Review

Great followup to The Song of Achilles. If you ask me which I like more I would say Achilles because gay. But in my heart of hearts, I do have to say that I think Circe is probably better. I love the writing style in it. The smooth narration that flows from time period to time period. Circe's perspective is always so interesting. She's pragmatic, driven. I cannot say with certainty given I'm a man, of course. But Circe feels like a fully-shaped description of femininity, in a very mythological sense. Not Greek mythology, but more basic. More human. Circe feels like it was supposed to be written. Like it had been there since the original myths, but simply hadn't been completed yet. A bit like the idea that the statue was always inside the marble, the artist just needed to find it.

I had originally read Circe shortly after finishing Achilles, both in 2023, but I felt compelled to return to it recently after finishing The Iliad and getting to the Circe section of The Odyssey. They all feel like companions to each other. I doubt this will be the last time I read either novel.