Clytemnestra

Product Information

Acceptance or vengeance - infamy follows both. So you bide your time and wait, until you might force the gods' hands and take revenge. Until you rise. For you understood something that the others don't. If power isn't given to you, you have to take it for yourself.

Casati’s careful consideration of different perspectives allows the reader to sympathize deeply with Clytemnestra. In Greek mythology, Clytemnestra is often remembered for being insane — a wretched woman who, blinded by a need for vengeance, murders her husband. But in Casati’s novel, she is a fiery figure, still fueled by a burning desire for revenge, but never painted as delusional. “Clytemnestra” shows how she is shaped by trauma yet still bravely holds onto power in a time when women were seen as subhuman. Casati’s clear feminist stance makes this retelling fresh despite being based on stories that are thousands of years old.

Advance Praise

You are born to a king, but marry a tyrant. You stand helplessly as he sacrifices your child to placate the gods. You watch him wage war on a foreign shore and comfort yourself with violent thoughts of your own.

Clytemnestra is one of several narrators of A Thousand Ships (2019) by Natalie Haynes, which retells the Trojan War from the perspective of the women involved. Until the Atreidi — Menelaus and Agamemnon — arrive, and Clytemnestra’s world starts to crumble. Helen makes the short-sighted and ill-advised decision to marry Menelaus, practically severing the sisters’ weakening bond. Soon after, everything is taken from Clytemnestra by the hands of the cruel Agamemnon — in league with her own father! — in a plot to secure her hand in marriage. Everything you could want from a mythology-based fantasy. In the vein of both Jennifer Saint and Natalie Haynes, fans will absolutely love this one too. I would venture to say that her name will soon be added to theirs when people are comparing books within this sub-genre of mythological/historical fantasy.As a woman of Sparta, she was able to choose her own husband, and when a kind and adventurous foreign king graced their palace, she fell in love. She envisioned nothing but a happy future surrounded by those she loved. The writing of Clytemnestra is even more absorbing than its structure. Every word of the book feels intentional and fitting for its setting, characters, and plot. The syntax and figurative language, especially its similes and metaphors, mirror Clytemnestra’s character arc through the novel: in just the first few sections the writing evolves, like her, from devoted and burning and focused to considering and tentatively unguarded, more and more relaxed and peaceful until the plot’s fever breaks into tragedy. It continues to develop as the book goes on with concise, articulated grace perfectly suited to Clytemnestra herself, and complements the book’s atmosphere with its imagery and emotional pull. I love how vicious the language of this book gets at points, especially in contrast with how refreshing its moments of delicacy or natural beauty are-- its imagery of changing seasons to note the passing of time is particularly striking when considered in the context of Clytemnestra’s emotional state and character development. Also notable is the dialogue, which itself is written thoughtfully and grippingly: each character has a distinct voice that matches, or in many more intriguing cases contrasts, the protagonist’s view of them. Clytemnestra is a badass. That’s the simplest way I can put it. I could seriously go on and on about this character and the mark she left on me through Costanza Casati’s depiction of her in her debut novel.

Acceptance or vengeance, infamy follows both. So, you bide your time and force the gods' hands in the game of retribution. For you understood something long ago that the others never did.THE PERFECT GIFT FOR THE QUEEN IN YOUR LIFE – THE TALE OF A WOMAN THE WORLD SHALL NEVER FORGET . . . You may recognize the name from “classical texts” (written by men) you had to read for literature or history class. Aeschylus wrote of her in his play Agamemnon (though technically, the story is incomplete without the rest of the Oresteia), by Homer in the Odyssey, Ovid in Ars Armatoria, and Seneca in Agamemnon. Clytemnestra’s character is imagined with nuanced complexity. She rages with hatred, wanting vengeance for those she has lost, but is also capable of intense love. Clytemnestra is one well-written, solid protagonist. For this, she says, they’ll need “ambition, courage, distrust”. If her message is cryptic in that moment, it becomes increasingly clear as the two princesses grow older and face one betrayal after another.