Helen of Troy

by Margaret George

Bestselling novelist, Margaret George, here imagines the story of Helen of Sparta and Troy, one the most amazing female mythical characters, ancient or modern. A war, which lasted for 10 years, was fought over her and nearly all the stories of the heroic age were bound into her story - an measure of her capacity to galvanise men into action.

Using her unique gift for research and recreation, Margaret George brings to life a Helen who was a tantalizing enigma from the very first, flesh and blood certainly, but also immortal, as the daughter of Zeus. Her beauty is so overwhelming and dangerous that, as a child, she is protected from seeing her reflection. Kings and princes compete for her hand in marriage, and she marries Menelaus of Sparta, but before marrying him all her other suitors swear to help bring Helen back should she ever be abducted again. When she falls for Paris of Troy it is assumed that he has taken her by force, when her actions are far more complex. The suitors are obliged to honor their oath and so the Trojan War begins - the most pivotal event in the history of ancient Greece.... and the tragedy of these individuals.

• ISBN10: 0670037788
• ISBN13: 9780670037780
• Publish Date: 5 September 2007 (first published 3 March 2006)
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 12 November 2014
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Viking Books
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 611
• Language: English

Reviews

[Rinn]

Also posted on my blog, Rinn Reads.

I like to think that I'm a fast reader. Generally the speed at which I read a book - assuming I have the time - reflects how much I'm enjoying it. And although I did enjoy this book, it was SUCH a slow read. I have no idea why, but it just seemed to drag, even though the content was interesting. I love the Iliad and the whole story of the Trojan War, but this book didn't grip me as much as I thought it would.
The pacing of the book was slow and the passage of time was very unclear for the majority of it. Timing also seemed rather erratic - the chapters in Sparta before Helen met Paris took forever, whereas the actual events at Troy - that were supposed to last ten years - just rushed by. I was unsure for most of the book how much time had passed. For example, Achilles and his son confused me - I got the impression that when the war began, Achilles was 16 or 17, of a similar age to Paris. He dies in the ninth year of the war, I believe, before the arrival of Philoctetes which ultimately leads to the downfall of Troy, fulfilling one of the final prophecies. This would make him 25 or 26 when he died, yet he has a 15 year old son? I know these events are recorded in many ancient texts and sources, and it is not something of George's invention, but more clarification on the timeframe would make things easier to follow.
Helen was quite a dull narrator too. I liked the way George managed to actually get the battles into the story, even though Helen couldn't actually see them, it meant that there was actually some action rather than just narrative. I didn't really feel anything for her though, and Paris just irritated me - so naive and selfish, although I suppose that is generally how he is always represented. The character with the most depth was actually Menelaus, since we saw several sides of his character.
I have no idea why it took me so long to read. If you're interested in Troy, I would recommend it though.

[Terri M. LeBlanc]

As I listened to this book, I kept wondering if I would have liked it better if I had read the book instead. The narrator made Helen sound whiny and selfish. I couldn't wait to be done with the book because of the grating voice of the recording artist.

The one insightful thing about the Trojan War was that it was necessarily caused by Helen and Paris running off together. Although that was one of many things that precipitated the siege on the city. I found that twist on the legend to possibly be closer history than we know.

[ladygrey]

I hoped that this would be an intriguing story that adds new depth to the characters and machinations of the Trojan War; that it would take what we already knew and make it interesting, give it depth and conflict and emotion so that it was still interesting. But I didn't feel that [a:Margaret George|3356|Fyodor Dostoevsky|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1251797195p2/3356.jpg] did that at all.

Since [b:Helen of Troy|10114|Helen of Troy|Margaret George|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1166115554s/10114.jpg|12851] is written from the first person point of view of Helen, she needed to be a compelling woman of intelligence and strength and force of will caught in the tides of love and politics and the gods and that would have been interesting. Unfortunately, [a:Margaret George|3356|Fyodor Dostoevsky|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1251797195p2/3356.jpg]'s Helen is nearly as paltry as other accounts have portrayed her, just more detailed.

The love story wasn't strong enough to propel the world into war. I didn't fall in love with Paris and I needed to if I was going to understand why Helen loved him and left her child for him.

The writing, I thought, was almost too simple and straight forward and despite how long the book is I felt it remained always on the surface of the story, skimming over moments and details without depth or weight or intrigue.

Any story of historical fiction that examines a particular moment in time labors under the burden of an audience that already knows how it ends. In order to be worthy of the retelling the story needs to bring something new or exciting to what we know and I don't think [b:Helen of Troy|10114|Helen of Troy|Margaret George|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1166115554s/10114.jpg|12851] managed that.