Date: 29 Aug 2021
Location: Zoom
Due to the resurgence of Covid19 mainly from the Delta variant, we decided to switch back to having our meetings via Zoom. We all hope this will be just a temporary switch and that we can return to in-person meetings in the near future.
This month we had ten bookers participating in the Zoom discussion of Circe by Madeline Miller. Miller took the fairly minor character, Circe, the witch best know in Homer’s Odyssey for changing Odysseus’s men into pigs, and developed her into a full-fledged character. In her novel Miller describes how the nymph Circe–one of the lesser immortal gods–was betrayed and mistreated by her siblings and father (the Sun). She was banished to a lonely island where she continued to develop her witchcraft and her powerful magic potions. Over the eons, she was involved in various interactions with Homeric mortals and other gods, including supporting her sister, Pasiphae, in the delivery of the Minotaur. In Miller’s story, Circe becomes a heroic feminist example of the power of a woman in a male-dominated world.
Most of the Bookers read at least part of the book, with mixed opinions about the book. Some of us liked it and others did not–finding it long and overdone. I personally enjoyed the book and often felt that Miller was somehow channeling Homer, J.K. Rowling and Stephen King–in addition to presenting us with the pantheon of Greek gods, she also sprinkled in a lot of magic and some really horrible creatures. Probably what most appealed to me was that, while Circe was beset by many obstacles, she was able to overcome these challenges and eventually find love and fulfillment.
— Bob