Book Review of ‘ Circe’ by Madeline Miller
Circe is dull as a rock. Circe has less wit than bare ground. Circe’s hair is matted like a dog’s. If I have to hear that broken voice of hers once more. Of all our children, why must it be she who is left? No one else will have her.
Circe is a novel by American writer Madeline Miller. Set during the Greek Heroic Age, it is an adaptation of various Greek myths, most notably the Odyssey, as told from the perspective of the witch Circe. She is the daughter of Helios — God of sun and Perse — the daughter of Oceanos. The book is a humanized depiction of Circe. Madeline draws the reader into the world of Circe, making the reader understand her character, her struggles and yes — her power.
Circe is labelled an enchantress or an evil witch who transforms men into pigs in the past. There has never been a shortage of such ‘evil women’ in mythological stories: Medusa, the sight of whose face turned all mortals to stone; Pandora, the one who let out all the evil. Circe, the evil witch, beguiles poor innocent men to her abode and then transforms them into pigs. Now, on a lonely island, all by herself, why would Circe curse the very company she chances upon? The book reveals the answers to these questions.
Madeline’s Circe is neither evil nor powerless. She is neither an enchantress nor a Goddess. What she is, is a witch in her own right. She is depicted as a character trying to find herself, even as she is mocked upon by her siblings, ignored by her mother and surrounded by the complex thread of politics of Gods, where power is everything. But the gods rarely share their power, as she comes to learn.
“Tell me,” he said, “who gives better offerings, a miserable man or a happy one?” “A happy one, of course.” “Wrong,” he said. “A happy man is too occupied with his life. He thinks he is beholden to no one. But make him shiver, kill his wife, cripple his child, then you will hear from him. He will starve his family for a month to buy you a pure — white yearling calf. If he can afford it, he will buy you a hundred. ” “But surely,” I said, “you have to reward him eventually. Otherwise, he will stop offering.” “Oh, you would be surprised how long he will go on. But yes, in the end, it’s best to give him something. Then he will be happy again. And you can start over. ”
Exiled for the powers she possesses, Circe finds herself trapped in a remote island -Aiaia. As the story progresses, so does Circe’s character build. Yet Circe, despite all her love for power, neither wishes to control nor use her capacity for evil. Though a daughter of a Titan God, she wishes not to be prayed, served or feared. Her power to herself is more about finding her own space in a world that never truly accepts her. She aids humans repeatedly, whether it’s Glaucus, who she transformed into a God. She finds love several times, but none of them stays. The character faces highs and lows, and the reader lives them with Circe. The major themes in the book revolve around personal transformation, feminism and discovering self.
But in a solitary life, there are rare moments when another soul dips near yours, as stars once a year brush the earth. Such a constellation was he to me.
Madeline’s Circe is much like that fresh whiff of breeze which doesn’t try to follow the same cliched storyline. Through all her sacrifices, pain, and worldly outlook of life, Circe conjures up an image of a woman who just wants to be herself. Unapologetically. In her own words, “A witch, with unbound power who answers to none but herself.”
