Circle (Miller)
(Not a review, just some notes to help me remember the things I've read. But written this way because it's the Internet, and some people will stumble across this page.)
My first actual book in a while. I logged into the Brooklyn Public Library system to reserve manga, and it suggested Circe, which I knew was a Book of the Year (or at least a finalist for such) on GoodReads a couple years ago. So I downloaded it. Didn't hate it. Actually, I enjoyed it.
Before now, all I knew of Circe was what appeared in the mini-series The Odyssey. I've never read that book, nor do I have plans to. Unlike in that show, Circe doesn't keep Odysseus on her island for five years. However, she does turn his men into pigs, at least temporarily.
Miller weaves a tale from the pieces we have of Circe throughout Greek literature (and from one summary of a work that no longer exists). It starts with her birth to Helios the Sun god (Titan) and Perse the water nymph. She was mostly ignored because she wasn't as beautiful and her voice was irritating. Actually, it was a voice that was pleasant to humans. Circe and her three siblings were something new in Olympus. They were witches. And as such, Helios and Zeus came to an agreement that Helios would sire no more children with Perse.
As Circe grows and finds her place, she interacts with Prometheus, punished for giving fire to humans. She turns a human into a god and Scylla into the monster of myth. She is banished to the island of Aiaia, where she can enjoy her solitude and refine her witchcraft skills. She meets Daedalus and his son Icarus, encounters the Minotaur (whom she helps birth at the cost of a couple of fingers, which regenerate), and meets her niece Medea who will one day run off with Jason. Before returning to her island, Circe receives a loom from Daedalus.
Nymphs are banished to her island by their parents for a year at a time, and she gets used to them being there, along with her trained lions. Hermes is a semi-frequent guest, but aside from being a messenger, he is also a trickster god. He usually has stories to tell, but you know he's telling stories of Circe elsewhere. He doesn't come unless he wants something, and once satisfied may not come around again for a while.
Men come to the island and Circe turns them into pigs when they find that she is alone and they mistakenly believe that they can take everything they want, including her. Finally Odysseus's men come and then the warrior himself, who has been warned by Hermes not to eat or drink anything. Circe starts to admire the man, and transforms his men back. They stay the winter before setting off again for Ithaca. After they leave, Circe gives birth to a son named Telegonus, whom I'd never heard of before and thought to be a fabrication. However, a web search tells me otherwise. (Also, things work out differently according to the web sources.) The son's life is immediately threatened by Athena because of a horrible prophecy. However, she cannot directly harm the child (she can send scorpions though) and Circe refuses to hand him over. Circe enchants the island every year for 16 years.
Finally, Telegonus builds a boat after learning skills from some other men who came to the island, and sails to Ithaca to meet his father and half-brother. He is given a spear from Circe with a poison tip to protect him from Athena, but it cuts Odysseus, who appears half-mad. He returns mid-winter with Telemachus and Penelope, who have fled Ithaca. Circe thinks they mean to kill Telegonus in front of her, and perhaps her as well.
Athena arrives to tell Telemachus that she will see that he founds a new dynasty. He turns it down, so she offers it to Telegonus, whom she no longer desires to kill (since the prophecy has come to pass). He accepts and leaves. Finally, Circe decides it is time to confront her father with threats of confronting Odin to end her exile. She wants no more of him or the gods. She sails off with Telemachus, leaving Penelope on the island with the loom and all the herbs. There's a final section that reads like she's dreaming of the future she will have, whether or not that is what come to pass.
It was a quick read, but a little longer than the books I've been reading. And now I need to hurry to read my book club selection and this month's Analog.
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