The Goddess

by Miranda Seymour

Book by Seymour, Miranda

Genres: Greek Mythology, Greece

365 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1979

Reviews

[Catherine McCarran · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are aspects of this book I am tempted to call the definitive telling of the Trojan War. The author does an amazing job of placing the characters in a believable, historically plausible setting. The Trojan War was not fought during the classical age of Greece, but in the Bronze Age. We have no written history of that period in Greece or from Troy except for lists written in a script called Linear B. This was a period when history was spoken or sung by men called rhapsodes or bards. Homer set down his Iliad five hundred years after the time the actual war probably took place. There is a huge amount of leeway for the author's creativity and Miranda Seymour does not disappoint.

The characters are all flawed. From Helen's vanity, to Priam's greed, Menelaus's insecurity, and Paris's selfishness. But they all have their positive qualities as well. They are completely believable. Even the arrogant Deiphobus eventually earns Helen's pity.

There are no conversations with the Greek pantheon of gods though the belief and worship of those deities is key to the psychology of the time. Helen herself winds up revered in Troy--a position she enjoys for years until the arrival of the Greeks reveals she's only a flawed and aging woman.

The reason for Helen's flight is given a deeper grounding than love at first sight. Helen wants to avenge her family on her husband Menelaus for a crime he committed before they were married. It makes the coming of Paris seem like the answer to her prayers.

The book is beautifully written--I ran into no jarring anachronisms. The main characters are completely engaging--the lesser ones, like Hector and Andromache are solid, but you never get inside their heads as you do with Helen, Paris and Menelaus.

I highly recommend this book. I enjoyed it far more than Margaret George's more recent "Helen of Troy", which felt bland or Amanda Elyot's "Memoirs of Helen of Troy".

[Kara · Rating 5 out of 5]

The trend these days is to retell the Trojan War by picking one character, for example, Patroclus or Clytemnestra, and tell the war from their POV, making them as sympathetic as possible, and turning them into a blameless victim protagonist.

Here, in this retelling from the 1970's, everyone is horrible. There are no heroes, no one is free of blame, everyone is very much at fault, flawed - especially Helen - and it makes for a very three-dimensional cast.

I also loved how the gods are stripped out of this version - humans spend a lot of time talking about the gods, but no where do they show up, and everything mystical from the original myth has a solid, mundane, real-world explanation here.

It's an excellent portrayal of all the too human war and its very human causes and costs.

[Jamie Millard · Rating 5 out of 5]

The novel retells the Trojan War from a female perspective, primarily Helen's. It allows other women the opportunity to understand that being deemed desirable by society isn't necessarily a bed of delights. The author does an excellent job at describing some of the harsh realities of war. Well done.

[Meg · Rating 3 out of 5]

My first ever soft porn romance read as a teenager. Followed by Catherine Cookson: I progressed onto soft porn horror like James Herbert, for a more honest read. No wonder I grew out of the romance genera.

[Megan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Does a decent job on the story of Helen of Troy, but didn't bring anything new and does a mischaracterization on Paris

[Philana Walker · Rating 4 out of 5]

A story of Troy