. Though the story is centered around Achilles, and thus the Greek pantheon of gods, the other cultures and countries in the area are not ignored. Included are the various factions present in the Mediterranean, including the Hittites, the Achaians, the Amazons (Can I just say, one of my favorite parts is when an Amazon woman threatens Achilles, as she has killed several members of the woman's family, with killing her and dragging her (Achilles) body behind her (the Amazon) horse. I loved the ferocity of the interchange in the scene.), and even Egypt. Not only did Deane use the Greek pantheon of gods, which do figure prominently in the story and are shown to be predatory and bloodthirsty, and who view mortals as little better than playthings to amuse themselves with, but she did not ignore their counterparts that were worshipped in the other countries/kingdoms of the Mediterranean. Again, so much research. I am in awe.
I do want to take a moment here to discuss one of the critiques that Deane has received, and that is the accusation of racism because Achilles, who is white, takes Brisewos, who is black, as a slave. The problem with this accusation is that Brisewos isn't black in the way those making the accusations think of a black man. Brisewos is a Hittite and Anatolian. It is worth pointing out that he is a trans man, and that is one of the reasons he chose to seek out Achilles; he is like her, though he didn't have the benefit of a goddess changing his body the way Achilles did, and instead cut himself (i.e., he performed his own top surgery) to gain the physical body that matched his gender. As for his slavery, he is a slave, yes. But it is important to remember that slavery was a part of life during this time in history. Deane doesn't try to portray slavery in a positive light, but simply as a fact of society at the time. To call that racist is to try and whitewash history, and that isn't fair to history. You are more than welcome to disagree with slavery and to condemn it (and I fully agree with that), but one cannot call an author racist for using a practice in a historical novel that was socially acceptable in that time period.
Okay, stepping back down off the soap box, I will finish by talking about the audiobook. It was narrated by Katherine Pucciariello, and she did an absolutely fantastic job. This is the first book or hers that I have listened to, and I loved it. Due to the length, I had to break up my listening over a few days because of work (how dare my job get in the way of me listening to an amazing story!), and I found myself struggling to stop listening each time I needed to. (Please, can't I just listen to one more chapter? Well, not if I'm going to get enough sleep to go to work in the morning...grr...). I have already added her to my list of narrators that I will listen to, no questions asked, and I definitely encourage you - if you enjoy listening to audiobooks - to listen to this audiobook. It. Is. Marvelous.