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Moonkiszt's Reviews > The Last Song of Penelope
The Last Song of Penelope (The Songs of Penelope, #3)
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Jul 17, 2024
bookshelves: celebrity-featured-holy-notorious, consequential-outcomes, enslaved-peoples, explicit-blood-gore-crunchy-bones, female-beings, feminine-divine-ish, feminist-lens-woman-s-rough-road, fool-me-once-fool-me-twice, geo-mediterranean, god-s-religions-creeds-motivations, gods-he-she-they-it, home-sought-found-lost-tossed, legends-myths-epics, loyalty, mighty-musing, mind-the-gods-or-else, morphing-into-something-else, mother-child-connundrum, murder-mayhem-kills, parent-child-relationships, poetry-poems, power-wielding-influence, resulted-in-a-lot-of-googling, retelling-of-an-old-familiar-tale, revengemotiv8s, royalty, serialreading, tangled-web-of-manips, tragically-tragic, via-netgalley, violence-to-communities, violence-to-individuals, wars-and-rumors-of-war, woe-is-me-woebegone, writerswriting
In this third book of Claire North's Songs of Penelope series - she renders a very interesting take on the story of Odysseus in the narrative voices of female Goddesses of Greek myth lore: in the first book Ithaca it was Hera a reader heard from. In the second book House of Odysseus it was narrated by Aphrodite, and in The Last Song of Penelope we hang with Athena who directs a reader's gaze to the physical world and persons of interest, while filling their ears or eyes (depending on reading format) with the inner "view" only she would have.
This continues to be my favorite part of these books. To be given a Goddess's Eye view of a classic work. . .and in this particular work the author has brilliantly NOT chosen the main protagonist of the classic work to feature, but rather one that is overlooked, Penelope, Odysseus' wife and queen. An intriguing choice because she is a woman, a lesser-than person in the time of the classic work's writing. Disturbing to admit that in our present time things haven't changed enough in those role assignments and assumptions. To have differing Goddesses providing insights to the reader, and the long tale split three ways, gives three thought-provoking reads.
For me, Athena is a welcome choice as narrator. Penelope needs to deal with a murderous son, and the return of Odysseus, his beggar masquerade, and the massacres his presence brings about. This is my least favorite part of the classic, and North stays true to this stupidity (imho). Yet he is Athena's favorite and she stays on his side of all his questionable choices. As does Penelope, but. . and here is the big but I like in this retelling. . .she's not doing it for him or her. . .she's all about their people and community. It's a sacrifice I can barely stand but as the curtains close, I appreciate the author's El Fin.
Of the three, this was my favorite, hence the extra star.
*A sincere thank you to Claire North, Redhook Books, and NetGalley for an ARC to read and review independently.*
This continues to be my favorite part of these books. To be given a Goddess's Eye view of a classic work. . .and in this particular work the author has brilliantly NOT chosen the main protagonist of the classic work to feature, but rather one that is overlooked, Penelope, Odysseus' wife and queen. An intriguing choice because she is a woman, a lesser-than person in the time of the classic work's writing. Disturbing to admit that in our present time things haven't changed enough in those role assignments and assumptions. To have differing Goddesses providing insights to the reader, and the long tale split three ways, gives three thought-provoking reads.
For me, Athena is a welcome choice as narrator. Penelope needs to deal with a murderous son, and the return of Odysseus, his beggar masquerade, and the massacres his presence brings about. This is my least favorite part of the classic, and North stays true to this stupidity (imho). Yet he is Athena's favorite and she stays on his side of all his questionable choices. As does Penelope, but. . and here is the big but I like in this retelling. . .she's not doing it for him or her. . .she's all about their people and community. It's a sacrifice I can barely stand but as the curtains close, I appreciate the author's El Fin.
Of the three, this was my favorite, hence the extra star.
*A sincere thank you to Claire North, Redhook Books, and NetGalley for an ARC to read and review independently.*
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Reading Progress
June 6, 2024
– Shelved as:
to-read
June 6, 2024
– Shelved
July 7, 2024
–
Started Reading
July 17, 2024
– Shelved as:
celebrity-featured-holy-notorious
July 17, 2024
– Shelved as:
fool-me-once-fool-me-twice
July 17, 2024
– Shelved as:
feminist-lens-woman-s-rough-road
July 17, 2024
– Shelved as:
feminine-divine-ish
July 17, 2024
– Shelved as:
female-beings
July 17, 2024
– Shelved as:
explicit-blood-gore-crunchy-bones
July 17, 2024
– Shelved as:
enslaved-peoples
July 17, 2024
– Shelved as:
consequential-outcomes
July 17, 2024
– Shelved as:
legends-myths-epics
July 17, 2024
– Shelved as:
home-sought-found-lost-tossed
July 17, 2024
– Shelved as:
gods-he-she-they-it
July 17, 2024
– Shelved as:
god-s-religions-creeds-motivations
July 17, 2024
– Shelved as:
geo-mediterranean
July 17, 2024
– Shelved as:
mother-child-connundrum
July 17, 2024
– Shelved as:
morphing-into-something-else
July 17, 2024
– Shelved as:
mind-the-gods-or-else
July 17, 2024
– Shelved as:
mighty-musing
July 17, 2024
– Shelved as:
loyalty
July 17, 2024
– Shelved as:
resulted-in-a-lot-of-googling
July 17, 2024
– Shelved as:
power-wielding-influence
July 17, 2024
– Shelved as:
poetry-poems
July 17, 2024
– Shelved as:
parent-child-relationships
July 17, 2024
– Shelved as:
murder-mayhem-kills
July 17, 2024
– Shelved as:
via-netgalley
July 17, 2024
– Shelved as:
tragically-tragic
July 17, 2024
– Shelved as:
tangled-web-of-manips
July 17, 2024
– Shelved as:
serialreading
July 17, 2024
– Shelved as:
royalty
July 17, 2024
– Shelved as:
revengemotiv8s
July 17, 2024
– Shelved as:
retelling-of-an-old-familiar-tale
July 17, 2024
– Shelved as:
woe-is-me-woebegone
July 17, 2024
– Shelved as:
wars-and-rumors-of-war
July 17, 2024
– Shelved as:
violence-to-individuals
July 17, 2024
– Shelved as:
violence-to-communities
July 17, 2024
– Shelved as:
writerswriting
July 17, 2024
–
Finished Reading
