Clytemnestra

Author: Costanza Casati

Rating: 5/5

A retelling of the Trojan War from Clytemnestra’s POV.

Spoilers ahead.

Plot Summary

The book starts with Clytemnestra growing up in Sparta. Daughter of Tyndareus and Leda, she’s a skilled warrior and close to her siblings, particularly Helen. She marries King Tantalus of Maeonia and is pregnant with his son. He leaves to prepare the kingdom for her arrival. The priestess of Sparta tells Leda how her daughters will marry twice and thrice. Tyndareus gives Menelaus and Agamemnon refuge in the palace. Agamemnon always has a special eye for Clytemnestra while Menelaus likes Helen. Tyndareus helps the Atredai brothers plan the murder of Tantalus and their son after Helen chooses Menelaus to be her husband. Odysseus marries Penelope (who is Clytemnestra’s cousin). Clytemnestra is made to marry Agamemnon and is raped by him. Clytemnestra adjusts to life as the queen of Mycenae. She hates Agamemnon but loves her four children. There’s some stuff about Timendra, one of Clytemnestra’s sisters, having an affair with a woman and she takes her to her husband’s kingdom. Helen falls for Paris and flees with him to Troy. Agamemnon and Menelaus rally the Greek forces to take down Troy and bring Helen back leaving Clytemnestra to rule Mycenae. Clytemnestra’s favourite daughter is Iphigenia. Her other children are Electra, Chrysothemis and Orestes. Leon is Clytemnestra’s loyal guard and is in love with Iphigenia. Agamemnon asks for Iphigenia to come marry Achilles. Iphigenia is slaughtered as a sacrifice to get the winds back for the ships while Clytemnestra and Leon are unable to help. Clytemnestra is heartbroken and starts sleeping with Leon. Electra has a strained relationship with Clytemnestra because she thinks her mother would have preferred Iphigenia and Electra’s positions to be swapped. Aegisthus arrives at Mycenae and Clytemnestra eventually sleeps with him too. She sends Leon away after executing two elders who weren’t loyal, accusing Leon of being disloyal too. Electra is even angrier. When news comes that Troy has fallen, Clytemnestra imprisons Aegisthus telling him to trust her. She tells the elders this was her grand plan all along. Orestes is sent to marry Hermione (his cousin and Helen’s daughter in Sparta). When Agamemnon comes, Clytemnestra kills him in the bath and Electra finds him there. Clytemnestra kills the seer in the temple (who had ordered Iphigenia to be sacrificed). Aegisthus escapes from prison and kills Cassandra, daughter of Priam, even though Clytemnestra had hoped to help her escape). Electra is even more conflicted about her feelings. Agamemnon’s body is burnt and it’s announced that Clytemnestra is the proper queen. She understands she may be hated but she’d prefer that than to be forgotten.

Review

I am in mourning.

Because I’ve finished this book and it was everything I’ve wanted in a book (especially given how dire this year of reading has been ugh). I’ve expressed, to several people, my frustration with retellings of mythology that just…well, suck (for lack of a better word). I used to think the market had become (semi-)saturated with this genre and was frankly feeling fatigued by the same spin authors placed on women from the oldies, all of which were male-centric narratives.

Casati’s writing was a breath of fresh air (after a looong suffocation). The world-building was absolutely phenomenal. I loved the descriptions of the gymnasium, the gardens, the people and the food! I loved how Casati explored the traditions different kingdoms had like the celebration for Artemis and the way all the fires lit up when Troy fell. Then there are the characters themselves. Clytemnestra was a fierce, warrior queen who took no shit from anyone, who handed out justice the way she wanted and trusted only herself. I loved how questionable some of her decisions were but the whole time, I was totally rooting for her. I fully understood her motivations and she had been so horribly wronged by so many men. I knew I couldn’t get too comfortable when she was reunited with Tantalus and introduced him to their son. I KNEW something bad was afoot but I just wanted an extra chapter or so where everyone was happy before it went to shit.

With every retelling of the Trojan War, I hate Agamemnon even more. I mean, I never liked him much to begin with but, my GODS, he was INFURIATING in this book. I hated how casually he raped all the women he liked. I hated how he had no conscience and didn’t feel at all guilty about sacrificing his daughter.

Tantalus and Odysseus were the only men I liked and even Odysseus had me scratching my head. Tantalus respected Clytemnestra so much and that was something none of her other lovers could truly give her. As for Odysseus, I liked how cunning he was and I thought he and Penelope made a very cute couple. However, I just felt awful that he had played a part in orchestrating Iphigenia’s death.

Helen’s POV has always been difficult for me to understand. This book made me feel so empathetic towards her. Menelaus wasn’t any better than Agamemnon was. And I know that I would definitely be flattered if a handsome young man started paying attention to me. I’d always thought of Helen as being quite two-dimensional, only having her beauty to rely on. In this book, it was interesting to see that she was jealous of Clytemnestra because despite how beautiful she was, all of her Sparta respected and admired Clytemnestra. And who wouldn’t? Clytemenstra was one hell of a formidable woman.

It surprised me that the Greek gods didn’t make any cameos in this one. I liked that it stuck to realism (even though cameos are fun) e.g., having Leda sleep with a foreign king rather than Zeus to explain Helen’s radiating appearance. My one criticism of this book has to do with the time jumps. Some of them were a little abrupt and I was surprised to see, for instance, that NINE years had passed since Iphigenia’s death and that within this period, Clytemenstra had slept with Leon on multiple occasions. Otherwise, I really liked how some parts were slowed down to a slice-of-life pace and the writing was so bloody beautiful, I can hardly believe this was a debut novel!

I’m definitely going to be on the lookout for more of Casati’s books. This has easily been one of the best reads of 2024 so far.