Clytemnestra by Costanza Casati was recommended by my 23-year-old daughter. I read it in three days. As a mom, I understood the female rage and didn't find it shallow at all. I grew up hearing other mothers say, "You won't understand until you are a mom." This sucks especially when you are a young woman, and you think you know it all. It sucks because it is true. Clytemnestra loses two children because of one tyrant king. Of course she's pissed! This is not textbook! This is what a mother would feel if someone killed their children. Now take those same feelings and cast them onto a woman who grew up not as a Disney princess, but as a Spartan warrior. The story spends a lot of time explaining how Spartan women grew up with more freedom to be like men than other women in Greece. Clytemnestra was stripped of that freedom when she was forced to marry after her father betrayed her.
Of course, this book is more than just a pissed-off Spartan princess turned queen; it examines the deep loss Clytemnestra felt and digs deeper into the human condition to find humility, a semblance of forgiveness, and possibly even love again, even through the broken pieces. The English teacher in me sees Clytemnestra's journey as complex, strong, and humble. Everyone knows Greeks are often brought down by hubris. Clytemnestra, despite her losses, moves past her pride and becomes not what she was in Sparta as a princess, but what she becomes as a Queen who puts aside her own hubris for the ones she loves. In the end, she doesn't care to be remembered. How can you not love a woman like this?
And lastly, for all of you tender, understanding men out there, there is a place for you in this story, one that glorifies its men as well as its women. To my own daughter, thank you! Keep bringing great books into my world.
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