Why I Didn't Like Circe by Madeline Miller
- Raven Sharada
- May 13, 2022
- 6 min read
Circe is a book by Madeline Miller that focuses on the Greek mythological character of the same name. I started reading it on April 18 and finished April 22. This book follows The Song of Achilles, another Greek-inspired book, and so I was excited to read it, as I adored The Song of Achilles (You can read about it here). However, I wasn't as impressed with Circe as I was with Miller's previous work. I wasn't a big fan, but I didn't hate it. Read on to find out why!
Summary
This book is very character-driven and doesn't follow a specific plot start to finish, unless you count Circe's entire life as a plot. It starts right from Circe's birth and follows her for a few thousand years, even beyond her brief appearance in the life of Greek hero Odysseus. Before reading this book, I didn't know anything about Circe except for what appeared in the Odyssey, so getting to learn more about where she came from and what other legends there are about her was pretty interesting. Circe is a daughter of Helios, who was the sun god before Apollo. She is banished from her home and family to an island known as Aiaia, where she must spend the rest of her immortal life in exile.
Reasons I Didn't Like It
There was no plot
As I mentioned in the summary, this book had no particular plot. If I tried to put it on a typical plot arc, it wouldn't make much sense. I get the feeling that Miller tried to make it have a significant arc, but there were too many ups and downs for there to be a discernible plot. I kept waiting for the plot to start and it never did.
Side Characters
There were way too many side characters in this novel for me to keep track of. I kept having to go back and find previous characters to remember who they were. I hadn't started a character map for this one because I figured I wouldn't need one - it's about one lady! Turns out, I would have both needed one and not needed one - many times when I make a character map I leave out side characters who only come and go briefly. That would have been most of the side characters.
Slow Going
This book seemed to take forever to read. Given its size and my usual reading rate, I expected to have this book finished in a day or two; it took me four. There were several times that I just wanted to put it down and give up, and I had to come back later when I was in a better mood. I kept waiting for the character introduction to be over and the plot to start but it either started and then abruptly ended or never started at all.
Reasons I DID Like It
All that being said, it wasn't a bad book. There was lots to like in it.
Prose
As I suspected from reading A Song of Achilles, Madeline Miller's prose is simply stunning. There are lots of great quotes to pull and gorgeous language that flows beautifully. That got me through some of the tougher parts plot-wise.
Character Driven
Not a lot of books you run into are as character driven as Circe. Basically, the whole plot of the novel is her life, rather than the plot being part of her life. Many stories, including The Odyssey, portray her as a conniving, wicked witch; but this book gives her depth. While I didn't particularly enjoy not having a plot, Circe's character development is really interesting. Watching her go from immortal brat to actual decent person is unique and compelling.
Ending
I don't want to spoil it for you, but I thought the ending was appropriate to Circe's character and quite beautiful. It gives you a little faith in the human race, even though the story is thousands of years old. I've read other reviewers that said they didn't like the ending, but I did. It's worth getting through the whole thing!
Rating
I give Circe by Madeline Miller 3 out of 5 stars and one-half of a spicy pepper. While I wasn't a huge fan, there were things in the book to like, so it gets just over 50% goodness on my completely un-scientifically guided rating scale.
Some Excellent Quotes
As I mentioned in reasons I liked this book, the prose is exceptional. Here are some of my favourite quotes.
It was my first lesson. Beneath the smooth, familiar face of things is another that waits to tear the world in two.
...As I watched I found a new thought in myself...the thought was thing: that all my life had been murk and depths, but I was not a part of that dark water. I was a creature within it.
- It is at this point that Circe starts to mentally distance herself from her godly family.
"It is not fair," I said. "It cannot be." "Those are two different things," my grandmother said.
Poets like such symmetries: Witch Circe skilled at spinning spells and threads alike, at weaving charms and cloths. Who am I to spoil an easy hexameter?
- The first of a few jabs at poets.
The truth is, men make terrible pigs.
- For those who don't know, Circe's power lays partially in the ability to reveal a person's "true self" and she turns men into pigs. Apparently, pigs are rather better people than men are. Not that that surprises me.
"Your wife sounds like a clever woman." "She is. I cannot account for the fact that she married me, but since it is to my benefit, I try not to bring it to her attention."
- Poor Odysseus. You're clever too!
Humbling women seems to me a chief pastime of poets. As if there can be no story unless we crawl and weep.
-I don't think Circe likes poets much.
"Then the best part of [Achilles] died, and he was even more difficult after that..." "What was his best part?" "His lover, Patroclus."
- My actual annotation: I'm dead I'm dead I'm dead I died I'm dead. UGH I'm still not emotionally done with TSOA.
His eyes glittered. If good Patroclus had been there he might have said, Sit, you are no true hero, no Heracles, no Jason. You speak no honest speeches from pure heart. You do no noble deeds in the gleaming sunlight. But I had met Jason. And I knew what sort of deeds could be done in the sun's sight. I said nothing.
- A bit of foreshadowing - maybe Odysseus isn't all that great after all.
Living with him was like standing beside the sea. Each day a different colour, a different foam-capped height, but always the same restless intensity pulling towards the horizon.
Even the best iron grows brittle with too much beating.
- Circe recalls Daedalus having said this, and applies it to Odysseus when he is getting salty with his men. He has been patient for too long, he is breaking.
This world is a wild and terrible place, and worth shouting at. But you are safe now, and all of us need to sleep.
- True, but not the best way to get a baby to sleep.
He showed me his scars, and in return he let me pretend that I had none.
I thought: I cannot bear this world a moment longer. "Then, child, make another."
"Telemachus the Just," I said. He smiled. "That's what they call you if you're so boring they can't think of something better."
He would miss them when they were gone, I knew. But I would find something else for him. I would help him forget. I would say, some people are like constellations that only touch the earth for a season.
I am Telegonus of Aiaia, son of a great hero, and a greater goddess.
"You have always been the worst of my children," he said. "Be sure you do not dishonor me." "I have a better idea. I will do as I please, and when you count your children, leave me out."
"You are wise." "If it is so," I said, "it is only because I have been fool enough for a hundred lifetimes."
Is there a moment that a heart cracks? But a cracked heart was not enough, and I had grown wise enough to know it. I kissed him and left him there.
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