Pretense reviewed Clytemnestra by Costanza Casati
Review of 'Clytemnestra' on 'Goodreads'
1 star
Oh, past me, how naively optimistic you were. Utterly disappointing. This book largely follows the recent trend of overly modernizing Greek mythology retellings without adding anything of substance to the original myths. I had some hopes because Casati actually studied in a classical lyceum, but apparently that is not sufficient to ensure a proper retelling.
Certain aspects of this were attempts at being accurate to the historic period, but too much was an uninspired blend of modern characterization and attitudes merely supplanted on Greek names and stories. Reading the actual tragedies yourself would be a better use of time, in my opinion. I suppose, if anything, the only positive in the novel would be gaining a familiarity of the major players involved in the Oresteia.
To Casati’s benefit, there was a slight effort to attempt lyrical prose in the style of the original poetry; but this ended up coming up …
Oh, past me, how naively optimistic you were. Utterly disappointing. This book largely follows the recent trend of overly modernizing Greek mythology retellings without adding anything of substance to the original myths. I had some hopes because Casati actually studied in a classical lyceum, but apparently that is not sufficient to ensure a proper retelling.
Certain aspects of this were attempts at being accurate to the historic period, but too much was an uninspired blend of modern characterization and attitudes merely supplanted on Greek names and stories. Reading the actual tragedies yourself would be a better use of time, in my opinion. I suppose, if anything, the only positive in the novel would be gaining a familiarity of the major players involved in the Oresteia.
To Casati’s benefit, there was a slight effort to attempt lyrical prose in the style of the original poetry; but this ended up coming up as entirely forced and somewhat stilted in English. There was a tinge of purple prose to the whole affair. It was peppered with cliches and witty aphorisms every-so-often, just to keep the illusion of literary writing. (I find that quite often in contemporary fiction, unfortunately.)
The characters were as expected; if anything, Clytemnestra seemed rather defanged compared to her characterization in Euripides. Casati’s choice to depict her in a more ‘consensual’ marriage before her time with Agamemnon was an odd choice; I sensed it was an attempt to build some empathy for her character, but it was ultimately a lot of off-page action that was all too brief, so it didn’t have as much of an impact as she might have intended.
On occasion, Casati’s depiction of ancient Sparta imparted some sense of historical place, but it felt more like the feeling you get watching characters against a theater backdrop, rather than, say, reading Mary Renault. This is a debut novel, so this may seem a bit harsh; but I am really exhausted by this deluge of Greek-myth-inspired novels that pile up every year that are essentially copy-paste revenue sources. (Yes, I mean you, Sennifer Jaint.) Can we please move on?
If I ever become dictator of the world, I would immediately put in place a moratorium on Greek myth retellings; any waivers or exemptions must satisfy Latin and ancient Greek language requirements as well as demonstrating an established body of published fiction.
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(Prior to reading.)
Finally, an ancient Greek mythology retelling by someone who actually has a classics background and knows what they're talking about! Maybe this one won't be half bad.
