Clytemnestra

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In Clytemnestra, she is the main character. The entire book is written from her, a woman in ancient Greece’s, perspective. She’s not a perfect person. She’s not a perfect mother or a perfect role model. She’s not a perfect woman or a perfect feminist. But she has a traumatizing tale that will gain sympathy from all those who have any to give, as Clytemnestra’s heartbreaking, tragic tale unfolds. Clytemnestra is left broken and hollow, like a bird with crushed wings, and the first seeds of hatred take root. Rotten, Villainous Queen

Acceptance or vengeance - infamy follows both. So you bide your time and wait, until you might force the gods' hands and take revenge. Until you rise. For you understood something that the others don't. If power isn't given to you, you have to take it for yourself. The Greek retelling of the life of Clytemnestra. The novel begins with her as a young woman growing up in Sparta with her parents and many siblings, a princess. She was a strong and smart woman with a hard life, but she soon meets and falls for her first husband. The two get married and have a child together, a son. Her happiness is soon ripped from her hands because two visitors in Sparta, the two brothers from the Atreus line, have come for her fathers help to retake their kingdom. One, Agamemnon, has eyes for her. He decides his best option is to kill her husband and new baby son. Heartbroken and angry Clytemnestra is forced to marry this man and is taken to be queen in his lands. They do not have a happy marriage, she refuses to break or submit, but they have many children whom Clytemnestra loves with all her heart. After some more time in her life of trying, happiness is taken once more from her as Greece goes to war with Troy. Thank you to Net Galley, Costanza Casati, and SOURCEBOOKS Landmark for generously providing me with my ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own. I was not required to leave a positive review, but my enthusiasm is because it is a great book!

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This book was lengthy but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. There were parts of the book that drew me in and I didn’t want to put it down but then there were also parts that kind of bored me and I just wanted to either rush through it or just put it down. I think all in all, it’s a decent book. Would I have shorten the book, yes but then again it’s not my book. I would definitely buy an actual copy to put with my mythology collection. It’s a great read for people who love mythology retellings.

The 2017 novel House of Names by Colm Tóibín is a retelling of the Oresteia, with divine elements largely removed. There are three narrators: Clytemnestra, Orestes, and Electra.Clytemnestra is always mentioned as the scorned wife of Agamemnon and that is that. What Casati is able to do is tell both the story of Clytemnestra as well as her sister, Helen of Troy and keep the focus on these two women. She is also able to trace the roots of political power and how many women had to run their kingdoms while the husbands are out playing war. You can absolutely see where a character like Cersei Lannister comes from, but Clytemnestra is also a Spartan warrior who can go toe-to-toe with any of the men in physical combat.

Clytemnestra’s family is quite large, full of many brothers and sisters. They are all loved, all except Helen, by the King, as he thinks Leda (Helen and Clytemnestra’s mother) had taken with another man to beget this daughter. The rumors, stories, tales and jokes do not help the matter. But, whatever may come of this, whatever of the future, the sisters are close and nothing will part them. Will that always remain true? Their grandmother Gorgophone would tell them that they would be remembered, throughout history, over their brothers, their family, a dynasty of queens. Will that be true? Will both sisters be remembered?Huge thank you to Netgalley, Sourcebooks and Costanza Casati for this ARC. I read this book at the tail end of a mythology binge, and I loved this one. This book is all about Clytemnestra’s story, from details of her childhood in Sparta, all the way up through the end of the Trojan war. I went into this book knowing a lot about this story and specifically the women of the Trojan war. Even though I knew the story, the artistic take on this story still left me surprised and on the edge of my seat. I felt so emotionally attached to the story and every scene, even though I already knew the ending, which is something so special and so hard to do. I specifically loved how much of the book was focused on Clytemnestra’s life and childhood in Sparta. In my personal life, my mother told me and my sister stories of the strong and powerful women in Spartan lore. So reading more about the Spartans in this book really touched me in a way that I felt connected to the stories from my own mother. This book was powerful, emotional and empowering. I loved this take on Clytemnestra’s story and would recommend this to anyone who wants to read more Greek mythology. What he does is tragic to Clytemnestra and somebody close to himself and further inflicts the worst kind of heartache onto Clytemnestra to incite her to hate him even more, if that is possible. I agreed with her feelings of hatred towards him and was heartbroken as much as she is. Clytemnestra is a wise and loving devoted mother. Helen marries Menelaus, Agamemnon's brother who becomes King of Sparta. I wasn’t sure what to expect from this author, but I love a Greek mythology retelling, so I requested an ARC. Thank you to netgalley, the author, and the publishers for providing an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review. This novel was stunning, particularly for (what I believe is) a debut.

Let me repeat that: there is no gods in a Greek myth reinterpretation and it still works as a story. And the writing totally makes sense as to why the characters believe the gods meddle in their lives while actively showing other characters operations and how most of the events were not godly. And the story still works! I have yet to see that in a reinterpretation of books like these. In the 1977 film adaptation Iphigenia, Clytemnestra is portrayed by the Greek actress Irene Papas. [10] Clytemnestra is one of several narrators of A Thousand Ships (2019) by Natalie Haynes, which retells the Trojan War from the perspective of the women involved.A heroine of fierce spirit. With the fire and spark of Madeline Miller and the depths of Mary Renault' MANDA SCOTT If you are a fan of Circe, The Song of Achilles, Ariadne, A Thousand Ships, or Elektra, I can just about guarantee that you will connect with this book, too. Growing up, the princesses of Sparta train in wrestling, spear-throwing and sword-fighting, and are relatively able to do as they please. Their mother rules alongside their father – or at least appears to. “It is hard to find a man who is really strong. Strong enough not to desire to be stronger than you,” she tells Clytemnestra. Yet Clytemnestra isn’t the only strong woman within the novel. Her sisters showcase their own unique kinds of strength: Timandra’s rebellious independence and Helen’s subtle cunning. Her cousin, Penelope, bears a silent, graceful wisdom. Even her mother, Leda, who ultimately fails her children, once held an unbreakable spirit like Clytemnestra. Nevertheless, Clytemnestra and Aegisthus began plotting Agamemnon's demise. Clytemnestra was enraged by Iphigenia's murder (and presumably the earlier murder of her first husband by Agamemnon, and her subsequent rape and forced marriage). Aegisthus saw his father Thyestes betrayed by Agamemnon's father Atreus (Aegisthus was conceived specifically to take revenge on that branch of the family).