Ariadne

If you’ve been following me on Instagram, you know I’ve been rather preoccupied with moving. I’ve given a brief review of Ariadne there, but you deserve so much more. This is a pretty amazing book.

I received an Advance Copy of Ariadne by Jennifer Saint from Flatiron Books, and I am so grateful. This was an amazing read.

I am not one who is super familiar with Greek mythology. This was even more of a struggle for me when reading Madeline Miller’s Circe, because in that book I felt like there was a lot of assumed background knowledge. Ariadne is not like that.

This book is written from her perspective in the first part while she is a child. It establishes the tone of her family life, of her mother Pasiphae and her brother the Minotaur and her father King Minos. It shows the brokenness of women who have been through too much, and the corruption of the men who took advantage of these women.

Then, the story begins to expand beyond Ariadne and her home. The perspective switches between herself and that of her sister Phaedra. It touches on subjects like rape, deception, sheltered and ignorant housewives. Women who lean into their work to avoid burdens of family life. Postpartum issues that some women face and some cannot comprehend.

As the sisters move through their own paralleled, yet totally different lives, both completely dictated by the wills of men, they find their own strength. They discover their blindness and find ways to cope with it using what little power they have.

Like Circe, Ariadne is a book that reveals the stories and personalities of women who were mentioned and then passed over in Greek mythology. It shows the strength, resilience, and creativity women in the past (and present) have needed in order to have any say in the outcome of their lives. There is so much beauty in this strength.

I will give this book 5/5 stars. I definitely intend to read it again.