Hi everyone. I'm rincey and this is
rincey reads. Today i'm going to be doing
a book review on Circe by Madeline
Miller. I will just say right off the bat,
I love this book. I gave it a 5 out of 5
stars. So you know that this is going to
be more rave than anything else. So
Madeline Miller's first book was the
Song of Achilles, which I read just last
December and I really, really loved that
book. And so when I found out she had
another book coming out in April, I was
very excited because I did not have to wait 
five years like everyone else for a new Madeline
Miller book. So Madeline Miller does the
sort of Greek mythology retellings.
In this one you are following Circe who is
probably best well known for being in
the Odyssey. Now I don't know a whole lot
about Greek mythology. I did read The
Odyssey when I was in high school but
that was, what, over 15 years ago at this
point because I'm old. So I don't know
that much about Greek mythology other than
like the really big stuff. So know that
this review is not going to talk that
much about Greek mythology just because
that's not really my reference point.
So yes, like I said, you are following this
character named Circe who when she's
born she's sort of different from
everyone else around her. She is the
daughter of Helios who is the god of the
sun. But she doesn't seem to have powers
quite like her father or even very much
like her mother. She has siblings and she
seems to be like just extremely
different from all of them. Things happen
and she ends up getting exiled to an
island. And you basically just follow her
throughout her life and you get to see
her experiences with gods and Titans and
the way that she's treated and how that
sort of informs her character moving
forward. Eventually Odysseus does come to
the island and you see sort of things
from Circe's point of view of how
everything goes down. But this story
really is just like a coming-of-age
novel. You just follow Circe as she
grows up, as she learns to navigate the
worlds that she's a part of. She seems to
sort of like toe the line between god
and mortal and you see her own reaction
to that, how she reacts to the other
people around her and in her life, how
she reacts to her exile and things like that.
Yeah there's not really a whole lot of, I mean
there's a lot of plot that happens in
here, but there's not really an easy way
to summarize it. But it's basically just
the story of Cersei and imagining what
her life was like. This book provides
some really interesting depth and
background and explanation as to why she
makes the decisions that she does. So
yeah, like I said, I gave this a five out
of five stars. I loved it so, so much. When
I first started it, it took me a little
bit to get my bearings. Like I said, I
don't have a lot of background in Greek
mythology and I feel like a lot of what
happens in the beginning really does
rely a little bit on knowing some things
about the gods. I could tell that she was
like making references to things but I
couldn't really get what the references
exactly were. One of the really nice
things about Madeline Miller's books is
that in the back she actually includes a
glossary of all of the different gods
and Greek mythology characters. And she
provides sort of like a paragraph or so
about those characters. So you can get a
little bit of background knowledge as to
how these characters appear in Greek
mythology and sort of what the
background is on these different
characters. So I definitely recommend
utilizing that if you do feel like you
are extremely lost. But what I think is
so amazing about this book is just the
way that Madeline Miller has drawn this
portrait of Circe. She has such a
specific voice, such a specific point of
view. You get to see her struggle with
very human things and you can understand
why she makes the choices that she does.
And I just felt like she was such a real
person, although technically she's not a
person. But it was just this fully
fleshed out character who deals with
things like loneliness and companionship
and figuring out what she wants to do
with her life and dealing with her
family's legacy and their choices and
learning how to navigate all of the
different gods and Titans and different
characters that she comes across and
learning how to deal with that. There's
really interesting thoughts explored in
here in terms of like love and
relationships and motherhood and the
choices that you have within all of
those different spheres. And even like
the lack of choices that women have
in all those spheres, especially during
this time period. Women are supposed to
have very specific roles and be very
specific types of people. You can see how
different women who are seen as maybe
like cunning or conniving, why they make
the choices that they do. I think one of
my favorite scenes in here is when
Circe goes to visit her sister who is
giving birth and the conversations that
they have when they're alone together
are just so eye opening for Circe and I
think for the reader as well. Because you
have this very specific point of view,
you're seeing everything's from Circe's
point of view. So you have this very
specific idea of who the other people in
her life are. And I think that that's
like sort of one of those behind the
curtain sort of moments where you get to
see the depths of some of the other
characters in this story. So yeah, I
really, really adored this book. I will
say that this book is completely
different from the Song of Achilles.
It has a completely different feel to it,
completely different pacing. But there
are these really interesting you know
plot points that happen that keep things
exciting and keep things interesting. If
you know anything about the story behind
Circe I'm sure you can imagine sort of
how that comes to play. But I, again, I
just love this book so much like I kind
of want to reread it. That's how I know
that this is a five-star book for me.
Like as soon as it was finished, I wanted
to go back to the beginning and
experience it all over again. And I can't
imagine higher praise from someone
like me especially since I like never
reread books. So yeah, I highly, highly
recommend this one. If you're feeling
hesitant because of the Greek mythology
aspect of it, I would say still go into
it and just be okay with not maybe
making all of the connections that Circe--
that Madeline Miller is making in this
book. I'm the type of person where I can
recognize that you know there are
specific characters in Greek mythology
and I understand some of the references
that she's making. But I'm also just okay
watching Circe grow up and make her own
life choices and seeing how her life
evolves on this island. Yeah, I mean, 
I can't praise this book them enough.
I loved it so, so, so much. And yes, I think
everyone should read it. I gave it five
stars. That almost never happens. So yes.
So yeah, that's everything that I have for
you guys. I just wanted to do a quick
review on Circe and talked about it a
little bit. I still feel like I'm not
really doing it justice because I don't want to
talk about it too in-depth because of
spoilers. But I really, really love that
book a whole, whole lot. And it seems like
a lot of other people are loving it as
well. So if you've read the book, feel
free to leave a comment down below
talking to me about it. I'd love to talk
about it a little bit more in depth in
the comments section. Or if you have any
questions about the book, definitely
leave that down in the comment section
as well. If you do end up picking it up
eventually, definitely feel free to come
back to this video and leave a comment
and talk to me about it cause yeah, I loved
it so much. So yeah that's all I have for
now and thanks for watching.
