Clytemnestra: The spellbinding retelling of Greek mythology’s greatest heroine

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The story is full of complex relationships. It conveys the strength of bonds between family and friends, and the ramifications of betrayals. The ambient prose paints the setting vividly and builds the state of the world around you, in a time dominated by men, where women were consistently underestimated and wrongly treated. This story has a profoundness to it. It becomes an evocative experience, drawing you into the plights of the characters.

Told through the eyes of Clytemnestra, ancient Greek’s huntress, warrior, mother, murderess, and queen.Through Casati’s deft exploration, Queen Clytemnestra is reinstated as an actual human being — one who is grieving, has suffered immensely, craves justice, and refuses to become a pawn in a game ruled by gods and men. I wasn’t sure what to expect from this author, but I love a Greek mythology retelling, so I requested an ARC. Thank you to netgalley, the author, and the publishers for providing an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review. This novel was stunning, particularly for (what I believe is) a debut. Huge thank you to Netgalley, Sourcebooks and Costanza Casati for this ARC. I read this book at the tail end of a mythology binge, and I loved this one. This book is all about Clytemnestra’s story, from details of her childhood in Sparta, all the way up through the end of the Trojan war. I went into this book knowing a lot about this story and specifically the women of the Trojan war. Even though I knew the story, the artistic take on this story still left me surprised and on the edge of my seat. I felt so emotionally attached to the story and every scene, even though I already knew the ending, which is something so special and so hard to do. I specifically loved how much of the book was focused on Clytemnestra’s life and childhood in Sparta. In my personal life, my mother told me and my sister stories of the strong and powerful women in Spartan lore. So reading more about the Spartans in this book really touched me in a way that I felt connected to the stories from my own mother. This book was powerful, emotional and empowering. I loved this take on Clytemnestra’s story and would recommend this to anyone who wants to read more Greek mythology. Clytemnestra is one of the main characters in Aeschylus's Oresteia, and is central to the plot of all three parts. She murders Agamemnon in the first play, and is murdered herself in the second. Her death then leads to the trial of Orestes by a jury composed of Athena and 12 Athenians in the final play.

Agamemnon and his brother Menelaus were in exile at the home of Tyndareus; in due time Agamemnon married Clytemnestra and Menelaus married Helen. In a late variation, Euripides's Iphigenia at Aulis, Clytemnestra's first husband was Tantalus, King of Pisa; Agamemnon killed him and Clytemnestra's infant son, then made Clytemnestra his wife. In another version, her first husband was King of Lydia. [ citation needed] Mythology [ edit ]

Children’s book of the week

Casati’s writing style is beautiful. Every word is meaningful, and nearly every chapter holds a quote that made me pause and consider it, both in the context of the story and in the context of my own life. She has such a talent with relating Greek myth to modern lives in subtle but clever ways. What's it About? A breathtaking story of love and vengeance through the eyes of ancient Greece’s most notorious heroine. What I love most about this novel is the nuance given to Clytemnestra. She could easily have been presented as conniving, or a bitter woman scorned one time too many. She is both of these things, but she’s also fierce and strong and resilient. She is an excellent, dedicated mother, and a brilliant queen. She is a woman of dimension, depth, facets. I deeply appreciated the fact that we were given so much of her childhood in the narrative. Spartan girls experience life in far different ways than other Greek girls. Clytemnestra and Helen and their sisters grew up fighting and sparring everyday, with weapons and without. Bouts were brutal, sometimes delivering broken bones or even death, but always, at the very least, resulting in bruises and blood spilt. This is the childhood that shaped Clytemnestra. Clytemnestra is a new look at rhe Helen of Troy myth and instead of focusing on the boring Helen, we instead focus on her lesser known sister, Clytemnestra and her struggles through life cleaning up her sisters mess along with the rest of her family. Casati takes the Greek myth, removes the gods and divine intervention to humanize the story and it truly works. Casati truly breaks down Clytemnestra character and why she is one of the fiercest warrior queen's and mother's in the Greek mythos. I'm already planning a re-read of it and will be purchasing the hard copy version when it is eventually released.. Please do not change the cover. It is PERFECT!