Circe

The book opens up with Gods being awful, killing astrologers, bullying, paying attention to appearence. All the while when they are so powerful... so numb...

What if being immortal meant being disconnected from morality? Not facing the struggles that develop one's character?

Circe experiences withdrawal from the other Gods, her father, her siblings. There is so much about her that is human, which they do not appreciate, things she learns only while away from them. Circe is willing to struggle, fix her wrongs as the golden witch of the island, to create and leave something behind, even if it means facing the depths of the sea. The gods continue being the same... even after centuries. Sometimes Circe feels that she grows up more during eventful periods of her life than in eternity of her solitude.

Her fight starts with Prometheus refusing his godhood, subjecting himself to eternal punishment. Seeing him it inspires Circe. She finds freedom while punished, and then cannot help herself, but be punished even further, why not have a child? Fight Scylla, a monster the Gods were not concerned about? Why not transform herself into a human? She thrives on the punishment, and embraces it.

Having no punishment, living forever. Does that nurture you? Does that make you alive? Is seeing an everchanging landscape after hundreds of years comforting?

She has the power to transform people, but is healthy transformation possible if the recepients aren't ready for it? She spend so much time on deciding that she already knows how she will transform before she does it.

This book makes you think about authority figures, and whether being born with everything is a thing to be envied. Well the true “everything” would include non-toxic Gods, but that's not what I mean, there is an illiusion you can catch called “I have read all the books, experienced everything there is to exprience” while that's not possible for us, and even the gods we can imagine, we can't be flawless, no flaw creates the bad in us.

Maybe the beauty comes from exploring the world by yourself, shaping who you are supposed to be even if it's within a cage. There's struggles of parenthood, finding your own voice.

The language is beautiful just like in the author's other book “The Song of Achilles”. Circe really likes the opinion of poets in this book for some reason lol. She mentions them six times while Patroclus in the song of Achilles only mentioned them once. I wonder why because I don't get the impression that Circe read poems, alto she really should have! Where's the chapter of Circe being a bookworm?

I found a ton of Circe's disappointing childhood relatable. Raising Äeetes, the solitude, feeling like a monster. Her feeling inspired by the forest and nature, the feeling of peace after being seperated from the others.

I love this book so much, that I read the author's two short stories instantly after. Very excited about the book she is writing about Persephone!! When I am writing I will definetely be thinking of the way Madeline describes the scenary.

Thank you for writing this book.