Circe ♥ Madeline Miller

Published April 2018 ♥ Published by Little, Brown and Company

Circe Review

Circe by Madeline Miller is beautiful.  Truly & utterly beautiful – but it’s also so very dull. In Greek Mythology, Circe is the daughter of Helios and Perse, a minor goddess and witch who would transform those who wronged her into animals. Miller’s portrayal of Circe didn’t align with how I remembered the goddess. So I did a bit of research because, well, why not?

Girl’s got to get that knowledge.

Miller has the most significant Circe events depicted in her book, but strays from original source material; Homer’s Odyssey for example. And it’s not that Miller’s version is wrong – but her portrayal of Circe’s responses and actions surrounding and following these events isn’t the most accurate, not in my opinion anyway. Miller’s entire tale is told through the golden eyes of Circe. But with Hermes’ help & Athena’s wisdom, Odysseus didn’t seduce Circe, he used moly to protect himself and free his men from Circe’s sty.

Odysseus tricked Circe.

Even Miller’s description of Scylla was too romantic and origin story not quite right.  Scylla was one of the world’s most vicious monsters – and yet I didn’t feel any of that.  Circe was portrayed as this wronged woman in love. Yet she wasn’t wronged, she was vengeful and petty. Fueled by jealousy because Glaucus loved Scylla and not her.

Miller downplays Circe’s power and beauty – preferring to have her as a quiet, timid little mouse unsure of herself or her abilities.  She was an enchantress – beautiful and intelligent, not nervous and gullible.  She was arguably one of the world’s first feminists.  And yet Miller portrays her as a vulnerable child.  Even when Miller has Circe ‘come into her powers‘ – it wasn’t enough.  There were too many romantic notions of this frail wisp of a thing just wandering an island picking flowers. 

Despite all of this, it was still a beautiful story.  It just doesn’t align with how I envision Circe.  And that’s alright.  I can still appreciate the amount of heart and soul Miller poured into this novel.  It was indeed a beautiful story.  The writing was terrific, and I’m excited to see what Miller has come up with in terms of the Song of Achilles.