the penelopiad — Blog

And suddenly winter ends and spring begins. I welcome the sun and the warmth and the new blooms 🌻

August Wrap Up

What a wonderful week of reading August has been! I don’t usually read this many books in a month but when I have to get some read for NetGalley or for work, it really ups the number. Even better, I enjoyed every book I read this month. It was a mixed bag of fantasy, retellings, sci-fi and non-fiction and I think that helped keep me reading.

The first book I finished in August was Red Rising by Pierce Brown. Red Rising is a book that I have had on my shelf for yours (actually, the whole original trilogy has been on my shelf for years), and I am kicking myself that I didn’t pick it up sooner! Darrow is a sixteen-year-old Helldriver of his mining colony of Mars. As a Red, Darrow is of the lowest caste in his society which is not only colour coded, but has expanded throughout space to live on the Moon, Venus, Mercury and Mars. When Darrow and his wife (they marry young and die young in the mines of Mars) stumble upon a secret, Darrow’s life alters completely and he is sent on a mission to infiltrate the highest of their society, the Golds. It’s a brilliant sci-fi novel, and the way I’ve been describing it is, think the Roman Empire on Mars but throw in The Hunger Games. Brilliantly written and so unique, this book surprised me and was my favourite read of the month! The whole incorporation of Ancient Roman values, customs and social hierarchy reimagined in a science fiction landscape blew my mind.

★★★★☆ (I was provided this ARC for a review from St. Martin’s Press)

My second read was The Real Valkyrie: The Hidden History of Viking Warrior Women by Nancy Marie Brown. This was such a great read because not only was it really well written, but it was a mix of archaeological and literary evidence and historical fiction. For hundreds of years, a particular burial found in Birka has been called the ultimate Viking warrior burial due to its placement close to the Warriors Hall, and large stone left atop it and the grave goods deposited with the body. However, in 2017, DNA testing on the body in burial Bj581 declared that this ultimate Viking warrior is actually a woman, and it sent shockwaves through the Viking scholars. How could it possibly be a woman when everyone knows Viking warriors were men? In Nancy’s book, she battles against the misogyny and bias prevalent in Viking studies since the Victorian Age, when they changed the history of the Vikings to emulate their social beliefs, that is, they put the Viking women in the household where they thought they belonged. Nancy’s book delves into the ample archaeological and literary record for female Vikings and Valkyries, and sheds light onto the many Viking warrior women in history that have been forgotten, using the body of burial Bj581 (who she names Hervor) as a basis for her book. I would recommend this read to anyone looking to learn about the Viking Age, and anyone who likes disrupting the patriarchy. If this sounds like something you want to read, then be sure to keep your eyes out for my interview with Nancy Marie Brown, coming to World History Encyclopedia very soon!

★★★★☆ (I was provided with this ARC for a review from Netgalley)

Book number three was another non-fiction (I know, two non-fiction reads in a row!? How unlike me!) Sex and Sexuality in Ancient Rome by LJ Trafford travels through the intricate and somewhat scandalous history of sex in Ancient Rome from the perfect virtuous man and the ideal chaste woman, to how to find a woman and who you are and are not meant to be seen fondling in the forum. This whistlestop tour of sexuality in Rome is an incredibly entertaining read, and Trafford uses colloquial language and brilliant case studies from Ancient Rome as examples of the debauchery taking place 2,000 years ago. Not to mention, Trafford takes it upon herself to tell us all about the sexual exploits of the most well-known figures from Ancient Rome, and she does all this with ample evidence (both textual and archaeological). In short, Trafford answers everything you have ever wanted (and really not wanted) to know about sex and sexuality in Ancient Rome! So, if you’re a lover of Ancient Rome, or you want to read about all of the scandalous things the rulers of this great empire got up to in their spare time, then this is the book for you! I adored it, and I think it was the quickest I have ever read a non-fiction book.

The fourth book I read this month was the YA Fantasy These Hollow Vows by Lexi Ryan. I read this book and annotated it for a book swap with Lumé and I ended up really enjoying it. The best way I can describe it is A Court of Thorns and Roses, crossed with Twilight crossed The Mortal Instruments crossed with the Bachelor which I know sounds insane but it was a really enjoyable read. Abriella and her sister Jaslyn are mortals who pretty much live as slaves to her cousins after the death of their mother, and the only light in Brie’s life is her sister and the hottie Sebastian who is training under the Mage who lives next door. When Jas is sold to the Unseelie King, Brie has to head into the land of the Fae to try and get her back. Prince Ronan of the Seelie Court is looking for a mortal bride, so the only way to get to her sister is to pretend to be interested in being Prince Ronan’s wife. She ends up in the middle of an Unseelie band of misfits who have their own agenda and reasons for helping Brie, not to mention their attractive Fae leader Finn. Stuck between the Seelie and Unseelie courts with a power she doesn’t really understand, Brie must stay alive and steel her heart against what needs to be done to save her sister. Out of this book, you’re going to get an easy, enjoyable read with a love triangle, magic, beasts, rival fae courts and a bit of fae politics in the middle of all that. I wouldn’t say it’s anything entirely unique but it’s definitely an enjoyable read!

My final read for the month was The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood. This short novel is a retelling of The Odyssey from the point of view of Penelope (the wife of Odysseus) and the twelve maids who are hung in book 22. The story is told by Penelope who is dead, and in Asphodel in the modern-day. She retells her life from her childhood and her parents, to her marriage and the 20 lonely years while Odysseus was fighting in the Trojan War and making his long way home. Interjected into her tale is commentary by the twelve maids, who acted like a tragic theatre chorus. Their sections were written in many different forms like poetry, amock trial and an essay. It was a fascinating read, and Atwood has written it in such a way that there are so many layers to unravel. Penelope isn’t the subservient wife like she was in life, and she aims criticism as Odysseus, Telemachus and Helen primarily (although I didn’t much care for the way she talked about her cousin). My thoughts on this book are very conflicting, and chatting to some lovely people over on my Instagram about the choices Atwood made in this retelling proved just how nuanced and layered it is. Although it doesn’t add much to the overall story of Penelope, it is an interesting take on her character, as she reflects over two thousand years after her death.

September Hopefuls

August was a bit of an anomaly for me, I am a slow reader and I often only read on the weekends. I can’t see myself reading five books again this month, but these are the books I hope to either finish, or at least make a good dent in. First is Egyptian Mythology: A Traveler's Guide from Aswan to Alexandria: A Traveler's Guide from Aswan to Alexandria by Garry Shaw. This is non-fiction and I am really enjoying it. I’m about three chapters in and I really hope I can finish it this month. Next, I’d like to finish Assassins Apprentice by Robin Hobb which I neglected this month. I’m about halfway through so I can definitely see myself finishing it this month! I have reinstated my audible subscription (yay!) because I was really missing audiobooks, and what I was so excited to see available was A Touch of Malice by Scarlett St. Clair. I know I’ll finish it this month, because those books are SO addictive! I think I might try and pick up The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows as part of @crestfallenpages book club! I also have a non-fiction sitting on my NetGalley shelf The Greeks: A Global History by Roderick Beaton which I should really read, so maybe I’ll get cracking on that one too this month. Who knows! So many books, so little time. What are you most excited to read this month? Let me know in the comments!

★★★☆☆ I enjoyed this one, but also had a few issues with it… Trigger warning - mention of hanging and r*pe.

What’s the book about?

The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood is a retelling of the life of Penelope, and the fate of the 12 maids from The Odyssey. In this contemporary tale, Atwood delves into the question of why were the twelve maids hanged and what led up to their fate? The story is told primarily from the perspective of Penelope, dead in the underworld, retelling her life on earth with interjecting sections from the point of view of the maids. These interjecting sections are told in a number of different forms including poetry, a trial, a play and a love song. Penelope’s tale takes us from her birth, childhood and marriage to Odysseus, through her 20 lonely years to her life after Odysseus returned and her afterlife. Atwood has filled in the gaps with how she believes Penelope may have been acting and what she may have been feeling throughout her life, and while using the maids as a sort of tragic chorus, commentating on their lives, Penelope and their hanging.

My Thoughts about the book

Like I said at the beginning, I definitely enjoyed reading this, but there were a couple of things that caused the loss of two stars in my rating. In its essence, this is The Odyssey retold from the point of view of Penelope, and the twelve maids who were hanged in the tale. I had really high hopes for this book but I was slightly underwhelmed. I think I am partially to be blamed for this because there really isn’t that much to work with from Penelope’s point of view from ancient texts, with her letter in Ovid’s Heroides as the only one that comes to mind. What we get is a retelling of the tale of the Odyssey from Penelope who is dead, and she isn’t as much of a subservient wife as she was on earth.

She aims much of her criticism at Odysseus, Telemachus and Helen. While I think that Odysseus and Telemachus deserve the way Penelope described them (especially Telemachus who is rude and disrespectful), for a feminist retelling, I was incredibly surprised with the depiction of Helen. Penelope did not hold back with her scathing remarks about her vain, attention-loving, husband deserting cousin, and I found it truly unbelievable in a contemporary retelling. That is the kind of stance on Helen that I am used to reading in myths from antiquity, because as a woman in the 21st century reading The Odyssey and any other myth relating to the abduction of Helen by Paris of Troy, I firmly believe she was damned if she did and damned if she didn’t. So, we have Penelope reminiscing on her life, with Atwood making some speculations about how she may have reacted in some situations which felt a bit forced and unbelievable. But overall, I liked Atwood’s attempt at reconstructing how Penelope may have lived without her husband for 20 years.

However, this wasn't purely focussed on Penelope and her newfound boldness in death, but also on the fate of the twelve maids who were hung in book 22 of The Odyssey. I really loved many of the sections from the point of view of the maids, they were poignant and gut-wrenching, and the use of different forms like poetry and play format added to the tragedy. I also loved the idea of the maids being like the chorus of a Greek tragedy, adding in their commentary. It added an extra dynamic to what would have been a fairly dull and speculative story. The hanging of the twelve maids in The Odyssey often comes as a bit of a shock, and prior to their deaths, they are made to clean up the carnage left after Odysseus had killed all of the suitors that were eating him out of house and home. The women were killed because they had betrayed Odysseus by sleeping with the suitors without his permission (their master who had been gone for 20 years). Atwood makes it explicit that it was r*pe, and these women had absolutely no choice in the matter (but apparently Helen did???), and continuously questions the reason for their deaths. They haunt Odysseus. He deserves to be haunted.

Many times whilst I was reading this, I noted that it felt like a modern commentary of the ancient story which was supported by Atwood’s use of modern language and having Penelope dead, in the present. She makes many comments about modern physics and spirits using telephone wires to travel and things like this which were quite jarring. I liked that Atwood highlighted the evolving beliefs and rituals attributed to the afterlife, which could also be said about the view of women in general, but I felt she took it a bit too far that it felt disconnected from the overall story. So, as you can see, I have conflicting thoughts over this, but overall it is an interesting take on The Odyssey, from the point of view of Penelope and the twelve maids. Have you read this? I would love to hear your thoughts either in the comments or over on my Instagram @kell_read!