The author has managed to give us a fascinating portrait of a woman who in Greek mythology was known only as a revengeful queen. However, Clytemnestra was so much more. She is in fact a very complex figure according to the novel's author. She is strong, intelligent, caring
…more for her family and especially her children and siblings.
Using as some of her sources, Homer, Aeschylus and Euripedes, Casati has introduced us in a very contemporary style of not only of who Clytemnestra was, but also gives us a very human picture of the mythological heroes of Ancient Greece. We see Helen not only as the beautiful face "that launched 1000 ships," but also as a bright and sensitive woman; we learn about the violent and cruel man who was Agamemnon; we see Penelope not just as the patient wife of Odysseus but as a bright and resolute woman. They were all real people in the novel, not just mythological heroes.
But the star of this novel is Clytemnestra! She is practically in every page. I was impressed by her intelligence and her strength. She was rare among ancient Greek women probably because she was from Sparta whose culture worshipped strength both mental and physical in both men and women. When she was forced to be queen of a different city state, she had to use both her mental and physical strength to not just survive but to rule. Her pain at the loss of her daughter Iphigenia was one act that she could not ignore. She felt her daughter was killed "for a puff of wind." And that is when the revengeful part of her personality emerges and remains the image the ancients had of her
Clytemnestra was a woman who had seen two of her children killed --one by her father and one by her husband. She had seen her beloved first husband killed by her father, the sister she had loved and protected was characterized as a whore.
She felt revenge was her only option even though she knew of the consequences.
I recommend this book. It is written well and should provide interesting discussion. (less)
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