I recently read Circe by Madeline Miller. It was on sale on Audible.com. I’ve heard nearly everybody say for months that it was a great book. In eighth grade, we read a lot of mythology and I thought it was pretty interesting. So I thought that I might like this book as well.
It was just… meh… for me. Which doesn’t mean that you won’t love it.
Circe is the daughter of Helios (the sun god) and Perse (a nymph). She’s not powerful like the rest of her family, and as a result isn’t very well-liked. She kinda… hangs out around their dwelling for centuries, as things go on around her.
At some point, she discovers that she has witchcraft powers. She can make potions and things like that. We as the reader discover that she has empathy and compassion. She feels heartbreak over the thought of mortals dying, and shows kindness to Prometheus.
She’s also not very bright. She gets into an argument with Zeus, who banishes her to the island of Aiaia. There she gardens, makes potions, and has visitors.
My Thoughts
The writing in Circe was well-done and descriptive, so I have no complaints there. I just couldn’t get into the story, and I’m not entirely sure why. Perhaps it was because I couldn’t really identify with Circe herself. Maybe it was the audiobook format that I just didn’t care for (although there are some audiobooks I love). I didn’t dislike the story… but I just could never get into it.
My hypothesis about why I wasn’t enamored with this story is that the plot wasn’t really all that exciting. First this happened, and then that happened, and then Circe was exiled to an island, and some people visited… the stakes in this story were never very high. What happens if she doesn’t succeed? She’s bored. And? Towards the end of Circe that’s not quite the case, but for most of the book, it felt like it was just one series of unrelated events after another.
That being said, just because I couldn’t get into it doesn’t mean that a lot of people don’t like it. The writing style was good and it covers a lot of familiar mythological events. It just wasn’t the book for me.