Circe – Madeline Miller

I bought this book on an impulse. I love Odyssey, it is one of my favourite epic tales of all times and when I read that there was a story that was a spin –off of this, I was immediately drooling. The result was lower than my expectations. It is indeed a page-turner and the writer has done a great job into bringing all these old gods, goddesses, semi-gods, nymphs into life. She is a storyteller on the making and she has done her homework in terms of research in Greek mythology. On the other hand I somehow could not get completely carried away. I could see through her “Creative Writing School” techniques and they annoyed me. The dialogues seemed completely modern, unfit for the time they were describing. The scene where Dedalus is having dinner with Circe and goes to give a goodnight kiss to his son Icarus, I just couldn’t stop laughing. Maybe it’s me, I am not used to such fan-fiction, let’s say. I read it pleasantly almost in one go as The Guardian had written but it has left nothing. It was like a bubble gum book. Sometimes bubble gums are needed. I don’t believe very much in categorizing books as summer ones or winter ones but if you are looking for something lighter to read at the beach this is a good example.