Helen Had a Sister
Helen Had A Sister is an interning retelling of Clytemnestra’s (Nestra for short) life. She was the sister of Helen who was taken/went with Paris of Troy, which prompted the start of the Trojan War.
Oh and this review kind of has spoilers. It also is based on Greek lore, so it is also kind of public knowledge.
The book is told from Helen's sister's perspective. It tells of falling in love with Agamemnon, then gradually falling out of love with him. When the Mycenaes join the Spartans in their war with the Trojans, Agamemnon sacrifices his daughter to the gods to summon good weather. The ships needed wind. In this author’s retelling, this is the critical moment that leads Nestra to plot against her husband. Nestra falls in love with Aegisthus, who is the…
Ok on second thought, let me map this out.
Son of Thyestes who was Atreus’s brother and Atreus's son is Agamemnon. So they were cousin’s right? Ok, so Aegisthus killed Atreus to put his father in power. But Agamemnon eventually takes control of the kingdom back from him and Aegisthus goes into exile. Anyways, Nestra kills Agamemnon when he returns.
In one detail in the book that is kind of random and perhaps not 100% thought out. Agamemnon returns with Cassandra, who he has taken as a lover. After Nestra kills Agamemnon, Cassandra runs to Nestra and impales herself on the dagger Nestra was holding. It's unclear if Cassandra knew she was running into a dagger or not. Which all strikes me as a little odd. In Homer’s telling of the story, and the source of the material for the book, Nestra murders Cassandra too. I guess this accident is a way of recasting Nestra.
Overall I thought the book was very good and an interning take on mythology. One that is pretty compelling, the author explains her rationalizing at the back of the book, her take on events. And ultimately I think it makes a lot of sense.
There is one thing I wanted to mention, the book does have one fairly explicit sex scene. I thought the book handled that fairly tastefully until that point, which I thought was too explicit. But let me stop grasping my pearls now.
Length: 266 Pages
Tense: Simple Past
Perspective: First person
Comments
Post a Comment