Book Review: Circe by Madeline Miller

Photo Courtesy of Goodreads

Photo Courtesy of Goodreads

Angelina Payz-Peña, Contributor

This week, New York Times Bestselling Author Madeline Miller, captivates me once again with her 385-page Greek Mythology novel. After being introduced to the book “The Song of Achilles” this past summer, I became a fan of Miller’s poetic messages and the adventures in the mythological stories. That being said,  I was not surprised that Circe became just as popular and left me wanting even more than before. 

In Circe, the reader follows the daughter of the god of the sun and an ocean nymph, and her struggle with the indifference she faces from her family members. Circe seems to be capable of nothing until she falls in love with a mortal. 

Transforming her lover into a god to be able to finally be together, he jilts towards someone new, leaving Circe upset and with no choice but to find a way to prove the worst of his new lover.  

Owning up to her actions, she’s revealed what she is capable of. A goddess of sorcery, skilled in the magic of transmutation, illusion, and necromancy. She then is sent away in exile by Zeus, and while I always find myself troubled by selfish characters, I cried angry tears for Circe, she truly had no one there. Reading her POV of the left feelings of everything thrown at her Im left with the lesson of how people can hurt you but you must move on.

Throughout this book, we follow Circe’s divine journey from dependence to defiance. This novel has inspired me to take the journey, embrace the scars, survive, and explore what’s outside but more importantly inside.