A review by carmen_angelica
House of Names by Colm Tóibín
2.0
2/5
Overall underwhelming, the book neither sticks to the known facts of the myth nor tells it in a refreshing way. Toibin takes creative liberty with the story for sure.
It also distances itself from (in my opinion) a pretty prominent theme in Greek mythology— the Greek gods. The novel mentions several times how “the time of the gods has come to a close” or that their power is fading. The language of the story also loses you as you read. At points it is flowery and ambiguous, but at others it quickly becomes plain.
And then there are just the things that annoy me, such as Agamemnon makes a comment that Cassandra’s prophecies help the Greeks win battles. This could not have happened. 1) In all versions of the story, Cassandra was cursed by Apollo to never be believed when she spoke a prophecy. 2) Cassandra was capture AT THE FALL OF TROY so I’m not sure what battles she could have helped with (if I’m wrong about the fact that there were no battles after the fall of Troy lmk). 3) And this one is just opinion, why would she care to tell him?
Toibin also described Cassandra as haughty and entitled when she arrives at the palace with Agamemnon, which annoys me quiet a bit. She was taken forcibly from her home, that was destroyed, and made into a concubine. I do not think she was haughty. She also knew this was were she would be murdered before she arrived, so I don’t think her description really matches her situation.
There are also entire new prominent characters added to the story, *cough cough* Leander. Maybe this is fine, but at this point I’m just not a fan of the book. When someone deviates from the original story that much, it makes me feel like I don’t know the original story as well as I would like.
Overall, would not recommend to Greek mythology fans. To me, it didn’t feel like a Greek myth, especially with the distance from the gods. The story telling was bland and you will end up wishing you spent your time on something else.
Overall underwhelming, the book neither sticks to the known facts of the myth nor tells it in a refreshing way. Toibin takes creative liberty with the story for sure.
It also distances itself from (in my opinion) a pretty prominent theme in Greek mythology— the Greek gods. The novel mentions several times how “the time of the gods has come to a close” or that their power is fading. The language of the story also loses you as you read. At points it is flowery and ambiguous, but at others it quickly becomes plain.
And then there are just the things that annoy me, such as Agamemnon makes a comment that Cassandra’s prophecies help the Greeks win battles. This could not have happened. 1) In all versions of the story, Cassandra was cursed by Apollo to never be believed when she spoke a prophecy. 2) Cassandra was capture AT THE FALL OF TROY so I’m not sure what battles she could have helped with (if I’m wrong about the fact that there were no battles after the fall of Troy lmk). 3) And this one is just opinion, why would she care to tell him?
Toibin also described Cassandra as haughty and entitled when she arrives at the palace with Agamemnon, which annoys me quiet a bit. She was taken forcibly from her home, that was destroyed, and made into a concubine. I do not think she was haughty. She also knew this was were she would be murdered before she arrived, so I don’t think her description really matches her situation.
There are also entire new prominent characters added to the story, *cough cough* Leander. Maybe this is fine, but at this point I’m just not a fan of the book. When someone deviates from the original story that much, it makes me feel like I don’t know the original story as well as I would like.
Overall, would not recommend to Greek mythology fans. To me, it didn’t feel like a Greek myth, especially with the distance from the gods. The story telling was bland and you will end up wishing you spent your time on something else.