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Clytemnestra
ŷ Choice Award
Nominee for Readers' Favorite Fantasy (2023)For fans of Madeline Miller's Circe, a stunning debut following Clytemnestra, the most notorious villainess of the ancient world and the events that forged her into the legendary queen.
As for queens, they are either hated or forgotten. She already knows which option suits her best...
You were born to a king, but you marry a tyrant. You stand by helplessly as he sacrifices your child to placate the gods. You watch him wage war on a foreign shore, and you comfort yourself with violent thoughts of your own. Because this was not the first offence against you. This was not the life you ever deserved. And this will not be your undoing. Slowly, you plot.
But when your husband returns in triumph, you become a woman with a choice.
Acceptance or vengeance, infamy follows both. So, you bide your time and force the gods' hands in the game of retribution. For you understood something long ago that the others never did.
If power isn't given to you, you have to take it for yourself.
A blazing novel set in the world of Ancient Greece for fans of Jennifer Saint and Natalie Haynes, this is a thrilling tale of power and prophecies, of hatred, love, and of an unforgettable Queen who fiercely dealt out death to those who wronged her.
As for queens, they are either hated or forgotten. She already knows which option suits her best...
You were born to a king, but you marry a tyrant. You stand by helplessly as he sacrifices your child to placate the gods. You watch him wage war on a foreign shore, and you comfort yourself with violent thoughts of your own. Because this was not the first offence against you. This was not the life you ever deserved. And this will not be your undoing. Slowly, you plot.
But when your husband returns in triumph, you become a woman with a choice.
Acceptance or vengeance, infamy follows both. So, you bide your time and force the gods' hands in the game of retribution. For you understood something long ago that the others never did.
If power isn't given to you, you have to take it for yourself.
A blazing novel set in the world of Ancient Greece for fans of Jennifer Saint and Natalie Haynes, this is a thrilling tale of power and prophecies, of hatred, love, and of an unforgettable Queen who fiercely dealt out death to those who wronged her.
435 pages, Hardcover
First published May 2, 2023
4,296 people are currently reading
223k people want to read
About the author
Costanza Casati
4books1,921followersCostanza Casati was born in Texas and grew up in a village in Northern Italy, where she studied Ancient Greek, and Ancient Greek literature, under one of the country’s most rigorous academic programmes. She is a graduate of the Warwick Writing MA in the UK, and has worked as a screenwriter and journalist. Her debut novel, Clytemnestra, has sold into 18 territories worldwide, was the winner of the Glass Bell Award, an Indie Next Pick and a nominee for Best Fantasy in the ŷ Choice Awards. Babylonia, her second novel, was an instant Sunday Times bestseller.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 6,920 reviews
May 12, 2023
4.5⭐️
“There will come a time when songs are sung about her, about the people she loved and the ones she hated. They will sing of her mother, the queen seduced by a god, of her brothers, boxers and horse-breakers, of her sister, a woman so vain who couldn’t stay in her husband’s bed, of Agamemnon, the proud lion of Mycenae, of the wise, many-minded Odysseus, of the treacherous, cursed Aegisthus, of Clytemnestra, cruel queen and unfaithful wife. But it doesn’t matter. She was there. She knows songs never tell the truth.�
Daughter of King Tyndareus of Sparta and his Queen Leda, the sister of Helen, and ultimately the murderous Queen of Mycenae who killed her husband Agamemnon, Clytemnestra has always been a lesser known character in comparison to her sister, and what we do know of her is in the context of her scheming and ultimately successfully executing her plan to murder her husband after he returns home after the victory at the Battle of Troy.
In her debut novel, Contanza Casati explores this character in depth. The narrative follows Clytemnestra from her early life as a Princess of Sparta, her relationship with her siblings, her subsequent marriage to her first husband and the tragic events that lead to her marriage to Agamemnon and her life as his wife and mother to his children and the events that follow. The author allows us to understand the vilified Queen and her motivations, her convictions and how the people and significant events in her life shaped her into evolving into the fierce and vengeful character she is known to be. Clytemnestra is a complex character. Raised with the training of a warrior yet having to live her life according to the whims and wishes of her tyrannical father and brutish husband, she endures and perseveres and waits for the right moment to assert herself. She endures much abuse, loss and grief, including the senseless murder of her first husband and infant son. But when her daughter is sacrificed in the name of war, Clytemnestra’s rage knows no bounds and she knows what she has to do.
“Gods do not care about us. They have other concerns. That is why you should never live in the shadow of their anger. It is men you must fear. It is men who will be angry with you if you rise too high, if you are too much loved. The stronger you are, the more they will try to take you down.�
The author does a magnificent job of crafting a solid narrative around this central figure. In the course of the story, we meet several prominent characters from the Greek myths such as Helen of Troy and Odysseus among others. Most of these characters are explored/alluded to in the context of their interactions/connection to Clytemnestra’s story, and at no point does the narrative lose focus. Clytemnestra’s anguish, her pain and her need for vengeance are palpable. The pace does falter slightly in the middle of the narrative while chronicling the years Clytemnestra waits for the Battle of Troy to end while she rules over Mycenae with a firm hand, but not so much that you lose interest in the story. I particularly liked how the author chose to end the novel keeping it open-ended yet entirely satisfying. The author provides family trees at the beginning of the novel and a glossary of terms at the end, both of which are helpful resources.
Clytemnestra by Constanza Casati is a powerful debut. Well-structured and written in elegant prose with a fluid narrative, this novel is a joy to read. With strong feminist overtones, this story is both brutal and compelling. Though the author does not resort to any form of exaggerated sentimentality, it is impossible to remain unaffected by Clytemnestra's story. I would not hesitate to recommend this novel to fans of Greek mythology and feminist retellings/reimaginings. I look forward to reading more from this talented new author.
I paired my reading with the excellent audio narration by Olivia Vinall which truly enhanced my experience.
“Every day you try to forget, but at night you dream of the past. This is what dreams are for. To make us remember what we were, to tie us down to our memories, whether we like it or not.�
**Please note that there a multiple instances of violence against women.
Connect with me!
“There will come a time when songs are sung about her, about the people she loved and the ones she hated. They will sing of her mother, the queen seduced by a god, of her brothers, boxers and horse-breakers, of her sister, a woman so vain who couldn’t stay in her husband’s bed, of Agamemnon, the proud lion of Mycenae, of the wise, many-minded Odysseus, of the treacherous, cursed Aegisthus, of Clytemnestra, cruel queen and unfaithful wife. But it doesn’t matter. She was there. She knows songs never tell the truth.�
Daughter of King Tyndareus of Sparta and his Queen Leda, the sister of Helen, and ultimately the murderous Queen of Mycenae who killed her husband Agamemnon, Clytemnestra has always been a lesser known character in comparison to her sister, and what we do know of her is in the context of her scheming and ultimately successfully executing her plan to murder her husband after he returns home after the victory at the Battle of Troy.
In her debut novel, Contanza Casati explores this character in depth. The narrative follows Clytemnestra from her early life as a Princess of Sparta, her relationship with her siblings, her subsequent marriage to her first husband and the tragic events that lead to her marriage to Agamemnon and her life as his wife and mother to his children and the events that follow. The author allows us to understand the vilified Queen and her motivations, her convictions and how the people and significant events in her life shaped her into evolving into the fierce and vengeful character she is known to be. Clytemnestra is a complex character. Raised with the training of a warrior yet having to live her life according to the whims and wishes of her tyrannical father and brutish husband, she endures and perseveres and waits for the right moment to assert herself. She endures much abuse, loss and grief, including the senseless murder of her first husband and infant son. But when her daughter is sacrificed in the name of war, Clytemnestra’s rage knows no bounds and she knows what she has to do.
“Gods do not care about us. They have other concerns. That is why you should never live in the shadow of their anger. It is men you must fear. It is men who will be angry with you if you rise too high, if you are too much loved. The stronger you are, the more they will try to take you down.�
The author does a magnificent job of crafting a solid narrative around this central figure. In the course of the story, we meet several prominent characters from the Greek myths such as Helen of Troy and Odysseus among others. Most of these characters are explored/alluded to in the context of their interactions/connection to Clytemnestra’s story, and at no point does the narrative lose focus. Clytemnestra’s anguish, her pain and her need for vengeance are palpable. The pace does falter slightly in the middle of the narrative while chronicling the years Clytemnestra waits for the Battle of Troy to end while she rules over Mycenae with a firm hand, but not so much that you lose interest in the story. I particularly liked how the author chose to end the novel keeping it open-ended yet entirely satisfying. The author provides family trees at the beginning of the novel and a glossary of terms at the end, both of which are helpful resources.
Clytemnestra by Constanza Casati is a powerful debut. Well-structured and written in elegant prose with a fluid narrative, this novel is a joy to read. With strong feminist overtones, this story is both brutal and compelling. Though the author does not resort to any form of exaggerated sentimentality, it is impossible to remain unaffected by Clytemnestra's story. I would not hesitate to recommend this novel to fans of Greek mythology and feminist retellings/reimaginings. I look forward to reading more from this talented new author.
I paired my reading with the excellent audio narration by Olivia Vinall which truly enhanced my experience.
“Every day you try to forget, but at night you dream of the past. This is what dreams are for. To make us remember what we were, to tie us down to our memories, whether we like it or not.�
**Please note that there a multiple instances of violence against women.
Connect with me!
February 2, 2023
This well written take on Greek mythology follows Clytemnestra, the daughter of the Spartan king and the wife of Agamemnon. Other than reading Circe, by Madeline Miller, it’s been ages since I read up on any Greek mythology. The names were familiar but the stories had faded in my memory. This book does a fabulous job of taking the reader to the time and place and bringing all the stories alive.
Spartan women were raised to be warriors and to fight. Clytemnestra was one of the strongest and thus, Agamemnon was determined to have her. He enlists her father’s help to kill her first husband and baby son. From then on, she lives for revenge. This is a woman who was prepared to wait to get even; she could have created the phrase that revenge is a dish best served cold. Agamemnon continues to give her reasons to hate him. Casati did such an excellent job making Clytemnestra come across as a living, breathing woman, I wanted revenge for her as much as she did. The myths about Clytemnestra speak of what she does. This book provides the reasoning for her actions. While she is despised in the myths, here she is a sympathetic character (at least to me).
This book doesn’t read like a debut novel. It is polished and taut. For a book with almost 450 pages, it read quickly.
My thanks to Netgalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for an advance copy of this book.
Spartan women were raised to be warriors and to fight. Clytemnestra was one of the strongest and thus, Agamemnon was determined to have her. He enlists her father’s help to kill her first husband and baby son. From then on, she lives for revenge. This is a woman who was prepared to wait to get even; she could have created the phrase that revenge is a dish best served cold. Agamemnon continues to give her reasons to hate him. Casati did such an excellent job making Clytemnestra come across as a living, breathing woman, I wanted revenge for her as much as she did. The myths about Clytemnestra speak of what she does. This book provides the reasoning for her actions. While she is despised in the myths, here she is a sympathetic character (at least to me).
This book doesn’t read like a debut novel. It is polished and taut. For a book with almost 450 pages, it read quickly.
My thanks to Netgalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for an advance copy of this book.
November 10, 2023
Humanises the long suffering, murderous Queen of Mycenae and follows the events in her life that shaped her into the fierce, powerful and vengeful, legendary Clytemnestra. This was an epic debut novel, watch out for Costanza Casati!
August 28, 2024
I found this retelling of Greek mythology quite engaging. It is full of pain, violence, betrayal, and rage, but somehow it felt like a pleasant summer read. Summer seems like a good time to (re)visit some of the Greek myths.
Although Clytemnestra's story is at the heart of this novel, other actors are also vividly portrayed. We have a fascinating cast of characters: Penelope and Odysseus, Timandra and Helen, Castor and Pollux, Electra and Orestes, Atreus and Thyestes, Menelaus and Agamemnon.
Clytemnestra was born to Tyndareus and Leda, the king and queen of Sparta. She grew up to be strong, determined, and defiant. She married a man she fell in love with� If you are familiar with Greek mythology, you probably know what fate has in store for our heroine.
As Clytemnestra looks forward to a happy life with her husband, something sinister infiltrates the palace in Sparta and begins to gain momentum.
Clytemnestra has a dashingly beautiful sister Helen. Menelaus of Mycenae wants to marry her, and who wouldn't? Many Greek rulers and heroes see Helen as a prize to be won.
Menelaus arrives in Sparta to participate in a sort of conquest when Helen has to choose a husband.
Agamemnon comes along with his brother. He also longs to marry one of the daughters of the Spartan king. He is attracted to Clytemnestra and makes up his mind to take her as his wife. She is not like other women. Her charisma and independent attitude fascinate him.
Agamemnon does not care that she already has a husband.
He is one of those vain and self-centered men who does not understand that "no" means "no." In this he is no different from many other of his male contemporaries, including Zeus.
Agamemnon has no qualms about being cruel when cruelty is convenient for him.
To achieve his treacherous goals, Agamemnon needs an ally. He finds one in Clytemnestra's father. The king of Sparta agrees to lend his hand to a conspiracy, even though it targets his little grandson. He is blinded by pride or, should I say, by an illusion.
Tragedy looms, and Clytemnestra's life is about to take a terrible turn.
Costanza Casati offers a fresh perspective on the ancient tale. She invites the reader to think about what Clytemnestra's thoughts and feelings might have been like and what made her who she was.
The author puts a modern spin on this mythological story by rewriting some of its chapters. We can walk away from this novel reflecting on things like intergenerational trauma and how it affects people, sometimes making them hostages to their family history.
At the same time, the book manages to convey an atmosphere of ancient Greece. We can imagine ourselves in the royal palace in Mycenae, cold despite the sun shining outside, or watching helots working in the fields in Sparta on a windy day.
Clytemnestra comes across as a strong woman. Her desire for revenge and her fury have deep roots in her life experience. She was betrayed by her father and forced to marry the very same man who killed her loved ones. Told in a couple of sentences, it may sound beyond the pale, but in the realm of Greek mythology anything is possible.
Clytemnestra seems to survive and maintain her sanity only because she looks to avenge her losses.
She does not have a victim mentality. She acts to shape her future, for better or for worse. She can be ruthless according to the norms of her time. Clytemnestra must learn to channel her anger into strength.
Agamemnon deserves his fate, even if his sin would only have been to sacrifice the life of his own daughter, the beautiful Ifigenia.
Tyndareus may have loved his indomitable daughter as far as he is capable of loving anyone but himself and his power. He may have felt proud of Clytemnestra's strength and savvy, but he comes to betray her because he considers himself superior, as a man, a king, and a father.
Helen is a people-pleaser who has made a wrong choice by selecting the wrong men twice. Her rash decision ultimately leads to countless deaths. However, Helen may have some redeeming qualities, and it is not her alleged beauty.
Electra, the daughter of Clytemnestra and Agamemnon, is reclusive, jealous, and traumatized by the dynamics in her family. Who would not be in her place?
Most of the characters can be blamed for something. They are cruel, arrogant, power-thirsty, envious, lustful, insensitive to the feelings of others, vindictive, and careless. They make choices that ruin others and/or prove self-destructive. They allow themselves to get carried away with their ambitions, whims, and they follow ill-conceived advice.
Even Tantalus, the unfortunate first husband of Clytemnestra and victim of the conspiracy, had a choice. He could at least have carried the sword on that fateful day. He could have taken precautions to avoid the trap.
In Greek tragedy, hubris and cruel selfishness are often followed by a nemesis. The shape of that nemesis can be very different and unexpected.
People make choices and live with their mistakes, which reverberate for generations.
Past experiences, environment, and various situational factors influence choices. Furthermore, the gods and goddesses on Olympus do not like it when mortals are happy and peaceful. They prefer them to be suffering and fighting each other.
As the old saying goes, whom the gods wish to destroy, they first make mad... and, we could add, instill in their minds prejudices and hatred (against women, lower class people, neighbors, the other, you name it). Then humans would do the dirty work themselves.
This novel, like almost all authentic Greek tragedies, shows that violence only begets violence. An eye for an eye eventually leaves everyone blind. Vengeance, even when justified, is usually destructive.
The story of Clytemnestra is no exception. The author does not include her tragic end in the book. As a result, the story ends abruptly.
Casati does a good job polishing the image of Clytemnestra. Some of Clytemnestra's actions (e.g., her relationship with her son) seem embellished compared to the original myth. But are myths reliable? Should we believe them? Clytemnestra would warn us against being too gullible.
"She was there. She knows songs never tell the truth."
Although Clytemnestra's story is at the heart of this novel, other actors are also vividly portrayed. We have a fascinating cast of characters: Penelope and Odysseus, Timandra and Helen, Castor and Pollux, Electra and Orestes, Atreus and Thyestes, Menelaus and Agamemnon.
Clytemnestra was born to Tyndareus and Leda, the king and queen of Sparta. She grew up to be strong, determined, and defiant. She married a man she fell in love with� If you are familiar with Greek mythology, you probably know what fate has in store for our heroine.
As Clytemnestra looks forward to a happy life with her husband, something sinister infiltrates the palace in Sparta and begins to gain momentum.
Clytemnestra has a dashingly beautiful sister Helen. Menelaus of Mycenae wants to marry her, and who wouldn't? Many Greek rulers and heroes see Helen as a prize to be won.
Menelaus arrives in Sparta to participate in a sort of conquest when Helen has to choose a husband.
Agamemnon comes along with his brother. He also longs to marry one of the daughters of the Spartan king. He is attracted to Clytemnestra and makes up his mind to take her as his wife. She is not like other women. Her charisma and independent attitude fascinate him.
Agamemnon does not care that she already has a husband.
He is one of those vain and self-centered men who does not understand that "no" means "no." In this he is no different from many other of his male contemporaries, including Zeus.
Agamemnon has no qualms about being cruel when cruelty is convenient for him.
To achieve his treacherous goals, Agamemnon needs an ally. He finds one in Clytemnestra's father. The king of Sparta agrees to lend his hand to a conspiracy, even though it targets his little grandson. He is blinded by pride or, should I say, by an illusion.
Tragedy looms, and Clytemnestra's life is about to take a terrible turn.
Costanza Casati offers a fresh perspective on the ancient tale. She invites the reader to think about what Clytemnestra's thoughts and feelings might have been like and what made her who she was.
The author puts a modern spin on this mythological story by rewriting some of its chapters. We can walk away from this novel reflecting on things like intergenerational trauma and how it affects people, sometimes making them hostages to their family history.
At the same time, the book manages to convey an atmosphere of ancient Greece. We can imagine ourselves in the royal palace in Mycenae, cold despite the sun shining outside, or watching helots working in the fields in Sparta on a windy day.
Clytemnestra comes across as a strong woman. Her desire for revenge and her fury have deep roots in her life experience. She was betrayed by her father and forced to marry the very same man who killed her loved ones. Told in a couple of sentences, it may sound beyond the pale, but in the realm of Greek mythology anything is possible.
Clytemnestra seems to survive and maintain her sanity only because she looks to avenge her losses.
She does not have a victim mentality. She acts to shape her future, for better or for worse. She can be ruthless according to the norms of her time. Clytemnestra must learn to channel her anger into strength.
Agamemnon deserves his fate, even if his sin would only have been to sacrifice the life of his own daughter, the beautiful Ifigenia.
Tyndareus may have loved his indomitable daughter as far as he is capable of loving anyone but himself and his power. He may have felt proud of Clytemnestra's strength and savvy, but he comes to betray her because he considers himself superior, as a man, a king, and a father.
Helen is a people-pleaser who has made a wrong choice by selecting the wrong men twice. Her rash decision ultimately leads to countless deaths. However, Helen may have some redeeming qualities, and it is not her alleged beauty.
Electra, the daughter of Clytemnestra and Agamemnon, is reclusive, jealous, and traumatized by the dynamics in her family. Who would not be in her place?
Most of the characters can be blamed for something. They are cruel, arrogant, power-thirsty, envious, lustful, insensitive to the feelings of others, vindictive, and careless. They make choices that ruin others and/or prove self-destructive. They allow themselves to get carried away with their ambitions, whims, and they follow ill-conceived advice.
Even Tantalus, the unfortunate first husband of Clytemnestra and victim of the conspiracy, had a choice. He could at least have carried the sword on that fateful day. He could have taken precautions to avoid the trap.
In Greek tragedy, hubris and cruel selfishness are often followed by a nemesis. The shape of that nemesis can be very different and unexpected.
People make choices and live with their mistakes, which reverberate for generations.
Past experiences, environment, and various situational factors influence choices. Furthermore, the gods and goddesses on Olympus do not like it when mortals are happy and peaceful. They prefer them to be suffering and fighting each other.
As the old saying goes, whom the gods wish to destroy, they first make mad... and, we could add, instill in their minds prejudices and hatred (against women, lower class people, neighbors, the other, you name it). Then humans would do the dirty work themselves.
This novel, like almost all authentic Greek tragedies, shows that violence only begets violence. An eye for an eye eventually leaves everyone blind. Vengeance, even when justified, is usually destructive.
The story of Clytemnestra is no exception. The author does not include her tragic end in the book. As a result, the story ends abruptly.
Casati does a good job polishing the image of Clytemnestra. Some of Clytemnestra's actions (e.g., her relationship with her son) seem embellished compared to the original myth. But are myths reliable? Should we believe them? Clytemnestra would warn us against being too gullible.
"She was there. She knows songs never tell the truth."
June 7, 2023
“She will bow to no one. Her destiny will be what she wants it to be.�
This book was so good! This is a beautiful and heartbreaking story about love, grief, revenge, and power. Clytemnestra is the daughter of Leda and Tyndareus, the king of Sparta. Clytemnestra marries Tantalus, the king of Maeonia whom she loves, but then she is taken by Agamemnon and faces much loss. Then Clytemnestra must decide whether to forgive or to find vengeance for those who wronged her.
I was completely immersed in this beautiful story from the very first page. The pacing was perfect, although the pacing slowed down in the middle. I love Clytemnestra, she is resilient, fierce, strong, brave, stubborn, and will do anything to protect the people she loves. Clytemnestra is complex and relatable, she faced so many challenges and hardships that shaped her character in several ways. I also loved Tantalus, he is sweet, brave, loving, strong, and protective. I really liked Clytemnestra's sister Helen, her brother Castor, and sister Timandra, they each had their own unique personalities. The writing and story telling in this book was excellent. The writing is descriptive and the characters were crafted so well. I loved that we learned about Clytemnestra's story from her own perspective, it was so powerful and real. The character development was great, there were many sides to the characters especially Clytemnestra and Agamemnon. I appreciated that we saw many perspectives to the stories told in this book. It showed me that a story or event can change depending on who tells the story. I loved that women are shown as strong and resilient in this book. This book will stay in my heart for a long time.
This book was so good! This is a beautiful and heartbreaking story about love, grief, revenge, and power. Clytemnestra is the daughter of Leda and Tyndareus, the king of Sparta. Clytemnestra marries Tantalus, the king of Maeonia whom she loves, but then she is taken by Agamemnon and faces much loss. Then Clytemnestra must decide whether to forgive or to find vengeance for those who wronged her.
I was completely immersed in this beautiful story from the very first page. The pacing was perfect, although the pacing slowed down in the middle. I love Clytemnestra, she is resilient, fierce, strong, brave, stubborn, and will do anything to protect the people she loves. Clytemnestra is complex and relatable, she faced so many challenges and hardships that shaped her character in several ways. I also loved Tantalus, he is sweet, brave, loving, strong, and protective. I really liked Clytemnestra's sister Helen, her brother Castor, and sister Timandra, they each had their own unique personalities. The writing and story telling in this book was excellent. The writing is descriptive and the characters were crafted so well. I loved that we learned about Clytemnestra's story from her own perspective, it was so powerful and real. The character development was great, there were many sides to the characters especially Clytemnestra and Agamemnon. I appreciated that we saw many perspectives to the stories told in this book. It showed me that a story or event can change depending on who tells the story. I loved that women are shown as strong and resilient in this book. This book will stay in my heart for a long time.
June 1, 2023
“Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned”� or a mother’s wrath.
Immortalized as the face that launched a thousand ships, Helen may have had the beauty, but her sister Clytemnestra possessed the brains, the cunning, and the true heart of a warrior.
Costanza Casati removes Clytemnestra from her sister Helen of Troy’s shadow and skillfully weaves together historical details, mythological elements, and psychological insights, breathing new life into a well-known tale.
Clytemnestra, Queen of Mycenae, is often regarded as one of Greek mythology’s greatest villains because she killed the husband that murdered two of her children.
While history remembers Clytemnestra as a notorious murderess, a ruthless woman burning with a need for vengeance, Casati reminds us that she was also a daughter, a sister, a wife, a mother, a queen. A survivor.
It is love that fuels her, along with her vengeance.
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.
Highly recommend for fans of mythological retellings and authors Madeline Miller, Jennifer Saint, and Natalie Haynes.
Immortalized as the face that launched a thousand ships, Helen may have had the beauty, but her sister Clytemnestra possessed the brains, the cunning, and the true heart of a warrior.
Costanza Casati removes Clytemnestra from her sister Helen of Troy’s shadow and skillfully weaves together historical details, mythological elements, and psychological insights, breathing new life into a well-known tale.
Clytemnestra, Queen of Mycenae, is often regarded as one of Greek mythology’s greatest villains because she killed the husband that murdered two of her children.
While history remembers Clytemnestra as a notorious murderess, a ruthless woman burning with a need for vengeance, Casati reminds us that she was also a daughter, a sister, a wife, a mother, a queen. A survivor.
It is love that fuels her, along with her vengeance.
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.
Highly recommend for fans of mythological retellings and authors Madeline Miller, Jennifer Saint, and Natalie Haynes.
March 3, 2024
DNF - 33%. For the record, I'm not a purist, nor a classics scholar, nor anti-feminist, and I was down for a revisionist and redemptive story arc for a woman who is largely reviled in Greek mythology. But. This is no : if Madeline Miller's writing is silk, Costanza Casati's is cheap polyester, and it...itches.
Clytemnestra, if you need a refresher (I did), was Agamemnon's wife during the whole Trojan mess; she took a lover while Agamemnon was away at war, and then they killed him when he returned a decade later.
Casati tries to make Clytemnestra more sympathetic by bringing in a first husband (Tantalus), an instalove romance in exactly 21 pages. I can't figure out why she chose the name Tantalus, possibly a reference to a son of Zeus in mythology, whose name gave rise to the word 'tantalizing' after he sacrificed a son to the gods and was punished by having to stand in water with fruit dangling above him, able to reach neither fruit nor water. Or, Wiki tells me that there's a historical Tantalus who is the great-great-grandfather of Agamemnon and Menelaus (how weird would it be to marry one guy, and then a few years later marry his great-great-grandson?).
There's also a strong whiff of #girlboss vibes as the book opens with Clytemnestra slaughtering a lynx, later wrestling like a proper Spartan girl, having a say in her family politics, and generally proving herself to be Not Like the Other Girls. She's an anachronistic ally to her lesbian sister (like, I don't think that's how sexuality worked in ancient Greece, but it has been two decades since my last classics class - a class provocatively titled 'Monsters, Barbarians, and Women'). Apart from the large-cat-killing and resentment about not making it into epic poetry like the bros, Casati's Clytemnestra comes across as strangely modern.
I could have blithely ignored all of this had I enjoyed the writing, but I find Casati's writing clunky and imprecise; it's actually hard for me to read because it's so distracting. The descriptions are frequently irrelevant and uninteresting, the figurative language is so odd that it yanks me out of the story, and to call the dialogue wooden would be an insult to trees (secondary vascular growth is fascinating and marvelous, and you can even tell different species apart by looking at wood cross sections under a microscope - true facts!). These gems are from my reading notes:
I'm just too old for this kind of redundancy.
How do you eat grapes in such a way that they stain your beard?? Grape flesh has clear juice; it's the skin that has pigments, and you'd really have to gnaw the skin and then rub it on your beard to get any kind of staining. ...Or you could just pop a whole grape into your mouth like a normal person.
I dunno what to even say about this one, or whether the jumbled similes or treacly sentimentality bothers me more.
See? Weird. It sounds like the warrior has vitiligo or something. Also, can something be 'scattered with twigs'? Shouldn't twigs be scattered in hair instead? And that's a lot of twigs. Even after a really rough field day scrambling through dense willow thickets, I rarely have more than two twigs in my hair.
tl;dr: poorly written, unnecessary retelling that doesn't add anything to the original story. No thank you.
Clytemnestra, if you need a refresher (I did), was Agamemnon's wife during the whole Trojan mess; she took a lover while Agamemnon was away at war, and then they killed him when he returned a decade later.
Casati tries to make Clytemnestra more sympathetic by bringing in a first husband (Tantalus), an instalove romance in exactly 21 pages. I can't figure out why she chose the name Tantalus, possibly a reference to a son of Zeus in mythology, whose name gave rise to the word 'tantalizing' after he sacrificed a son to the gods and was punished by having to stand in water with fruit dangling above him, able to reach neither fruit nor water. Or, Wiki tells me that there's a historical Tantalus who is the great-great-grandfather of Agamemnon and Menelaus (how weird would it be to marry one guy, and then a few years later marry his great-great-grandson?).
There's also a strong whiff of #girlboss vibes as the book opens with Clytemnestra slaughtering a lynx, later wrestling like a proper Spartan girl, having a say in her family politics, and generally proving herself to be Not Like the Other Girls. She's an anachronistic ally to her lesbian sister (like, I don't think that's how sexuality worked in ancient Greece, but it has been two decades since my last classics class - a class provocatively titled 'Monsters, Barbarians, and Women'). Apart from the large-cat-killing and resentment about not making it into epic poetry like the bros, Casati's Clytemnestra comes across as strangely modern.
I could have blithely ignored all of this had I enjoyed the writing, but I find Casati's writing clunky and imprecise; it's actually hard for me to read because it's so distracting. The descriptions are frequently irrelevant and uninteresting, the figurative language is so odd that it yanks me out of the story, and to call the dialogue wooden would be an insult to trees (secondary vascular growth is fascinating and marvelous, and you can even tell different species apart by looking at wood cross sections under a microscope - true facts!). These gems are from my reading notes:
His hair is as black as obsidian and his eyes turquoise, like the most precious gems.
I'm just too old for this kind of redundancy.
He is eating some grapes out of a bowl, juice staining his beard.
How do you eat grapes in such a way that they stain your beard?? Grape flesh has clear juice; it's the skin that has pigments, and you'd really have to gnaw the skin and then rub it on your beard to get any kind of staining. ...Or you could just pop a whole grape into your mouth like a normal person.
As he speaks, she is stricken by how wonderful and scary it is to hang on his every word and to wish she could listen to him forever. It is like jumping over the edge of a cliff and falling, her heart racing, yet always longing for more.
I dunno what to even say about this one, or whether the jumbled similes or treacly sentimentality bothers me more.
They climb to the peak, where the air is cold and wet and trees pierce the sky like spears. Clytemnestra stops to sit on a large rock, and Helen kneels at her side, her golden hair sweaty and scattered with twigs. From up there, the valley is brown and smooth, the patches of dry yellow land like scars on a warrior's back.
See? Weird. It sounds like the warrior has vitiligo or something. Also, can something be 'scattered with twigs'? Shouldn't twigs be scattered in hair instead? And that's a lot of twigs. Even after a really rough field day scrambling through dense willow thickets, I rarely have more than two twigs in my hair.
tl;dr: poorly written, unnecessary retelling that doesn't add anything to the original story. No thank you.
December 19, 2022
"Huntress. Warrior. Mother. Murderess. Queen." These are the many labels that can be applied to Clytemnestra, but to understand each one you must first be told her entire story and the suffering that featured throughout it.
I love me a powerful female protagonist and Clytemnestra proved herself to be one, very early on in the telling of this tale. There were time shifts throughout the novel, always following a tragedy that had befallen Clytemnestra. The reader got to see her at many different stages of her life but also, and most interestingly for me, how she altered when faced with differing losses, fears, and woes. She sometimes crumbled and sometimes hardened, but always fought her way through. She was a powerful woman in a world that didn't want her to be one, and so her lot in life was to never be provided with an easy path to her goals. Neither were the stories told about her willing to paint her in any sort of favourable light. This is her own story, in her own words, and even then the truths illuminated were harshly exposed.
I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to the author, Costanza Casati, and the publisher, Michael Joseph, for this opportunity.
I love me a powerful female protagonist and Clytemnestra proved herself to be one, very early on in the telling of this tale. There were time shifts throughout the novel, always following a tragedy that had befallen Clytemnestra. The reader got to see her at many different stages of her life but also, and most interestingly for me, how she altered when faced with differing losses, fears, and woes. She sometimes crumbled and sometimes hardened, but always fought her way through. She was a powerful woman in a world that didn't want her to be one, and so her lot in life was to never be provided with an easy path to her goals. Neither were the stories told about her willing to paint her in any sort of favourable light. This is her own story, in her own words, and even then the truths illuminated were harshly exposed.
I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to the author, Costanza Casati, and the publisher, Michael Joseph, for this opportunity.
February 19, 2023
I am enjoying this trend of taking women from Greek mythology and showing them in a new light. I did think this one was a little slow in the beginning and the lapses of time seemed to not develop growth in the characters, but overall I found this an enjoyable story. Clytemnestra was Spartan trained to fight from a young age and hardened into the tough woman that Sparta needed to continue to remain strong. Unfortunately the rest of the world saw women as property and Clytemnestra was betrayed over and over again. It was nice to see some familiar names in this story and also some I didn’t already know. It was also nice to read about Greek mythology without appearances by the gods. This story is about betrayal, revenge, power, and whether it is better to be forgotten or remembered for how much you were feared,
April 14, 2023
A Greek mythology retelling that puts a wronged, powerful woman hell-bent on revenge at centre stage? That’ll be a five stars from me. Circe holds a special place in my heart, but now Clytemnestra is right there with her.
Focusing on Clytemnestra’s life from child to mother and queen, this one is also the tale of the lead up to the Trojan War and is impressive in its vast knowledge and fulfilling inclusion of so many recognisable characters. The writing is beautiful and gripping, laced with that addictive, lyrical style that’s needed to make a mythology re-telling really hook you. Clytemnestra herself is the epitome of inspiring, flawed inner strength that comes from love, I was rooting for her from the first to last page. It’s a masterpiece.
Also, Agamemnon sucks Clytemnestra rules.
Focusing on Clytemnestra’s life from child to mother and queen, this one is also the tale of the lead up to the Trojan War and is impressive in its vast knowledge and fulfilling inclusion of so many recognisable characters. The writing is beautiful and gripping, laced with that addictive, lyrical style that’s needed to make a mythology re-telling really hook you. Clytemnestra herself is the epitome of inspiring, flawed inner strength that comes from love, I was rooting for her from the first to last page. It’s a masterpiece.
Also, Agamemnon sucks Clytemnestra rules.
July 23, 2023
this one is for the girlies who thought themselves “above� circe by madeline miller. the ones who wanted an author who’s done her research, isn’t turned off by moral ambiguity in women, and won’t woobify infamous female villains of mythology.
in doing so, in my hubris, I have girlbossed too close to the sun.
there is absolutely nothing to say about this book because it contains absolutely nothing. it’s not a retelling of the iliad (fair enough) and focuses on what clytemnestra would have experienced at different key points of her life (mostly her relationships with various men, and the death of her daughter. in short, everything she’s famous for. just because I would have wanted more doesn’t mean that these were bad plot choices).
the problem is that what clytemnestra feels is so textbook, so shallow, so gilded over with a thin patina of female rage that it’s pointless. it provides basic human contextualising that I won’t get from reading a straightforward summary of the myth, but I can also get that from a tumblr post. there was no insight into the human condition, no commentary on women in sparta, greek life, absolutely zilch.
very go girl, give us nothing.
and the reason I noticed (because trust me, I have reading comprehension so bad that I might not have) is because the book brings us so close to the abyss but doesn’t actually push us in. electra hovers constantly at the fringes of clytemnestra’s story, and there is always tension but there’s no deeper explanation of why and how, besides “everyone loves iphigenia more than me� and “you murdered my father�. clytemnestra sours her own relationship with electra by being too caught up in her grief, but this is told either through her throwing a goblet at electra or through the dialogue of side characters. electra grows up in an abusive household but sides with her loveless dead father over the mother who has tried to protect and hurt her, because why.
why, I kept asking at every turn of this book, because there are all these relationships and they are fraught and rancid and so goddamn interesting and we never get to know why. what the actual fuck happened to them. what is happening with them.
(odysseus, for instance, tries to protect clytemnestra on the day of iphigenia’s sacrifice but then also participates in ritual murder himself. why? penelope knows her beloved husband did this and chooses to disbelieve it for the sake of a happier marriage. what happens next?)
I never found out because every character is a thumbnail sketch more than a human being. all men are one-note evil (either violent or sneaky, always misogynistic in the exact same way). all men are afraid of showing weakness (except tantalus and odysseus who do it strategically, and aegisthus because he’s broken and the One Truly Good Man). slaves are either cowed or blindly loyal to someone who has shown them kindness literally just one time. helen is beautiful, therefore she must be insecure about her intellect and lash out. iphigenia will die young so she will be depicted as a one-note perfect child. (clytemnestra says later that people will misunderstand her as being perfect but she wasn’t. not because she was a teenage girl with runaway adolescent hormones, but because actually she wanted to live life to the fullest.)
the writing reflects this shallowness as well. the staccato, terse style is obviously deliberate but usually it’s employed to create subtlety and allow reading between the lines. what we get is sterile fight scenes, the characters� reactions being over described, and every dramatic scene ham-handedly telegraphed like semaphores you can see from the moon.
thanks, I hate it.
in doing so, in my hubris, I have girlbossed too close to the sun.
there is absolutely nothing to say about this book because it contains absolutely nothing. it’s not a retelling of the iliad (fair enough) and focuses on what clytemnestra would have experienced at different key points of her life (mostly her relationships with various men, and the death of her daughter. in short, everything she’s famous for. just because I would have wanted more doesn’t mean that these were bad plot choices).
the problem is that what clytemnestra feels is so textbook, so shallow, so gilded over with a thin patina of female rage that it’s pointless. it provides basic human contextualising that I won’t get from reading a straightforward summary of the myth, but I can also get that from a tumblr post. there was no insight into the human condition, no commentary on women in sparta, greek life, absolutely zilch.
very go girl, give us nothing.
and the reason I noticed (because trust me, I have reading comprehension so bad that I might not have) is because the book brings us so close to the abyss but doesn’t actually push us in. electra hovers constantly at the fringes of clytemnestra’s story, and there is always tension but there’s no deeper explanation of why and how, besides “everyone loves iphigenia more than me� and “you murdered my father�. clytemnestra sours her own relationship with electra by being too caught up in her grief, but this is told either through her throwing a goblet at electra or through the dialogue of side characters. electra grows up in an abusive household but sides with her loveless dead father over the mother who has tried to protect and hurt her, because why.
why, I kept asking at every turn of this book, because there are all these relationships and they are fraught and rancid and so goddamn interesting and we never get to know why. what the actual fuck happened to them. what is happening with them.
(odysseus, for instance, tries to protect clytemnestra on the day of iphigenia’s sacrifice but then also participates in ritual murder himself. why? penelope knows her beloved husband did this and chooses to disbelieve it for the sake of a happier marriage. what happens next?)
I never found out because every character is a thumbnail sketch more than a human being. all men are one-note evil (either violent or sneaky, always misogynistic in the exact same way). all men are afraid of showing weakness (except tantalus and odysseus who do it strategically, and aegisthus because he’s broken and the One Truly Good Man). slaves are either cowed or blindly loyal to someone who has shown them kindness literally just one time. helen is beautiful, therefore she must be insecure about her intellect and lash out. iphigenia will die young so she will be depicted as a one-note perfect child. (clytemnestra says later that people will misunderstand her as being perfect but she wasn’t. not because she was a teenage girl with runaway adolescent hormones, but because actually she wanted to live life to the fullest.)
the writing reflects this shallowness as well. the staccato, terse style is obviously deliberate but usually it’s employed to create subtlety and allow reading between the lines. what we get is sterile fight scenes, the characters� reactions being over described, and every dramatic scene ham-handedly telegraphed like semaphores you can see from the moon.
thanks, I hate it.
June 17, 2023
The girlbossification of Greek literature has truly gone too far
June 29, 2023
I have such a weakness for Greek myths, well retold. Some of my favorite books of recent years have been Circe, Stone Blind, Ithaca, and Stephen Fry’s Mythos. I also have a love for any book that takes a misunderstood figure, real or fictional, hero or villain, and gives said figure more dimension, showing a different side of their often well-known story. When these loves are paired together alongside a healthy dose of feminine rage, I’m immediately sold. Which is why I pre-ordered Clytemnestra almost as soon as I heard of its upcoming release. While I’ve been disappointed by Greek myth retellings in the past, Clytemnestra was everything I was hoping it would be, and more.
Clytemnestra was one of literature’s very first villainesses. She is frequently viewed with hatred, and as her claim to fame was murdering her husband, King Agamemnon, after he had been away at war for ten years, this is an understandable stance to take on the surface. But she is a figure who, like Medusa and Medea and so many other women in Greek myth, is often maligned without second thought. This book delves into Clytemnestra as an individual, following her girlhood and progressing into her forcible marriage to Agamemnon. We see the trauma she suffers at his hand, capped off by the sacrifice of her eldest daughter so that Agamemnon’s ships could catch a wind to Troy. Is it any wonder that she plotted revenge, and took it when the chance was offered?
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.
While I knew the ins and outs of this story fairly well, I found that knowledge only added to my experience with the book instead of making me impatient in any way. Knowing what would happen ratcheted up the tension. The pacing here was very well done; for an over 400 page book on such a familiar story, I never felt as if it were dragging in any way. I’ve also struggled in the past with myth retellings that seek to write out the gods and magic from the narrative, as that seems to leech some of the character from the stories. The Shadow of Perseus by Claire Heywood comes to mind. I tend to prefer books like Circe and Stone Blind that embrace the weirdness of Greek myth and utilize the pantheon and the magical elements to basically house a historical fantasy tale. Clytemnestra is neither of those things. There is never an attempt made to explain away the gods. They are not present in the plot for the simple reason that Clytemnestra does not believe in them. There was no need to justify this belief; it simply was. And because of that, we’re not shown any magical elements of the story. This worked really well, and never felt forced in any way.
I enjoyed everything about this. I thought it was brilliantly written. The ending felt a bit rushed in comparison to the rest of the story, but don’t climactic scenes usually feel feverishly fast, both in the minds of readers and the lives of those experiencing them? I loved learning more about Clytemnestra. I loved seeing her as a ferociously devoted sister and mother, a woman who cared about women and was willing to be seen as a villain. I especially appreciated the vile depiction of Agamemnon, as I’ve always despised him in any story he in which he appears. In a world where women were treated as treasure to despoil and property to horde, Clytemnestra claimed her own autonomy. Kudos to her.
Clytemnestra was one of literature’s very first villainesses. She is frequently viewed with hatred, and as her claim to fame was murdering her husband, King Agamemnon, after he had been away at war for ten years, this is an understandable stance to take on the surface. But she is a figure who, like Medusa and Medea and so many other women in Greek myth, is often maligned without second thought. This book delves into Clytemnestra as an individual, following her girlhood and progressing into her forcible marriage to Agamemnon. We see the trauma she suffers at his hand, capped off by the sacrifice of her eldest daughter so that Agamemnon’s ships could catch a wind to Troy. Is it any wonder that she plotted revenge, and took it when the chance was offered?
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.
While I knew the ins and outs of this story fairly well, I found that knowledge only added to my experience with the book instead of making me impatient in any way. Knowing what would happen ratcheted up the tension. The pacing here was very well done; for an over 400 page book on such a familiar story, I never felt as if it were dragging in any way. I’ve also struggled in the past with myth retellings that seek to write out the gods and magic from the narrative, as that seems to leech some of the character from the stories. The Shadow of Perseus by Claire Heywood comes to mind. I tend to prefer books like Circe and Stone Blind that embrace the weirdness of Greek myth and utilize the pantheon and the magical elements to basically house a historical fantasy tale. Clytemnestra is neither of those things. There is never an attempt made to explain away the gods. They are not present in the plot for the simple reason that Clytemnestra does not believe in them. There was no need to justify this belief; it simply was. And because of that, we’re not shown any magical elements of the story. This worked really well, and never felt forced in any way.
I enjoyed everything about this. I thought it was brilliantly written. The ending felt a bit rushed in comparison to the rest of the story, but don’t climactic scenes usually feel feverishly fast, both in the minds of readers and the lives of those experiencing them? I loved learning more about Clytemnestra. I loved seeing her as a ferociously devoted sister and mother, a woman who cared about women and was willing to be seen as a villain. I especially appreciated the vile depiction of Agamemnon, as I’ve always despised him in any story he in which he appears. In a world where women were treated as treasure to despoil and property to horde, Clytemnestra claimed her own autonomy. Kudos to her.
Shelved as 'arc-reviewed'
April 2, 2023� 4-4.5 � �
Captivating, well written, and I loved it!
Was I the only one picturing the beginning of WW with all of the warrior women training?
Many thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for the gifted ARC.
“I’m saying that it is hard to find a man who is really strong. Strong enough not to desire to be stronger than you.�
Captivating, well written, and I loved it!
Was I the only one picturing the beginning of WW with all of the warrior women training?
Many thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for the gifted ARC.
May 2, 2023
OMG, so good, and now available!
Did I just tag this as one of the best books of 2023? Why yes, I did.
This is the most illuminating account of the lead-up to the Trojan War that I have ever read, and I read just about everything having to do with Greek mythology. The author, Costanza Casati, brings her incredible knowledge of the ancient Greeks and of ancient Greek literature, and greatly expands the narrative we think we already know. Not only is her storytelling smooth and seamless, but also rich in every detail.
As the title suggests, this is Greek tragedy told from the perspective of the Spartan women. Most novels which cover this subject, begin with a narrow focus and expand to the exploits of the famous warriors. However, this author chooses to begin with an expansive examination of the family history, the cultural and religious practices of the time, topographical references, and even the elements of typical of modes of dress and of feasts. The depth of the relationships, and the flaws of each character further contribute to the rich tapestry, which eventually flows to a tension point of final confrontation and retribution. It's a unique approach, and an effective framework for tension building, even when we know how it ends.
If you are a fan of Circe, The Song of Achilles, Ariadne, A Thousand Ships, or Elektra, I can just about guarantee that you will connect with this book, too.
It's really hard to believe that this is a debut novel. Many thanks to Sourcebooks and #NetGalley for providing a copy of this book for review.
Did I just tag this as one of the best books of 2023? Why yes, I did.
This is the most illuminating account of the lead-up to the Trojan War that I have ever read, and I read just about everything having to do with Greek mythology. The author, Costanza Casati, brings her incredible knowledge of the ancient Greeks and of ancient Greek literature, and greatly expands the narrative we think we already know. Not only is her storytelling smooth and seamless, but also rich in every detail.
As the title suggests, this is Greek tragedy told from the perspective of the Spartan women. Most novels which cover this subject, begin with a narrow focus and expand to the exploits of the famous warriors. However, this author chooses to begin with an expansive examination of the family history, the cultural and religious practices of the time, topographical references, and even the elements of typical of modes of dress and of feasts. The depth of the relationships, and the flaws of each character further contribute to the rich tapestry, which eventually flows to a tension point of final confrontation and retribution. It's a unique approach, and an effective framework for tension building, even when we know how it ends.
If you are a fan of Circe, The Song of Achilles, Ariadne, A Thousand Ships, or Elektra, I can just about guarantee that you will connect with this book, too.
It's really hard to believe that this is a debut novel. Many thanks to Sourcebooks and #NetGalley for providing a copy of this book for review.
March 3, 2023
Losing my patience with the current onslaught of Greek myth retellings that have nothing new to say
July 18, 2023
Unfortunately this book was a big miss for me :(
This story is intended to be a kind of "redemption" story for Clytemnestra, a woman most known for killing her husband Agamemnon and in turn being murdered by her children. Casati attempts to reframe the narrative as a triumph for Clytemnestra: a story of abuse, female empowerment, and motherhood.
I went through this book wondering if there was just something I wasn't understanding about it. It's not hard to get me to like a book about angry women with swords. But in the wake of a series of feminist Greek mythology retellings, this book does the opposite of what I think it intends to do: in trying so hard to make Clytemnestra's actions justified, it does the opposite of what it sets out to do. She's no longer a jealous villainess, she's a flat Girlboss. Instead of adding complexity to her character, it leans so far into making her likable that it strips that nuance away. Clytemnestra is the perfect victim - she is always the one suffering, she is always right and clever, and opposition to her is painted squarely as misogyny (from men) or brattiness (from women). When she does do something wrong, it's justified as the unhappy outburst of an unhappy woman, easily waved away.
I think part of this came from an effort from the author to make Clytemnestra appear feminist and good even by modern standards. There's a common myth that ancient Greece was actually quite progressive when it came to queer relationships. In reality, this wasn't the case - it was just that gay men weren't always perceived as 'gay' by our modern standards, and lesbian relationships were still stigmatized. This is acknowledged within the book, but the author goes out of her way to show us that Clytemnestra is actually NOT homophobic in an otherwise homophobic society. And it's not that I want to see Clytemnestra be homophobic, but I think it's an example of how afraid the author was to give her any shades of grey that might seem unsavory to a modern audience. It's only near the very end of the book - within the last 10% - that Clytemnestra is allowed to be anything else. In fact, the most interesting parts of the book were where we see her character through the perspective of other characters, and when she compares herself to Agamemnon. I think this would have been a much more compelling story if we received more perspectives, and with them a more interesting take on her character. Otherwise, it's the Clytemnestra show, and the politics are a beige feminism at best.
This kind of modern perspective filters through a lot of the story. I have to allow retellings to do the thing where they wink at the audience, nodding to the way these stories have been reinterpreted. But this book was so ham-fisted about it, and did it way too frequently. How many times does a character need to comment on who will be remembered and how women are absent through history? How many times will Helen and Clytemnestra compare their legacies?
There's one more scene that I have to mention here, because it warrants greater discussion concerning the milquetoast politics of feminist retellings that clutch their pearls at moral ambiguity. There's a scene where Clytemnestra follows Aegisthus through the town. Up to this point, there's been a question about his character - is he good? Or is he planning on using Clytemnestra too? In a crowded bar, she sees
I will say there's some things in this book that I could appreciate, like Clytemnestra's ambiguity towards religion and Odysseus in general. But god, these moments were few and far between. The politics are interesting and the writing on a line-by-line basis was good, though this was hindered by the flat audiobook narration.
I'm ready to be done with this book, and I'm inclined to think we've started to reach the decline of Greek mythology retellings if this is the standard moving forward. Ugh :(
This story is intended to be a kind of "redemption" story for Clytemnestra, a woman most known for killing her husband Agamemnon and in turn being murdered by her children. Casati attempts to reframe the narrative as a triumph for Clytemnestra: a story of abuse, female empowerment, and motherhood.
I went through this book wondering if there was just something I wasn't understanding about it. It's not hard to get me to like a book about angry women with swords. But in the wake of a series of feminist Greek mythology retellings, this book does the opposite of what I think it intends to do: in trying so hard to make Clytemnestra's actions justified, it does the opposite of what it sets out to do. She's no longer a jealous villainess, she's a flat Girlboss. Instead of adding complexity to her character, it leans so far into making her likable that it strips that nuance away. Clytemnestra is the perfect victim - she is always the one suffering, she is always right and clever, and opposition to her is painted squarely as misogyny (from men) or brattiness (from women). When she does do something wrong, it's justified as the unhappy outburst of an unhappy woman, easily waved away.
I think part of this came from an effort from the author to make Clytemnestra appear feminist and good even by modern standards. There's a common myth that ancient Greece was actually quite progressive when it came to queer relationships. In reality, this wasn't the case - it was just that gay men weren't always perceived as 'gay' by our modern standards, and lesbian relationships were still stigmatized. This is acknowledged within the book, but the author goes out of her way to show us that Clytemnestra is actually NOT homophobic in an otherwise homophobic society. And it's not that I want to see Clytemnestra be homophobic, but I think it's an example of how afraid the author was to give her any shades of grey that might seem unsavory to a modern audience. It's only near the very end of the book - within the last 10% - that Clytemnestra is allowed to be anything else. In fact, the most interesting parts of the book were where we see her character through the perspective of other characters, and when she compares herself to Agamemnon. I think this would have been a much more compelling story if we received more perspectives, and with them a more interesting take on her character. Otherwise, it's the Clytemnestra show, and the politics are a beige feminism at best.
This kind of modern perspective filters through a lot of the story. I have to allow retellings to do the thing where they wink at the audience, nodding to the way these stories have been reinterpreted. But this book was so ham-fisted about it, and did it way too frequently. How many times does a character need to comment on who will be remembered and how women are absent through history? How many times will Helen and Clytemnestra compare their legacies?
There's one more scene that I have to mention here, because it warrants greater discussion concerning the milquetoast politics of feminist retellings that clutch their pearls at moral ambiguity. There's a scene where Clytemnestra follows Aegisthus through the town. Up to this point, there's been a question about his character - is he good? Or is he planning on using Clytemnestra too? In a crowded bar, she sees
I will say there's some things in this book that I could appreciate, like Clytemnestra's ambiguity towards religion and Odysseus in general. But god, these moments were few and far between. The politics are interesting and the writing on a line-by-line basis was good, though this was hindered by the flat audiobook narration.
I'm ready to be done with this book, and I'm inclined to think we've started to reach the decline of Greek mythology retellings if this is the standard moving forward. Ugh :(
March 23, 2025
First read:
Let me begin by saying this is one of the best books I’ve read in a loooooooong time. And as an avid complainer/whiner, I do not say that lightly.
I have been been fascinated by the character Clytemnestra since I read Elektra by Jennifer Saint. That book changed the entire trajectory of my love for Greek mythology. I went from a casual Percy Jackson reader to a die-hard mythological retellings reader. The one part of that story, though, that stood out most to me was Clytemnestra.
She wasn’t meant to be the main focal point of the story, but she ended up being mine nonetheless. She was unlike any other woman I’d ever read in modern or classic literature, both strong and feminine, willing to make terrible sacrifices but drawing her lines very clearly, a mother, a wife, a fighter. But that is just the barest description of her.
Reading an entire book that focuses on Clytemnestra’s life is something I so desperately needed after reading Elektra, and I cannot tell you how pleased I was to find this on my local library’s shelf.
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.
There is something I find so beautiful about stories that weave motherhood into them in such a unique and positive way. (I’m not a mother myself, so why do I love it so much? Not sure, but I do anyway.) So many depictions of strong, powerful women, especially modern ones, present a career-driven, ambitious woman that has little to no interest in or love for children. I don’t know if this is just an issue of popular tropes or what, but I love to read about a woman who is both wildly ambitious and devoted to her children and family. That is my brand of girl power.
Casati’s presentation of Clytemnestra was everything I had hoped for and more. From just the small bits and pieces of the character I’d read before, I knew she was someone I connected with and wanted to know more about, and this look into her mind was just flawlessly executed.
I am so pleased I decided to pick up this book and give it a go. There is truly not one thing I would have changed about Clytemnestra, and I just might have found my new favorite author. Costanza Casati, I salute you.
Let me begin by saying this is one of the best books I’ve read in a loooooooong time. And as an avid complainer/whiner, I do not say that lightly.
I have been been fascinated by the character Clytemnestra since I read Elektra by Jennifer Saint. That book changed the entire trajectory of my love for Greek mythology. I went from a casual Percy Jackson reader to a die-hard mythological retellings reader. The one part of that story, though, that stood out most to me was Clytemnestra.
She wasn’t meant to be the main focal point of the story, but she ended up being mine nonetheless. She was unlike any other woman I’d ever read in modern or classic literature, both strong and feminine, willing to make terrible sacrifices but drawing her lines very clearly, a mother, a wife, a fighter. But that is just the barest description of her.
Reading an entire book that focuses on Clytemnestra’s life is something I so desperately needed after reading Elektra, and I cannot tell you how pleased I was to find this on my local library’s shelf.
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.
There is something I find so beautiful about stories that weave motherhood into them in such a unique and positive way. (I’m not a mother myself, so why do I love it so much? Not sure, but I do anyway.) So many depictions of strong, powerful women, especially modern ones, present a career-driven, ambitious woman that has little to no interest in or love for children. I don’t know if this is just an issue of popular tropes or what, but I love to read about a woman who is both wildly ambitious and devoted to her children and family. That is my brand of girl power.
Casati’s presentation of Clytemnestra was everything I had hoped for and more. From just the small bits and pieces of the character I’d read before, I knew she was someone I connected with and wanted to know more about, and this look into her mind was just flawlessly executed.
I am so pleased I decided to pick up this book and give it a go. There is truly not one thing I would have changed about Clytemnestra, and I just might have found my new favorite author. Costanza Casati, I salute you.
November 9, 2023
What a wonderful look into a strong courageous woman who became a queen.
Want to read
September 7, 2022Any Madeline Miller-esque retelling of Greek history gets an instant AUTO-ADD from me although comparing Clytemnestra to Cersei Lannister pains me to my soul
November 18, 2023
A dark and powerful book, beautifully written.
November 27, 2022
Clytemnestra
By Costanza Casati
Clytemnestra is a princess, her mother, the queen. She comes and goes from the castle, behaves as all children do, seeking adventure outdoors. Helena of Sparta is her sister but still, Clytemnestra is the adventuress readers will want to know in this tale of an ancient heroine who has many objectives to overcome in her life. This book highlights them all, making it a read you aren’t able to put down, non-stop action on every page. Despite the fact the movement in the book, much of the action is dramatic, does not stop the fact that it comes to the girl, then woman, at a pace and and all would be overwhelmed. But, Clytemnestra holds her head high and prevails in it all, however the events play out. This woman, definitely a Spartan worthy of her own telling, tale, and book. Constansa Casati wrote it, simply titled, Clytemnestra.
Her sister, in youth, remarks that as a man, she would be one of the strongest fighters in Greece. Clytemnestra, knowing she must be the cleverest of all to prevail, working hard to make herself so. And the story of her parents are very important to the girl, her heritage, reminding her forever of where she came from and what she carries in her veins, not just the royalty, but the strength, endurance, and fortitude to be great, the greatest of all others. The girls are thought to be born from a mortal mother and a god but their father, King Tyndareus, loving their mother for her fierceness, doubts Helen (her sister) as his child.
Clytemnestra’s family is quite large, full of many brothers and sisters. They are all loved, all except Helen, by the King, as he thinks Leda (Helen and Clytemnestra’s mother) had taken with another man to beget this daughter. The rumors, stories, tales and jokes do not help the matter. But, whatever may come of this, whatever of the future, the sisters are close and nothing will part them. Will that always remain true? Their grandmother Gorgophone would tell them that they would be remembered, throughout history, over their brothers, their family, a dynasty of queens. Will that be true? Will both sisters be remembered?
The girl has learned much in her training, wrestling the Spartiates throughout her youth. This is part of her training as a Spartan, as part of the royal house, as a girl. The Spariates are the daughters of the best and noblest houses of the warriors of Sparta. They are to train with the commoners until they start a family. King Tyndareus oversees the training and fights and when Helen is challenged for her first fight, Clytemnestra has to do something that is against the rules, something never done. While royalty may burn, rape, steal, and kill as they like the only thing forbidden to them is to hurt a noble person. Will Clytemnestra always break the rules? But, will she only do that for those she loves?
A smart girl, growing into a woman, Clytemnestra disagrees with a glorious death over being shamed. The decision in living is what, I think, makes her a woman now, rather than a girl. Being alive is the only way to make it through life, as in death, there is nothing, you are gone and only a story remains, however victorious, or glorious it may be, only words whispered from anothers mouth. Better to be there to go on, seize the next day, and have a mighty victory for a glorious, long life. This thought, however, separates her from many of the other Spartans. How will Clytemnestra’s different ways of thinking about things (however smarter they may seem) create victories, or disasters, for her in the future?
In Costanza Casati’s story, we find all the good traits of a great woman, a wise woman, a worthy woman and readers need to read about this lesser told Spartan who we should have heard just as much, if not more than, her well known sister Helena. There is alot to enjoy, in Clytemnestra a book readers simply won’t want to put down, or, be able to.
By Costanza Casati
Clytemnestra is a princess, her mother, the queen. She comes and goes from the castle, behaves as all children do, seeking adventure outdoors. Helena of Sparta is her sister but still, Clytemnestra is the adventuress readers will want to know in this tale of an ancient heroine who has many objectives to overcome in her life. This book highlights them all, making it a read you aren’t able to put down, non-stop action on every page. Despite the fact the movement in the book, much of the action is dramatic, does not stop the fact that it comes to the girl, then woman, at a pace and and all would be overwhelmed. But, Clytemnestra holds her head high and prevails in it all, however the events play out. This woman, definitely a Spartan worthy of her own telling, tale, and book. Constansa Casati wrote it, simply titled, Clytemnestra.
Her sister, in youth, remarks that as a man, she would be one of the strongest fighters in Greece. Clytemnestra, knowing she must be the cleverest of all to prevail, working hard to make herself so. And the story of her parents are very important to the girl, her heritage, reminding her forever of where she came from and what she carries in her veins, not just the royalty, but the strength, endurance, and fortitude to be great, the greatest of all others. The girls are thought to be born from a mortal mother and a god but their father, King Tyndareus, loving their mother for her fierceness, doubts Helen (her sister) as his child.
Clytemnestra’s family is quite large, full of many brothers and sisters. They are all loved, all except Helen, by the King, as he thinks Leda (Helen and Clytemnestra’s mother) had taken with another man to beget this daughter. The rumors, stories, tales and jokes do not help the matter. But, whatever may come of this, whatever of the future, the sisters are close and nothing will part them. Will that always remain true? Their grandmother Gorgophone would tell them that they would be remembered, throughout history, over their brothers, their family, a dynasty of queens. Will that be true? Will both sisters be remembered?
The girl has learned much in her training, wrestling the Spartiates throughout her youth. This is part of her training as a Spartan, as part of the royal house, as a girl. The Spariates are the daughters of the best and noblest houses of the warriors of Sparta. They are to train with the commoners until they start a family. King Tyndareus oversees the training and fights and when Helen is challenged for her first fight, Clytemnestra has to do something that is against the rules, something never done. While royalty may burn, rape, steal, and kill as they like the only thing forbidden to them is to hurt a noble person. Will Clytemnestra always break the rules? But, will she only do that for those she loves?
A smart girl, growing into a woman, Clytemnestra disagrees with a glorious death over being shamed. The decision in living is what, I think, makes her a woman now, rather than a girl. Being alive is the only way to make it through life, as in death, there is nothing, you are gone and only a story remains, however victorious, or glorious it may be, only words whispered from anothers mouth. Better to be there to go on, seize the next day, and have a mighty victory for a glorious, long life. This thought, however, separates her from many of the other Spartans. How will Clytemnestra’s different ways of thinking about things (however smarter they may seem) create victories, or disasters, for her in the future?
In Costanza Casati’s story, we find all the good traits of a great woman, a wise woman, a worthy woman and readers need to read about this lesser told Spartan who we should have heard just as much, if not more than, her well known sister Helena. There is alot to enjoy, in Clytemnestra a book readers simply won’t want to put down, or, be able to.
May 25, 2024
Fucking fantastic.
A fierce and vibrant retelling of Clytemnestra’s life, the trials she endured and ultimately the revenge she takes.
Clytemnestra has always been one of my favorite characters in Greek mythology. Her and Cassandra. So to have a novel solely about her was just incredible.
I didn’t even realise she had been married before Agamemnon, that was fascinating and added another layer to the hatred I hold for that asshole.
I was gripped throughout, right until the bittersweet end, I will definitely be picking up more by this author.
A fierce and vibrant retelling of Clytemnestra’s life, the trials she endured and ultimately the revenge she takes.
Clytemnestra has always been one of my favorite characters in Greek mythology. Her and Cassandra. So to have a novel solely about her was just incredible.
I didn’t even realise she had been married before Agamemnon, that was fascinating and added another layer to the hatred I hold for that asshole.
I was gripped throughout, right until the bittersweet end, I will definitely be picking up more by this author.
December 10, 2023
I absolutely loved this POV. The audio is excellent.
October 15, 2022
Clytemnestra is the daughter of the king of Sparta, the sister of the infamous Helen. When her husband Agamemnon sacrifices their daughter to the gods in return for fair winds, she begins to plot against him - for this is by far not the first ill he's dealt her.
I thought Clytemnestra was an odd choice as heroine, even within the recent trend of novels centering women in Greek mythology - but I read this book because I was excited to see how it would be done.
Clytemnestra is immediately established as a compelling heroine, as despite her perspective on events being way off center from the usual narrative of the Iliad. The author did a really good job of making the reader throw their lot in with Clytemnestra and feel that the things she does are inevitable considering how she has been wronged. Despite the book being crowded with fascinating characters, Clytemnestra holds center stage.
However, I did think the story began to crumble in the second half, as we move onto the events of Iphigenia in Aulis and Agamemnon's return. There are large time skips in this section, and I did not understand why we didn't see much of a change in her perspective despite the long periods missing - it was as though her character did not develop off screen.
Disclaimer: I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley. This is my honest and voluntary review.
I thought Clytemnestra was an odd choice as heroine, even within the recent trend of novels centering women in Greek mythology - but I read this book because I was excited to see how it would be done.
Clytemnestra is immediately established as a compelling heroine, as despite her perspective on events being way off center from the usual narrative of the Iliad. The author did a really good job of making the reader throw their lot in with Clytemnestra and feel that the things she does are inevitable considering how she has been wronged. Despite the book being crowded with fascinating characters, Clytemnestra holds center stage.
However, I did think the story began to crumble in the second half, as we move onto the events of Iphigenia in Aulis and Agamemnon's return. There are large time skips in this section, and I did not understand why we didn't see much of a change in her perspective despite the long periods missing - it was as though her character did not develop off screen.
Disclaimer: I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley. This is my honest and voluntary review.
August 29, 2022
Clytemnestra by Costanza Casati is a great historical fiction that shines the spotlight on an enigmatic, complex, and fascinating woman of ancient Greece.
It is just fascinating and fabulous that a woman of Greek Mythology can be so notorious and talked about, but yet has had such a small voice and has been type casted and condemned (traditionally). Well, Ms. Casati is about to change all of that.
Invigorating, addictive, emotional, dramatic, and stunning are just a few words I can find to describe this gem. I was captivated from the very beginning and never wanted it to end.
Ms. Casati has a true talent and has made an ancient historical and mythological figure current, relevant, real, and human.
Just wonderful.
5/5 stars
Thank you NG and Sourcebooks Landmark for this wonderful arc and in return I am submitting my unbiased and voluntary review and opinion.
I am posting this review to my GR and Bookbub accounts immediately and will post it to my Amazon, Instagram, and B&N accounts upon publication on 3/7/23.
It is just fascinating and fabulous that a woman of Greek Mythology can be so notorious and talked about, but yet has had such a small voice and has been type casted and condemned (traditionally). Well, Ms. Casati is about to change all of that.
Invigorating, addictive, emotional, dramatic, and stunning are just a few words I can find to describe this gem. I was captivated from the very beginning and never wanted it to end.
Ms. Casati has a true talent and has made an ancient historical and mythological figure current, relevant, real, and human.
Just wonderful.
5/5 stars
Thank you NG and Sourcebooks Landmark for this wonderful arc and in return I am submitting my unbiased and voluntary review and opinion.
I am posting this review to my GR and Bookbub accounts immediately and will post it to my Amazon, Instagram, and B&N accounts upon publication on 3/7/23.
May 22, 2022
I had the immense privilege to read this novel in advance� 5 stars is not enough to describe how much I loved it!
always staying true to Greek myths and legends, Costanza is able to cast a new light on the most hated queen of ancient Greece: you will suffer with her, you will love intensely as she does, and ultimately you will seek her revenge like it was your own.
The thing I appreciated the most is how she manages to convey the feelings of the characters; in particular I loved how the relationship between Clytemnestra and Helen is represented.
With regards to the style, she remains faithful to the much-loved metaphors and figures of speech widely used in the Omeric poems, while at the same time maintaining a fresh, fast-paced prose that will keep you on the edge until the end.
I can’t wait to read Costanza’s next novels!
always staying true to Greek myths and legends, Costanza is able to cast a new light on the most hated queen of ancient Greece: you will suffer with her, you will love intensely as she does, and ultimately you will seek her revenge like it was your own.
The thing I appreciated the most is how she manages to convey the feelings of the characters; in particular I loved how the relationship between Clytemnestra and Helen is represented.
With regards to the style, she remains faithful to the much-loved metaphors and figures of speech widely used in the Omeric poems, while at the same time maintaining a fresh, fast-paced prose that will keep you on the edge until the end.
I can’t wait to read Costanza’s next novels!
August 7, 2024
Τον έφαγε τον karyoli
January 11, 2025
Познавайки историята на Клитемнестра, реших да си направя спойлер с последната глава от книгата преди да започна да я чета, бях като ударена с мокър парцал след това.
Историята не е за всеки, или за такива със слаби нерви.
Беше ми интересно да прочета друг преразказ на историята за кралицата на Микена.
Атреевите братя никога не съм ги харесвала, но тук бяха като ритник в ребрата (бих го понесла по добре от зверствата на тези двамката).
Елена - никога не съм я разбирала, в книгата на моменти толкова ме дразнеше.
Определено съдбата на Клитемнестра ме разтърси.
Малко му беше на Агамемнон накрая, трябваше да го одерат жив.
Историята не е за всеки, или за такива със слаби нерви.
Беше ми интересно да прочета друг преразказ на историята за кралицата на Микена.
Атреевите братя никога не съм ги харесвала, но тук бяха като ритник в ребрата (бих го понесла по добре от зверствата на тези двамката).
Елена - никога не съм я разбирала, в книгата на моменти толкова ме дразнеше.
Определено съдбата на Клитемнестра ме разтърси.
Малко му беше на Агамемнон накрая, трябваше да го одерат жив.
May 11, 2023
Sooo good! One of the best mythology’s I’ve ever read. The writing is perfection, compulsive, I couldn’t put this book down. Clytemnestra is one of the most interesting women in Greek Mythology. Enduring heart break after heart break. Her physical strength and agility, her mental quick wit. I was pleasantly surprised by the story telling, this wasn’t a Queen that just hid away in her room while the king was off to war. She ran the kingdom and kept order despite the difficulty of men not wanting to take orders from a woman. I’m talking Daenerys Targaryen level of ruler. I wish I could read this one all over again for the first time. A must read.
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