(Tune in to my full podcast review of Clytemnestra here.)

Let me begin by saying this is one of the best books I’ve read in a loooooooong time. And as an avid complainer/whiner, I do not say that lightly.

I have been been fascinated by the character Clytemnestra since I read Elektra by Jennifer Saint. That book changed the entire trajectory of my love for Greek mythology. I went from a casual Percy Jackson reader to a die-hard mythological retellings reader. The one part of that story, though, that stood out most to me was Clytemnestra.

She wasn’t meant to be the main focal point of the story, but she ended up being mine nonetheless. She was unlike any other woman I’d ever read in modern or classic literature, both strong and feminine, willing to make terrible sacrifices but drawing her lines very clearly, a mother, a wife, a fighter. But that is just the barest description of her.

Reading an entire book that focuses on Clytemnestra’s life is something I so desperately needed after reading Elektra, and I cannot tell you how pleased I was to find this on my local library’s shelf.

Casati’s writing style is beautiful. Every word is meaningful, and nearly every chapter holds a quote that made me pause and consider it, both in the context of the story and in the context of my own life. She has such a talent with relating Greek myth to modern lives in subtle but clever ways.

There is something I find so beautiful about stories that weave motherhood into them in such a unique and positive way. (I’m not a mother myself, so why do I love it so much? Not sure, but I do anyway.) So many depictions of strong, powerful women, especially modern ones, present a career-driven, ambitious woman that has little to no interest in or love for children. I don’t know if this is just an issue of popular tropes or what, but I love to read about a woman who is both wildly ambitious and devoted to her children and family. That is my brand of girl power.

Casati’s presentation of Clytemnestra was everything I had hoped for and more. From just the small bits and pieces of the character I’d read before, I knew she was someone I connected with and wanted to know more about, and this look into her mind was just flawlessly executed.

I am so pleased I decided to pick up this book and give it a go. There is truly not one thing I would have changed about Clytemnestra, and I just might have found my new favorite author. Costanza Casati, I salute you.

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