Circe

by Madeline Miller

𝙄 𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙤𝙣𝙘𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙜𝙤𝙙𝙨 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙤𝙥𝙥𝙤𝙨𝙞𝙩𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙙𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙝,

𝙗𝙪𝙩 𝙄 𝙨𝙚𝙚 𝙣𝙤𝙬 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙮 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙚 𝙙𝙚𝙖𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙣 𝙖𝙣𝙮𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜,

𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙮 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙪𝙣𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙞𝙣𝙜, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙘𝙖𝙣 𝙝𝙤𝙡𝙙 𝙣𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙞𝙧 𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙨.

SYNOPSIS

Stuck between the mortal world of humans & the realm of endless divinity & immortality, Circe is a nymph, a goddess with an unknown power of witchcraft, but also a lonely girl with a small mortal voice, searching for a place to call home & a person to love with all her heart, not to be lost again to the waters of time.

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.

REVIEW

Circe is a book that tells the stories we are all too familiar with —the monster Scylla and Charybdis, the gifted craftsman Daedalus and his Labyrinth, Pasiphaë and the Minotaur, Aeëtes’s Golden Fleece and his daughter Medea, and of course, Odysseus and his adventures— yet, from a whole other perspective.

We all think we know Circe, the cunning witch, the powerful sorceress, the evil daughter of the Titan sun god Helios and the naiad Perse, the banished goddess on the island of Aiaia. (And yes, we all watched her change our beloved Percy Jackson into a squealing guinea pig.) But, stripping away all the colors & angles the stories have given us, can we truly claim to know her at all?

I was touched by how Miller built the character of Circe. She was more humane & vivid to me than any of the characters I came across in the book. For the first time ever, I had glimpsed the dark side of divinity, the raw & sharp emotions that even gods & goddesses shared, which I never thought existed. The stories had always wrapped them in their glamour & glory, their power & strength, but never in such cold & solid reality.

I loved Circe for her vulnerability, bravery, strength & determination. And I loved Madeline Miller for bringing to life such a mesmerizing heroine.