Charlotte reviewed House of Names by Colm Tóibín
Not as compelling as I hoped
3 stars
Unfortunately, not as compelling as I had hoped.
Note: House of Names is based on the Ancient Greek plays Agamemnon, Orestes, Electra, among others.
It was a decent book, but I feel like Toibin could have done a lot more with Clytemnestra and Electra. I really liked Clytemnestra’s narration at the beginning of the book - her character was complicated and sympathetic. But, it felt like Toibin allowed her to become mostly villainized in the end when he could have offered more of her fascinating perspective.
I did, however, enjoy the cottagecore section in the middle.