Ithaca

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Hera was a flighty narrator, not always just telling Penelope’s story, but also wandering off and telling many other ones, and a lot of these characters had names that were similar. After quite a few years, however, the suitors that have been a guest in her home are turning restless, making it harder and harder for Penelope to postpone the inevitable. The Goddess of wives and mothers, she has been relegated to a small, joked about role, when once she used to be worshipped and prayed to by all. Patrick Dillon has been fascinated by Homer's epic poem The Odyssey since studying it at school, and has traveled extensively in Greece. I also enjoyed the parts of Artemis and Athena that we got to see – though this was not too much of the book.

The relationship between Penelope and Elektra is a very interesting one and it added a lot to my ever-growing knowledge of Greek mythology, so I definitely think that it’s a book worth reading if you have an interest in these stories. Disclaimer: This book was gifted to me by the publisher, but this has not impacted this honest review. The men have left for Troy and all the other nations’ rulers have come back (or their successors have), but Ithaca is still without its king. If you look for an engaging Penelope's retelling, a story that you may know of her and her son Telemachus, her love and passion for Odysseus, do this is NOT your book.It also shows how many women fought against their oppressors, some in stealthy and secretive ways and others in demonstrative and explosive ways.

Having already loved Claire North’s science fiction works, I was surprised and delighted to learn she was writing a series of Greek mythology retellings- a sub-genre I adore!Odysseus’s prolonged absence has fueled rumors of his death encouraging hordes of suitors to flock to Penelope’s door and unashamedly becoming a fixture in her home. Within this novel, the author really taps into that, and we are treated with a narrator who tells us the story with a heavy amount of sarcasm and a good deal of irony, which honestly, was entirely amusing and on point. Some of her stories, or thought’s about the ‘heroes’ of Greek mythology, and Penelope’s suitors had me laughing out loud in parts and she certainly pulls no punches. It has been seventeen years since Odysseus left Ithaca to fight in the Trojan War, leaving his young bride Penelope and infant son Telemachus behind. Because while this is Penelope's story first and foremost, we do not actually hear from her first-hand.

Ici l’histoire nous est narrée à travers les yeux de la déesse Hera, une déesse que je ne portais pas vraiment dans mon cœur et en lisant ce livre je me suis rendue compte qu’en fait je voyais Hera comme on me l’avait décrite à savoir une femme jalouse vindicative et terrifiante. North's writing is evocative, vibrant and delightfully witty - capable of rending your heart in two or clutching at your sides with only a few words from a scathing and surprisingly ardent godly-narrator. While this might make the story too complicated for some, for me the interweaving of all the perspectives created a vibrant and rich world. The narration is so scathing of all the gods, particularly Zeus, playing on the diminished role of Hera compared to some of the earlier mythologies. While I do think that Ithaca could be enjoyed on its own, I think that having a background with the foundational works it is retelling made reading this far more rewarding.This was an interesting choice that lent a blunt and cynical humour to the book, while also not shying away from her own brutal view of some of the men, and the Gods. So yes, it's about war, too, and what war does to the women left behind, stuck in a culture that tells them they can do nothing even when there is no one else left to do it. No one wants a Queen running a country, no one believes she truly can, and now they believe Odysseus to be dead, suitors have come in droves to try and gain Penelope’s hand and, through it, the rule of Ithaca. Jason’s jaunts around town are reminiscent of Francie Brady in The Butcher Boy – young bucks who are wonderful mimics of adult mannerisms while simultaneously struggling to understand the intricacies and injustices of the grown-up world . And through the prism of Jason's energetic first-person narrative - that's bursting with black humour, tenderness, and emotion in equal measure - the socially deprived world he is growing up in comes into focus with absolute clarity .

I should confess though it is Penelope's retelling, I enjoyed Elektra and Clytemnestra most, Yes we have Agamemnon's wife and daughter here, Athena and Artemis too! A complete change in style and genre from the usual dystopian fiction for the marvellous Claire North, however Ithaca still boasts her exquisite quality of writing and wicked sense of humour.Alie Benge’s unquavering voice guides us through her discoveries with a singular and compelling perspective. I loved everything about Ithaca, except for the fact that it’s not the standalone I was for some reason expecting it to be. I didn't feel any connection to the characters or the events - I felt highly disinterested in the characters and the events I've previously fallen in love with and felt that it hurt the story. Putting Hera in the narrator's seat, means that the gods and goddesses also linger at the edges of the pages of Ithaca, which is very exciting and leaves this reimagined world wide open for potential further explorations of Olympus. Sometimes, I wonder if the author is biased towards Clytemnestra and Helen for subversion of narratives, to go counter to the usual portrayals of these two, than in doing Penelope justice.