Ithaca

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Even at moments where Hera outlines what is happening outside of Ithaca, she tells of how other women are being treated. actually yeah I am sick and tired of “feminist” “retellings” of ancient classics, because I’m tired of the “feminist” label being slapped on otherwise mediocre books as a marketing ploy to make them seem somehow more important than they are in reality, which is: not that fucking much! Why does she want Odysseus back, is it because of her love for him or loyalty or maybe only greed to rules like men, like Clytemnestra, her cousin?

After reading and loving A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes last year, I immediately wanted to read more about Penelope. It was impossible to connect to any of the characters, which led to a lack of connection to the book as a whole, majorly detracting from my enjoyment of it. Don’t go into the book expecting a first person narration from Penelope or to focus intimately on a small group of women. Ithaca, the ferociously funny and unbelievably poignant debut novel from Alan McMonagle, combines a fiercely emotional story with crackling prose. And hearing from Hera how much of herself she saw in these queens, how she had experienced the same, really drove home the fact that height of station did nothing to spare these women.

Putting Hera in the narrator's seat, means that the gods and goddesses also linger at the edges of the pages of Ithaca, which is very exciting and leaves this reimagined world wide open for potential further explorations of Olympus. While this might make the story too complicated for some, for me the interweaving of all the perspectives created a vibrant and rich world. These new books show that these women were often just as important – if not moreso – in creating the legendary stories as we know them today. Had I not been familiar with these, I might have gotten lost in the names and the plot and not noticed the superb writing and how North was playing with form.

Having Hera as our narrator brings in the other God’s and she shows just how fickle and unworthy of worship they truly are. These characters are given depth; they are entertainingly and deeply flawed, ultimately grappling with their own place in a patriarchal society . A complete change in style and genre from the usual dystopian fiction for the marvellous Claire North, however Ithaca still boasts her exquisite quality of writing and wicked sense of humour. The POV used throughout the book alternates between third person omniscient, third person limited, second person, first person, then also shifts between present tense and sometimes using past tense.I’ve always disliked Hera, but in the past year or so I’ve read multiple books that showcased facets of her I had never considered.