North focuses her lens unremittingly on the world of women as they work in the shadows. She steers events unobtrusively, ridicules men, critiques male heroes and the poets who honor their exploits while completely overlooking the role of women in their successes, bemoans her position as a sister/wife of convenience to the king of the gods, and reserves her most scathing commentary for her relatives in the Greek pantheon. She observes the action from the vantage point of a goddess with a bird’s-eye view of Ithaca, zooms in to its more intimate spaces, and gives access to men only conversations and gatherings denied to women. She is fiercely determined to help Penelope without attracting the attention of the other gods. She is snarky, funny, sarcastic, and with a sharp tongue quick to spout contemporary idioms. North takes the unusual step of telling the story through the first-person voice of Hera, the queen of the gods. The narrative is replete with intrigue, spies, trickery, subterfuge, power plays, and betrayal. Ithaca by Claire North is the first book in a trilogy about Penelope’s Ithaca as she struggles to hold the kingdom together during Odysseus’ absence.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |