Circe by Madeline Miller: An Epic Tale of Mythology and Magic

Hannah: If you are a fan of female rage and Greek mythology this is the read for you babe

United States on Jan 05, 2024

Guava Paste: Fantastic revisit to classic Greek Mythology. It is written from the feminine perspective of Circe, It is not the Hero’s tale of epic conquest, but the enduring saga of a woman through it all. Being born of the gods was both a curse and and a blessing.

United States on Dec 22, 2023

Kim Bartosch: This was a very intense story. It read similar to the Illiad or Odyssey but not in verse. I loved this because the author did a wonderful job showing how women were nothing but another commodity for men to use for their pleasure. Gods and men. It felt realistic. The struggle to keep her son safe pulled at my heartstrings since I'm a mother to a very adventurous boy as well. Great story but very slow.

United States on Dec 21, 2023

Perfume lover: Even if you have never been acquainted with the classics, or the Greek and Roman gods; even if you don’t know that Prometheus was made to suffer so we mortals could have fire, this book will charm you and obsess you and keep you reading way past the time you should have left for work.

Here is Circe: sea nymph with witchcraft. She longs for a lover. And she poisons her competition. She clings to her brother, a mortal with the power of Gods. We feel her loneliness and her desire. She wants a lover.

The author is a professor of classics. She decided to tell the story of the siege of Troy, the Trojan horse, the hero Achilles, and his powerful goddess mother.

The author reimagines the gods and the warriors and the kings as being just like us: they lust, they envy, and they suffer. Kings and Gods we feel should know better, go to war for the wrong reasons; they steal, and they lie. Yet their life loves, their heart pains, their infidelities, attachments and longings, tear our hearts too. We root for them as we turn the page. We long for our heroes to prevail. Our hearts bleed for Achilles’s mother. This is after all her son.

Achilles slaughters and kills....

United States on Dec 12, 2023

Swimming in Books: I'm usually not a fan of ancient Greek mythological novels. While I love historical fiction that is well researched, the fictionalized world of ancient Greek gods is just a bit too much of a stretch for me. This was a book that was selected for my book club, and I didn't expect to like it. But it completely surprised me, and I absolutely loved it. The author's portrait of Circe it's a delight. She is strong, feisty, and fascinating. It is a long novel, but the pages flew and I read too late into the nights. Now I'm interested in trying another novel by this author.

United States on Nov 25, 2023

Susie Joron: A brilliant, beautifully written book - love it! Highly recommend to any book enthusiast! Every time you read it you discover some part that is beautiful.

Canada on Nov 25, 2023

Bozena F.: WOW! Madeline Miller knows how to captivate and make her readers
speechless.

I've always loved mythology and mythological retellings.
This story is so much more than just a retelling or a mythology.
It's an incredible experience.
It's a complex, challenging, and unforgettable story.

This book is just WOW!
I'm not sure how to describe this fascinating and dramatic story.
How to manage to give it the attention and praise that this book deserves.

This book is unbelievably good.
It's in a category that you can't even classify.
I think we need to invent a separate genre for this book.
It's fascinating.
It's bewitching.
Incredibly engaging and something to think about for a long time.

The Song of Achilles was an incredible good book, but this book is a different kind of great story. It's a phenomenology of all mythological beings.
It's a dream come true for all mythological fiction (I mean mythology is always fiction, right?) lovers.

Germany on Nov 14, 2023

Nabila CarrilloNabila Carrillo: Lo compré porque “The Song of Achilles” fue mi mejor lectura del año y se convirtió en mi libro favorito. Estoy segura de que será un clásico en unos años. No puedo hablar UNA cosa mala de ese libro y por eso decidí leer Circe. Yo no sabía nada de su historia y quedé boquiabierta todo el libro. Me reí y lloré, es un libro que te hace sentir de todo, a demás de que salen las figuras más famosas de la mitología griega, el minotauro, Daedalus, hasta Aquiles. El final me encantó. Un libro 10/10. Madeleine Miller es una diosa de la lectura. Escribe de una manera preciosa que te tiene sin poder dejar de pensar en el libro.

Mexico on Aug 27, 2023

Javier: Me encanto este libro. Si os gusta mitologia esta genial, pero tiene mucho mas

Spain on Jul 30, 2023

Luiza Mattos: Mais um livro da autora que deixa algumas histórias da mitologia grega mais acessíveis para o leitor - ainda que não seja por isso que deixe de abordar temas mais pesados e sombrios com maestria.
Você pode ter certeza que vai lidar com personagens complexos que, embora não sejam um exemplo de virtude (e nunca pretenderam ser - estamos falando do período clássico!), são verdadeiramente os heróis das próprias histórias. Madeline Miller sempre entrega histórias emocionantes, oferecendo uma perspectiva diferente, mais simpatética, para aquelas figuras da mitologia que tradicionalmente apenas servem como uma nota de rodapé, ou um empecilho na história dos guerreiros imortalizados nos mitos.

Me emocionei, gargalhei e até chorei conhecendo essa Circe que, antes de qualquer coisa, amava com tudo de si.

Brazil on Apr 16, 2022