This is the book that gave women a voice in The Iliad and allowed them to tell their stories. That is the core of the book — their untold narrative.
“Not every story leaves the teller unharmed.”
–Natalie Haynes
What Is It About?
This was never the story of one woman, or two. It was the story of them all…
In the middle of the night, a woman wakes to find her beloved city engulfed in flames. Ten seemingly endless years of conflict between the Greeks and the Trojans are over. Troy has fallen.
From the Trojan women whose fates now lie in the hands of the Greeks, to the Amazon princess who fought Achilles on their behalf, to Penelope awaiting the return of Odysseus, to the three goddesses whose feud started it all, these are the stories of the women whose lives, loves, and rivalries were forever altered by this long and tragic war.
A woman’s epic powerfully imbued with new life, A Thousand Ships puts the women, girls, and goddesses at the center of the Western world’s great tale ever told.
My Opinion
3.5/5⭐
Seriously, Greek myth retellings are my favorite thing. So when I heard about this book being a retelling of The Iliad from a female perspective, I was like "I need this book in my life ASAP" (also, the cover is GORGEOUS!!). A Thousand Ships was a complete surprise, as it wasn't my everyday type of book. I have to admit it was a heavy and complex book, as the writing was very different from what I'm used to, and that was a huge challenge; also let's consider that English isn't my first language so I'm always a second late while trying to I translate everything in my head haha.
The book tells the stories of women who have lost their children, husbands, liberty, and, in some cases, their lives; stories of women and their hope and suffering. According to the blurb, this is an epic narrative about women fighting for their freedom in a world of men. However, I felt the author tried to present as many perspectives as possible, making the book a bit chaotic, therefore making it more like a compilation of all the tales leading up to and after the Trojan War than an actual novel retelling The Iliad's events.
It has been a lifetime since I read Odyssey and the Iliad, but to have read them from the perspective of women? Never. And even when the compilation of stories was a bit too much, it was interesting to see how women from that time suffered because men enjoy playing being alpha males and fighting each other. The book was filled with various stories from different women, some of which were interrelated. But they all had something in common: they were victims of war, as war doesn't just happen on the battlefield, it happens and affects everything around them.
Natalie Haynes tried to give these women a voice, and I felt that even if that was a bit too much with having too many women's stories to follow, it showed the ugly truth of what women have to endure in war, even if The Iliad is a myth because all stories are based at least 1% in real life.
So, if you like reading a bit of a more complex and heavy writing style and love reading retellings, especially about Greek Myths, I would say you try this book.
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