Elektra by Jennifer Saint | Spoiler-Free Review

 

"The gods demand their justice, but we suffer for it every time."

    Elektra by Jennifer Saint is a retelling of the Greek myth of Agamemnon and the curse on his house. As Jennifer did with her previous book Ariadne, she took a familiar story and rewrote it with the women at the forefront, making them the protagonists instead of the men. It pulls from many different stories (including Homer's Iliad) but the main source is The Oresteia, a trilogy of Greek plays written in the 5th century BCE by the Eleusinian dramatist, Aeschylus, who was known as the "Father of Tragedy." The trilogy is made up of Agamemnon, The Libation Bearers, and The Eumenides. 

    Elektra follows three main characters: Clytemnestra, Helen's twin sister and the wife of Agamemnon; Elektra, their daughter; and Cassandra, a Trojan princess cursed by Apollo with the gift of prophecy, but no one would ever believe her words. The book follows the years of the Trojan War, as well as before and after. 

    The House of Atreus is cursed, a bloodline tainted with a vicious cycle of violence and murder. It goes back to Tantalus who, in his envy of the gods, served them the meat of his own son during a great feast. Enraged, the gods imprisoned him in the deepest parts of the Underworld, unable to be satiated. Now his great-grandson, Agamemnon, sits on his throne in Mycenae. Agamemnon and his brother Menelaus marry two sisters, Clytemnestra and Helen. Yes, that Helen. We'll get to her in a moment. 

    Before the war, Agamemnon and Clytemnestra lived a happy life, along with their three daughters; Iphigenia, the eldest, then Chrysothemis and Elektra. Clytemnestra is pregnant with their fourth child, a boy to be named Orestes, when Helen is stolen from her home and taken to Troy by one of it's princes, Paris. Agamemnon rallies to this insult and leads a great siege to Troy to reclaim his brother's wife, and destroy the mighty city along the way. 

    Clytemnestra nurses a fiery rage in her after Agamemnon commits an unthinkable act in order to sail to Troy, eager for him to die. Cassandra, Paris's sister, sees the future fall of Troy in his eyes and tries to warn her people, but of course, she is never taken seriously. And Elektra, a mere ten years old, waits in the palace of Mycenae for her beloved father to return to her, ever the dutiful daughter.

    Even though the novel is told through the points of view of these three women, Agamemnon is truly the center of the story. Each of the women are motivated by him in one way or another, and it is through his hubris and dismissal of women that draws them all together. 

“Nothing brought [the men] more joy than the fall of a lovely woman. They picked over her reputation like vultures, scavenging for every scrap of flesh they could devour.”

    Obviously, the characters are what make this story. We hardly get anything about the Greek palaces, or Troy's battlefields, or the sea that separates the two nations. What we do get are the emotions and thoughts of these women. Clytemnestra becomes so consumed by her need for revenge that she is blind to all around her. Cassandra is scared and distraught, forced to see her city burn at the hands of faceless and nameless men. And Elektra is devoted to Agamemnon, and seethes in anger as she watches her mother forget and betray him. And we, as the reader, can't help but want to jump through the pages and shake their shoulders, to scream at them that nothing is worth their futures. If you know the myths, then you know exactly what I'm talking about.

    I recommend Elektra if you like Greek mythology, dysfunctional family dynamics, and tragic stories. Be aware: there are no happy endings here.

    I gave Elektra a CAWPILE score of 7.71, which comes out to 4 out of 5 stars.

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I gotta say, I am living for this revival in Greek retellings. I hope one day to collect them all, like Pokémon. Elektra may not have been my favorite that I've read so far, but it certainly wasn't the worst, and that's also not really saying much considering I've read so many. And I won't stop any time soon! 

Have you read Elektra? What did you think of it? Who's POV did you enjoy the most? Let me know in the comments, or tweet at me @AllyEmReads. (Personally, I thought Cassandra's chapters were the most compelling. I definitely felt the most for her.)

Until next time, friends!