Elektra: The mesmerising story of Troy from the three women its heart

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I was looking forward to this because I've read the Sophocles and am familiar with the whole Freudian aspect from within Psychology and frankly, it was just nicely MESSED up as a tragedy. The biggest sin Elektra commits is making me wish I were reading a version of the story with a more traditional focus. Cassandra, Princess of Troy, and cursed by Apollo to see the future but never to be believed when she speaks of it. We read her terrible curse from Apollo as she refuses him to rape her (literally whenever Apollo appears on the scene in any myth you know someone will be sexually assaulted).

I feel like Saint's retellings just follow the original texts too closely, but that's on me, not her. Each of the three POC characters are deliciously complex, and the relationship between Elektra and Clytemnestra is brilliant. The latter was surprising to me since she wasn't related and thus didn't really fit despite what happened to her after the fall of Troy. It’s gorgeously written, tells the Achilles myths in a way that feels very fresh, and dives deeply into the Achilles/Patroclus relationship that Elektra strangely both emphasizes and glosses over.If I were Jennifer Saint’s editor, I honestly might’ve asked her what the novel would look like with Cassandra and Elektra’s POV cut entirely; it might not have worked, but I think it would have been worth a try. I love the way Jennifer Saint re-tells Greek mythology while centering the experiences of women rather than men. I loved reading through Cassandra’s chapters as I do have a slight bias towards her (hi, hello, I’m an Apollo lover) but I think some of my favourite parts to read were Clytemnestra’s interactions with her sister Helen, yes that Helen.

Though the title would have you thinking this story is centered on one woman, it actually follows three separate women during the time of the Trojan War.Saints considerable writing skills the book avoids this problem and is clearly laid out and entertaining. CassandraPrincess of Troy, and cursed by Apollo to see the future but never to be believed when she speaks of it. A major part of the narrative is shared between Elektra, Cassandra and Clytemnestra- each of whom gives us a brief picture of the significant events that impact their lives before, during and after the fall of Troy. There is dramatic irony to it, as Elektra is reflecting on this the chapter after Cassandra commits suicide (well, successfully begs someone to kill her), but Elektra’s narrative weight, given to her by her equal pagetime to the others and her status as the titular character, makes it feel like the reader is supposed to care for and empathize with her. Her drowning, never-ending grief was portrayed so well, her fierce love for her children felt so tangible that it felt like *I* lost people beloved to me as well.

Yes, I was surprised because we are talking about Elektra and her mother, Clytemnestra; can't love them both, every time you should hate one of them, but not in this book! But we also get to see her as a mother before Troy and after, providing Cassandra with death to escape her torment (this scene was wrote really beautifully too despite it being about death). A bloodline long-tainted by the damning cycle of generational violence and vengeance tarnishes this House. It attempted to cover so much ground but none of it contained depth or was written in a way that made me feel for any of the characters (ok a tiny bit for Clytemnestra).

Now I recognize that I don't have to like any of the characters for the book to be good, and that some characters are written with the intention of being unlikable. If you don’t know much about these legendary tales then this would not be a problem, but for me I wanted a bit more originality in the whole story and I wanted more twists to a story I already knew. Instead as Elektra takes the view of the sacrifice being god ordained- she cannot understand why Clytemnestra is grieving and hating her father. If he did it to indeed help his brother or because Troy was so rich and he wanted the spoils as well as the fame, we'll also never know for sure. This is something I find particularly important in books including multiple viewpoints; I could tell one woman from another, and I wanted to hear every perspective in turn.