Circe Book Review

Circe Book Review
By Alexis Mercer

The text conversation went like this…

Mollie: Ok. Book club assemble. We need a meeting.
Stephanie: I need to read the books we assign instead of the books I want to read. Even though I picked the last book.
Alexis: Soooooooo I am really lame. I can do tomorrow night. Or August. But tomorrow or August I am SO IN!
Mollie: I’m in tomorrow.
Stephanie: I will be there.
Amanda: In.
Erin: What’s the plan? In.

So Monday it was. And it happened to be my turn to choose a book. I had just finished reading Circe by Madaline Miller. I was so obsessed with that I knew I needed book club to read it or something by the same author. I wanted to discuss it!

Circe is a tale of the Greek goddess told in first person. An epic story of the atypical goddess - one who does not revel in control, power or fame.

The reader learns of her being shunned by her father, Helios, all but disowned by her mother, ridiculed by her siblings. And finally banished to a remote island after she used her unique witchcraft skills to transform a foe into a monster.

It is on this island over the course of thousands of years that Circe learns who she really is, her strengths and abilities, her desire to protect herself and the world she has built.

Through the final page, this story kept me guessing and enchanted: a truly unforgettable tale that will stay with me. 

I didn’t need to be well versed in the Greek gods’ stories to enjoy this book - though thinking back to my limited experience in middle school hearing of the Greek characters during “exploratory class” was a fun jog down memory lane. (A list of Greek gods and goddesses and their most famous characteristics is at the end of the book for those who desire to read up.)

Because of this obsession for what I had just finished reading, I chose Madeline Miller’s The Song of Achilles for this next month. And I couldn’t help but add Circe as an optional, additional story. It has been too long since our last book - why not make the next month really count?

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