Elektra by Jennifer Saint

Elektra

by Jennifer Saint

**The spellbinding new retelling of the Trojan War drawn from the perspective of the fearless women at the heart of it all.**

'The story and its characters swept me up and engulfed me, I could not put this one down' ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ REAL READER REVIEW

'I was glued to it from beginning to end and could not wait to recommend to my friends afterwards.' ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ REAL READER REVIEW

'Jennifer Saint has breathed new life into this myth and put her own stamp on it' ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ REAL READER REVIEW

'A brilliant read' Women & Home | 'A spirited retelling' Times | 'Beautiful and absorbing' Fabulous | 'A vivid reimagining of Greek mythology' Harper's Bazaar | 'Jennifer Saint has done an incredible job' Red

The House of Atreus is cursed. A bloodline tainted by a generational cycle of violence and vengeance. This is the story of three women, their fates inextricably tied to this curse, and the fickle nature of men and gods.

Clytemnestra
The sister of Helen, wife of Agamemnon - her hopes of averting the curse are dashed when her sister is taken to Troy by the feckless Paris. Her husband raises a great army against them and determines to win, whatever the cost.

Cassandra
Princess of Troy, and cursed by Apollo to see the future but never to be believed when she speaks of it. She is powerless in her knowledge that the city will fall.

Elektra
The youngest daughter of Clytemnestra and Agamemnon, Elektra is horrified by the bloodletting of her kin. But can she escape the curse, or is her own destiny also bound by violence?

Praise for Jennifer Saint and ARIADNE:

'A lyrical, insightful re-telling' Daily Mail

'Relevant and revelatory' Stylist

'Energetic and compelling' Times

'An illuminating read' Woman & Home

'A story that's impossible to forget' Culturefly

Reviewed by bookstagramofmine on

5 of 5 stars

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Thank you NetGalley for the chance to read and review this ARC!

 

My 4 stars are a very picky four stars, because while Jennifer Saints writing is insanely good (lyrical but also clean), she cannot make me love or feel sympathy for Elektra. But Elektra has always been a tough character to take on and this was an ambitious project for Jennifer Saint.

 

Yet, I do feel like Jennifer Saint was able to make us understand her a bit more, if not love her. Elektra, is like her mother in that sense, she does not need our sympathy or our love, she condemns her siblings, and like Clytemnestra, gives more time to the dead than those who are alive. Her entitlement is that of her fathers, for example her poor friend who supported her unconditionally was tossed aside the second she could find a suitor of rank. She assumes that Cassandra would have told her wonderful stories of her father, without the slightest thought of the fact that he had killed her family and assaulted her. Elektra belongs to another time, the time where you were supposed to revenge your fathers ghost and be glad that he has slaves (she says that her mother would deny her father the comfort of slaves in that sense*), and a sacrifice for the gods (the sacrifice of Iphigenia) is perfectly necessary and appropriate, and she represents that thought fully. I feel like she can be appropriately compared to Ajax, from the play by the same name by Sophocles in the sense that the death of Ajax can be compared to the death of a particular style of hero. The death of Clytemnestra and Menelaus’s subsequent refusal to support Orestes and Elektra, and also not take revenge for the sake of Agamemnon, feels like the end of the curse, especially with Orestes and Elektra purified as well. But Orestes rules, and Elektra who has demanded this, hides away and presumably never really gains power again. Her hiding away parallels Ajax’s death; and her style of revenge, the ways of the old die with her even if the family line continues.

 

The book has three POVs, Cassandra, Clytemnestra and Elektra, and does a fantastic job of complicating each woman. We have doses of Helen, she is the daughter of Zeus, and entitled to her share of bloodshed, but she’s also kind, warm and loyal, and able to see past the curse of Apollo.

 

*I don’t know what BookBub will allow me to say. 

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Reading updates

  • 13 November, 2021: Started reading
  • 7 December, 2021: Finished reading
  • 7 December, 2021: Reviewed