A fascinating take on myth, grounded firmly in historical Greece. The world is alien but dimly familiar; the encircled and separated world of women, the grim brooding of a father who still blames his daughter for the loss of his wife in her birth, sisters and rivalries, and the terror of getting shipped off to an entirely new world to join her husband that she knew for only an afternoon previously.
Her decision to intercede on her husband’s behalf is surprising– it doesn’t come from an excess of love the way you’d imagine. Her time in the underworld is bold, deeply marking– and annoying, given how she’s treated. Passion comes in the least likely place– and returning to the world above is a sacrifice, not liberation.
The men are alien and distant, separated by her status and the difference between the reader’s and the characters’ mores. It’s a fascinating look that encourages me to dig deeper into Greek literature.