Status
Available
Call number
Collection
Publication
Bolinda Audio Books
Description
A "retelling of the Greek myth of Agamemnon, Clytemnestra and their children -- a spectacularly audacious, violent and riveting story of family and vengeance"--Dust jacket. Since her husband King Agamemnon left ancient Mycenae to sail with his army for Troy, Clytemnestra rules along with her lover Aegisthus. Together they plot the bloody murder of Agamemnon on the day of his return. Clytemnestra reveals how her husband deceived her eldest daughter Iphigeneia with a promise of marriage to Achilles, only to sacrifice her because that is what he was told would make the winds blow in his favor and take him to Troy. Agamemnon came back from war with a lover himself; now Clytemnestra will achieve vengeance. But her own fate lies in the hands of her son, Orestes, and her vengeful daughter Electra.… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member Cariola
Colm Toibin can always be counted on for excellent writing and intriguing topics. In this new novel, he retells the story well known from the Oresteia in sections focused on Clytemnestra, her son Orestes, and her daughter Elektra; only Clytemnestra's sections employ a first person narrator (and one
Orestes grows into a man of promise with the potential of being a better warrior and a better king than his father, yet, regardless of what he does, he can never quite fill the place that was meant to be his. Toibin leaves the reason for his failure somewhat vague. Is it because he succumbs to the control of his vengeful sister, Elektra? Or because he loses the respect of Leander, his friend and lover? Perhaps he has just been away too long, or perhaps he and his family are cursed?
Initially I wondered why Toibin didn't include the points of view of Aegisthes or Agamemnon. I can't be sure, but I think it may be because he wanted to focus on blood--blood spilled and blood as one's genetic inheritance, and the way that blood influences a family and the events surrounding it for generations. To do that, the focus clearly had to remain on Clytemnestra--herself the result of a violent rape--and her offspring.
My only complaint with House of Names is that is has a rather abrupt, somewhat unfathomable conclusion that left me unsatisfied. I feel like I need to go back and reread the last section, since I don't quite know what Toibin was attempting to do here. But all in all, it was a good read (especially on the heels of some really bad ones).
Show More
is a ghost). The novel begins with the familiar story of Agamemnon sacrificing his daughter Iphigenia to appease the gods and gain a fair wind to pursue his enemies. While his action led to victory in the Trojan War, it also spurred the downfall of his house as Clytemnestra carries out her revenge and together, years later, Orestes and Elektra avenge their father's murder. In addition to giving the reader a deeper window into the psyches of these characters, Toibin fills in the missing years, imagining what had happened when Clytemnestra sent her son into safety, only to have him spirited away by the henchmen of her lover and accomplice, Aegisthes, with a group of kidnapped boys. One of the book's most interesting sections is when Orestes escapes with two friends, Leander and Mitros. The three end up settling for five years with an elderly blind woman whose sons have been conscripted to the wars. This unexpected pastoral sojourn ends up being one of the few positive representations of family in the novel--but, alas, it is all too short.Orestes grows into a man of promise with the potential of being a better warrior and a better king than his father, yet, regardless of what he does, he can never quite fill the place that was meant to be his. Toibin leaves the reason for his failure somewhat vague. Is it because he succumbs to the control of his vengeful sister, Elektra? Or because he loses the respect of Leander, his friend and lover? Perhaps he has just been away too long, or perhaps he and his family are cursed?
Initially I wondered why Toibin didn't include the points of view of Aegisthes or Agamemnon. I can't be sure, but I think it may be because he wanted to focus on blood--blood spilled and blood as one's genetic inheritance, and the way that blood influences a family and the events surrounding it for generations. To do that, the focus clearly had to remain on Clytemnestra--herself the result of a violent rape--and her offspring.
My only complaint with House of Names is that is has a rather abrupt, somewhat unfathomable conclusion that left me unsatisfied. I feel like I need to go back and reread the last section, since I don't quite know what Toibin was attempting to do here. But all in all, it was a good read (especially on the heels of some really bad ones).
Show Less
LibraryThing member jmchshannon
When I think of Greek tragedies and myths, I think of extreme emotion and intense drama. Colm Tóibín’s retelling of Clytemnestra in House of Names lacks both the emotion and the intensity with the result being a impassive story with lackluster characters. One expects more given Mr. Tóibín’s
The strange thing is that Mr. Tóibín still writes a gorgeous story. The sentences are filled with lush descriptions and fierce emotion. They border on the poetic with their capacity to evoke imagery. Yet, for all of their beauty, they do nothing to incite similar emotion in readers.
The fault, I believe, lies in the characters. Of the three narrators, Clytemnestra is by far the strongest and most interesting. Her reasons for revenge not only evoke sympathy but ring with conviction and truth. Her later actions show her relative inexperience in political intrigue, while her eventual regret calls forth her love for her children and the sacrifices she made on their behalf. She is fiery, committed to her family’s welfare, and in over her head. Were the story only told from her point of view, one would have a different opinion of the book.
Unfortunately, there are also Orestes’ and Electra’s viewpoints one must read, and there is where interest wanes and the dispassion begins. Electra comes across as a spoiled child, self-centered and unreasonable. She makes no attempts to understand what occurred to her sister, and her bias towards her deceased father exacerbates her lack of reason. She is the stereotypical bitter woman holding a grunge for no other reason than the fact that she can.
Meanwhile, Orestes is the character to whom things happen and the one who fails to take any action of his own accord. He is purely at the whim of others, recognizing this fact and taking it for granted on one hand and yet lamenting it at the same time. He is less driven than his sister or his mother and spends most of his time searching his feelings, which are muted when compared to his sister’s cold calculations or his mother’s passion. His one shining moment of action feels out of character given what we learn about him to that point, so much so that it is easy to overlook or ignore, especially as the story takes a supernatural bent towards the end.
Both Orestes and Electra pale in comparison to Clytemnestra, and their stories do likewise. Clytemnestra’s narrative passages are what one expects from a Greek myth with its focus on violence and love in equal parts. Orestes’ and Electra’s narratives are lackluster and highly unsympathetic. This split between the three narrators harms the overall story by creating an unevenness in sympathy and general lack of interest for the events.
House of Names is not a faithful retelling of the Clytemnestra myth. Mr. Tóibín takes many liberties with the story and creates his own version. While this is perfectly acceptable, it does make it difficult for any reader who may want to learn more about any of the characters. Readers who are already familiar with the myth may find this a non-issue as they will be better able to discern where Mr. Tóibín deviates and where his version follows the others.
I finished House of Names feeling like I completely missed the point Mr. Tóibín is trying to make. Three weeks later, and I still feel this way. The unevenness of the characters and the general lack of interest and sympathy I feel towards them keeps me from being able to immerse myself into the story. While his prose is beautiful, I find the entire novel clinical and cold, and I cannot shake the feeling that this is on purpose, that Mr. Tóibín makes us feel this way to prove his message. Sadly, I simply cannot determine what that is. Given that it is a re-imagining of a Greek tragedy, I cannot also help but think that listening to it should be the preferred medium by which to experience the story. After all, traditional Greek stories were shared orally. Alas, I read the print version and feel like I missed out on something. As such, my experience with House of Names is a disappointing one.
Show More
propensity for beautiful storytelling.The strange thing is that Mr. Tóibín still writes a gorgeous story. The sentences are filled with lush descriptions and fierce emotion. They border on the poetic with their capacity to evoke imagery. Yet, for all of their beauty, they do nothing to incite similar emotion in readers.
The fault, I believe, lies in the characters. Of the three narrators, Clytemnestra is by far the strongest and most interesting. Her reasons for revenge not only evoke sympathy but ring with conviction and truth. Her later actions show her relative inexperience in political intrigue, while her eventual regret calls forth her love for her children and the sacrifices she made on their behalf. She is fiery, committed to her family’s welfare, and in over her head. Were the story only told from her point of view, one would have a different opinion of the book.
Unfortunately, there are also Orestes’ and Electra’s viewpoints one must read, and there is where interest wanes and the dispassion begins. Electra comes across as a spoiled child, self-centered and unreasonable. She makes no attempts to understand what occurred to her sister, and her bias towards her deceased father exacerbates her lack of reason. She is the stereotypical bitter woman holding a grunge for no other reason than the fact that she can.
Meanwhile, Orestes is the character to whom things happen and the one who fails to take any action of his own accord. He is purely at the whim of others, recognizing this fact and taking it for granted on one hand and yet lamenting it at the same time. He is less driven than his sister or his mother and spends most of his time searching his feelings, which are muted when compared to his sister’s cold calculations or his mother’s passion. His one shining moment of action feels out of character given what we learn about him to that point, so much so that it is easy to overlook or ignore, especially as the story takes a supernatural bent towards the end.
Both Orestes and Electra pale in comparison to Clytemnestra, and their stories do likewise. Clytemnestra’s narrative passages are what one expects from a Greek myth with its focus on violence and love in equal parts. Orestes’ and Electra’s narratives are lackluster and highly unsympathetic. This split between the three narrators harms the overall story by creating an unevenness in sympathy and general lack of interest for the events.
House of Names is not a faithful retelling of the Clytemnestra myth. Mr. Tóibín takes many liberties with the story and creates his own version. While this is perfectly acceptable, it does make it difficult for any reader who may want to learn more about any of the characters. Readers who are already familiar with the myth may find this a non-issue as they will be better able to discern where Mr. Tóibín deviates and where his version follows the others.
I finished House of Names feeling like I completely missed the point Mr. Tóibín is trying to make. Three weeks later, and I still feel this way. The unevenness of the characters and the general lack of interest and sympathy I feel towards them keeps me from being able to immerse myself into the story. While his prose is beautiful, I find the entire novel clinical and cold, and I cannot shake the feeling that this is on purpose, that Mr. Tóibín makes us feel this way to prove his message. Sadly, I simply cannot determine what that is. Given that it is a re-imagining of a Greek tragedy, I cannot also help but think that listening to it should be the preferred medium by which to experience the story. After all, traditional Greek stories were shared orally. Alas, I read the print version and feel like I missed out on something. As such, my experience with House of Names is a disappointing one.
Show Less
LibraryThing member John
Colm Toibin
Toibin (1955-) is an Irish novelist, short story writer, essayist, playwright, journalist and critic. House of Names is Toibin's eleventh book. Other popular novels include The Master, The Blackwater Lightship, Brooklyn, The Testament of Mary, Nora Webster.
House of Names
The outlines of
The myth is mentioned in the opening pages of the Odyssey by Homer (late 8th-early 7th centuries BC), where it is said that Aegisthus murdered Agamemnon despite warnings from the gods that this would be "sheer destruction" because, "vengeance would come on him from Orestes." (Odyssey, translated by Richmond Lattimore). The playwright Aeschylus (525-456 BC) dramatized the myth in a trilogy of plays called The Oresteia. There are various references to the myth in classical times but, not surprisingly, there is no standard account. The death of Agamemnon and the vengeance by Orestes are common features, but as Robert Graves notes (Greek Myths, Volume 2), the myth, "has survived in so stylized a dramatic form that its origins are almost obliterated." In one version, Iphigenia is not sacrificed but miraculously spirited away and replaced by an animal. So Toibin is on firm ground in tweaking the story to suit his own dramatic ends.
The novel unfolds like a play in five parts with perspectives first from Clytemnestra, then about Orestes, from Electra (Orestes's sister), Clytemnestra again (as a ghost), finally Orestes after he has killed his mother. Clytemnestra and Electra speak in the first person, Orestes comes to us in the third person each time. The effect is a sense of intimacy with the two women; a greater distance as the story of Orestes unfolds like a Bildungsroman: from child to youth to avenging agent.
The most lacerating part of the novel is the first section in which Clytemnestra recounts the unimaginable anguish, horror, fury, and visceral hatred unleashed when she realizes that Agamemnon really does intend to sacrifice their daughter: "They cut her hair before they dragged her to the place of sacrifice. My daughter had her hands tied tight behind her back, the skin on the wrists raw with the ropes, and her ankles bound. Her mouth was gagged to stop her cursing her father, her cowardly, two-tongued father. Nonetheless, her muffled screams were heard when she finally realized that her father really did mean to murder her, that he did mean to sacrifice her life for his army....I am proud that she never ceased to struggle, that never once, not for one second...did she accept her fate."
Toibin positions the society as one gripped by change, particularly in a much weakened belief in the power of the gods to interfere in worldly affairs. Clytemnestra: "Our appeal to the gods is the same as the appeal a star makes in the sky above before it falls, it is a sound we cannot hear, a sound to which, even if we did hear it, we would be fully indifferent." How much harder to accept the rationale, the belief, that the gods had demanded the sacrifice of Iphigenia as the price for fair winds. Later, Electra muses: "We live in a strange time. A time when gods are fading. Some of us still see them but there are times when we don't. Their power is waning. Soon it will be a different world. It will be ruled by the light of day." But Electra does not welcome this: "...a world barely worth inhabiting. You should feel lucky that you were touched by the old world, that in that house it brushed you with its wings." The age-old pressures of societal and generational change.
This is also a novel about memory, denying it and shaping it to control the present and future for comfort and sometimes self-preservation. Electra, after the murder of Agamemnon: "...all day she [Clytemnestra] and Aegisthus enacted their fiction. If they could keep us from reminding them of what they did, then they could live in a world of their own invention." Everyone invents their own worlds, but in this story is the lack of communication among them that helps perpetuate the cycles of violence. Looking back, Clytemnestra recognizes that she made a serious mistake in not communicating with Electra at the critical moment of her return:
"In the weeks we had been away, Electa had heard rumours and the rumours had aged her and made her voice shrill, or more shill than I had remembered it. She ran toward me for news. I know now that not concentrating on her and her alone was my first mistake with her. The isolation and the waiting seemed to have unhinged some part of her so it was hard to make her listen. Maybe I should have stayed up through the night taking her into my confidence, telling her what had happened to us step by step, minute by minute, and asking her to hold me and comfort me. But my legs still hurt and it was hard to walk. I was ravenous for food and no amount of water quenched my thirst. I wanted to sleep. I should not have brushed her aside, however. Of that I am sure."
I wondered if there were a point to Toibin's choice of title: House of Names? It may lie in the idea that naming is a starting point for impressions and relationships, but what can a name say about the interiority of an individual? Nothing in itself, but Toibin fleshes out the individuals behind the well-known names when he imagines the actions, emotions, intrigue, suspicions, and violence that drive the novel.
Clytemnestra struggles in a poignant monologue as a ghost, wandering the halls of the palace after she has been murdered, when names, recognition, and faces are being lost:
"I feel that if I remain still, something more will come. It is hard not to wander in these spaces when there is silence. There are presences I wish to encounter, presences that are close but not close enough to touch or be seen. I cannot think of the names, their names. And I cannot see faces clearly, although there are moments when I have been quiet, when I have made no effort for some time to remember or focus, moments when a face approaches, the face of someone I have known, but it fades before it becomes anyone I can recognize."
I think Toibin succeeds in creating internal lives and feelings to attach to the names. His world is as plausible as other forms of the myth and he gives substance to the characters, their emotions, their actions. Murder is not a common human trait, but other things on display here are: relationships between children and parents, among siblings, ambition, loss, power, success, failure, regret, gods, and afterlife. An imaginative re-telling of a very ancient myth.
Toibin (1955-) is an Irish novelist, short story writer, essayist, playwright, journalist and critic. House of Names is Toibin's eleventh book. Other popular novels include The Master, The Blackwater Lightship, Brooklyn, The Testament of Mary, Nora Webster.
House of Names
The outlines of
Show More
the ancient Greek myth of Agamemnon, Clytemnestra and Orestes are well known: in order to secure the favour of the gods for favourable winds needed to launch the fleet that was to sail to Troy, Agamemnon, commander of the Greeks, sacrificed his own daughter, Iphigenia who, along with her mother, Clytemnestra, had been lured to the port where the fleet was becalmed with the promise that she was to be married to Achilles. Clytemnestra is, understandably, enraged but she hides her feelings and acts the dutiful wife for the ten years that Agamemnon is absent at Troy. Well, not entirely dutiful because she takes as a lover a man called Aegisthus whose family has had a hate for Agamemnon's family for generations. Clytemnestra kills Agamemnon on the day of his triumphal return from Troy. But this only continues the cycle of violence and Clytemnestra, herself, is murdered by her son Orestes. The myth is mentioned in the opening pages of the Odyssey by Homer (late 8th-early 7th centuries BC), where it is said that Aegisthus murdered Agamemnon despite warnings from the gods that this would be "sheer destruction" because, "vengeance would come on him from Orestes." (Odyssey, translated by Richmond Lattimore). The playwright Aeschylus (525-456 BC) dramatized the myth in a trilogy of plays called The Oresteia. There are various references to the myth in classical times but, not surprisingly, there is no standard account. The death of Agamemnon and the vengeance by Orestes are common features, but as Robert Graves notes (Greek Myths, Volume 2), the myth, "has survived in so stylized a dramatic form that its origins are almost obliterated." In one version, Iphigenia is not sacrificed but miraculously spirited away and replaced by an animal. So Toibin is on firm ground in tweaking the story to suit his own dramatic ends.
The novel unfolds like a play in five parts with perspectives first from Clytemnestra, then about Orestes, from Electra (Orestes's sister), Clytemnestra again (as a ghost), finally Orestes after he has killed his mother. Clytemnestra and Electra speak in the first person, Orestes comes to us in the third person each time. The effect is a sense of intimacy with the two women; a greater distance as the story of Orestes unfolds like a Bildungsroman: from child to youth to avenging agent.
The most lacerating part of the novel is the first section in which Clytemnestra recounts the unimaginable anguish, horror, fury, and visceral hatred unleashed when she realizes that Agamemnon really does intend to sacrifice their daughter: "They cut her hair before they dragged her to the place of sacrifice. My daughter had her hands tied tight behind her back, the skin on the wrists raw with the ropes, and her ankles bound. Her mouth was gagged to stop her cursing her father, her cowardly, two-tongued father. Nonetheless, her muffled screams were heard when she finally realized that her father really did mean to murder her, that he did mean to sacrifice her life for his army....I am proud that she never ceased to struggle, that never once, not for one second...did she accept her fate."
Toibin positions the society as one gripped by change, particularly in a much weakened belief in the power of the gods to interfere in worldly affairs. Clytemnestra: "Our appeal to the gods is the same as the appeal a star makes in the sky above before it falls, it is a sound we cannot hear, a sound to which, even if we did hear it, we would be fully indifferent." How much harder to accept the rationale, the belief, that the gods had demanded the sacrifice of Iphigenia as the price for fair winds. Later, Electra muses: "We live in a strange time. A time when gods are fading. Some of us still see them but there are times when we don't. Their power is waning. Soon it will be a different world. It will be ruled by the light of day." But Electra does not welcome this: "...a world barely worth inhabiting. You should feel lucky that you were touched by the old world, that in that house it brushed you with its wings." The age-old pressures of societal and generational change.
This is also a novel about memory, denying it and shaping it to control the present and future for comfort and sometimes self-preservation. Electra, after the murder of Agamemnon: "...all day she [Clytemnestra] and Aegisthus enacted their fiction. If they could keep us from reminding them of what they did, then they could live in a world of their own invention." Everyone invents their own worlds, but in this story is the lack of communication among them that helps perpetuate the cycles of violence. Looking back, Clytemnestra recognizes that she made a serious mistake in not communicating with Electra at the critical moment of her return:
"In the weeks we had been away, Electa had heard rumours and the rumours had aged her and made her voice shrill, or more shill than I had remembered it. She ran toward me for news. I know now that not concentrating on her and her alone was my first mistake with her. The isolation and the waiting seemed to have unhinged some part of her so it was hard to make her listen. Maybe I should have stayed up through the night taking her into my confidence, telling her what had happened to us step by step, minute by minute, and asking her to hold me and comfort me. But my legs still hurt and it was hard to walk. I was ravenous for food and no amount of water quenched my thirst. I wanted to sleep. I should not have brushed her aside, however. Of that I am sure."
I wondered if there were a point to Toibin's choice of title: House of Names? It may lie in the idea that naming is a starting point for impressions and relationships, but what can a name say about the interiority of an individual? Nothing in itself, but Toibin fleshes out the individuals behind the well-known names when he imagines the actions, emotions, intrigue, suspicions, and violence that drive the novel.
Clytemnestra struggles in a poignant monologue as a ghost, wandering the halls of the palace after she has been murdered, when names, recognition, and faces are being lost:
"I feel that if I remain still, something more will come. It is hard not to wander in these spaces when there is silence. There are presences I wish to encounter, presences that are close but not close enough to touch or be seen. I cannot think of the names, their names. And I cannot see faces clearly, although there are moments when I have been quiet, when I have made no effort for some time to remember or focus, moments when a face approaches, the face of someone I have known, but it fades before it becomes anyone I can recognize."
I think Toibin succeeds in creating internal lives and feelings to attach to the names. His world is as plausible as other forms of the myth and he gives substance to the characters, their emotions, their actions. Murder is not a common human trait, but other things on display here are: relationships between children and parents, among siblings, ambition, loss, power, success, failure, regret, gods, and afterlife. An imaginative re-telling of a very ancient myth.
Show Less
LibraryThing member Rdra1962
A retelling of a classic. This story could have/should have been gripping and engaging. It started off as such, but quickly became repetitive and rather dull. The characters all seem to become numb, and it was very difficult to feel anything for/about them.
While I love the idea of retelling the
While I love the idea of retelling the
Show More
classics, this offering seemed to suck the drama and tension out of the story. Show Less
LibraryThing member janerawoof
Powerful novel in modern language and a good dose of author's imagination of the epitome of dysfunctional families, the House of Atreus. In first person, Clytemnestra tells us how she and daughter Iphigenia are lured to Aulis with false promise of marriage by Agamemnon and the girl there
Gods may be invoked but they are either indifferent to humankind or they are dying. This novel had a good bit of creativity on this story; it was brought down from myth to tale of an ordinary family, with its greed, duplicity, manipulation, and yes, love.
Highly recommended.
Show More
sacrificed. We suffer Clytemnestra's mental torments. Her little son Orestes is lured away by his mother by the talk of a promised feast and spends time in a sort of prison for juveniles with other boys. Afterwards he and two companions, now young men, escape from its cruelty and spend years with an old woman in her house by cliffs near the sea. One, Leander, becomes a dear friend; a note of subtle homoeroticism pervades the book. We also see Elektra, the sister, convince Orestes to murder her mother. We then hear Clytemnestra as shade, haunting the corridors of the palace. With the ending of Orestes' story there is held out a chance for this family to escape its so far dark fate.Gods may be invoked but they are either indifferent to humankind or they are dying. This novel had a good bit of creativity on this story; it was brought down from myth to tale of an ordinary family, with its greed, duplicity, manipulation, and yes, love.
Highly recommended.
Show Less
LibraryThing member thewanderingjew
House of Names, Colm Toibin, author; Juliet Stevenson, Charlie Anson, Pippa Nixon, narrators
I really enjoyed the narration of this short novel about a famous Greek myth. In order to retain power and success in battle, Agamemnon has arranged for the murder of his own first born daughter, Iphigenia,
Clytemnestra was deceived into preparing her daughter to be the bride of Achilles. Unwittingly, she brought her daughter to her place of slaughter. When her husband, Agamemnon, returns victorious after battle, she is ready to take action to avenge her daughter’s death. Clytemnestra teams up with a prisoner, Aegisthus, to carry out her deed. One murder leads to another in a cycle of violence and betrayal.
Meanwhile, Elektra, sister to Iphigenia, draws her own conclusions about her sister’s death, blaming her mother. Orestes knows his father ordered her murder, but is unaware of anything else that has happened. Both sister and brother have been temporarily neutralized by order of Aegisthus and are imprisoned.
As Toibin reimagines how these characters feel and react, the reader is drawn into the palace and their lives. The secrets that are kept and the deceptions that are planned lead to more and more confusion, rumor and disloyalty. Toibin breathes life into their introspection and behavior.
In this retelling of the story, the characters deal with all the pain of human suffering and the duplicity of those around them. The narrators brought them to life as their performance was not only insightful, but their portrayals felt genuine. I could actually see the shade of Clytemnestra walking in the corridor, feel the blade plunge into the neck of Agamemnon, hear the cries of Iphigenia as she was brought to the slaughter, feel the fear of Orestes as he tried to pretend to be brave and grown up when he was kidnapped and didn’t fully understand his position, and the deceitfulness of Elektra as she carried out her own plans.
I wondered how it would have turned out if Orestes had been a more active participant in the entire process of the palace intrigue. Although he is not, and is rather an observer forced to be on the sidelines, it felt to me like Orestes was the dupe, the foil, the Job like character who was the catalyst for bringing about the events that would take them all into the future. At the end of the novel, there is a germ of greater freedom planted and the yoke of slavery begins to be questioned.
Each character modeled his/her behavior on someone who may or may not have been worthy. Power was constantly changing hands. Fealty was questioned, people were murdered. Elektra’s character was hard to read as she seemed to be part heroine and part villain, as did Aegisthus and even Leander. Orestes seemed to be caught in the trap each laid. I believe the author has done a wonderful job of reimagining this myth, making the inner workings and feelings of the palace and the characters real, rather than objects of imagination.
I am not sure if it is as good a read in a print book, but as an audio, I found it captivating. I could not stop listening and felt regret when I was forced to put it down for awhile by other earthly needs.
I really enjoyed the narration of this short novel about a famous Greek myth. In order to retain power and success in battle, Agamemnon has arranged for the murder of his own first born daughter, Iphigenia,
Show More
to appease the gods who have demanded it. The elders agree that this must be done to save their own lives and protect their families. They agree to tear asunder his family and to take the life of an innocent young girl to save their own. This they believe will turn the tide of battle in their favor. So begins a cycle of deception and violence.Clytemnestra was deceived into preparing her daughter to be the bride of Achilles. Unwittingly, she brought her daughter to her place of slaughter. When her husband, Agamemnon, returns victorious after battle, she is ready to take action to avenge her daughter’s death. Clytemnestra teams up with a prisoner, Aegisthus, to carry out her deed. One murder leads to another in a cycle of violence and betrayal.
Meanwhile, Elektra, sister to Iphigenia, draws her own conclusions about her sister’s death, blaming her mother. Orestes knows his father ordered her murder, but is unaware of anything else that has happened. Both sister and brother have been temporarily neutralized by order of Aegisthus and are imprisoned.
As Toibin reimagines how these characters feel and react, the reader is drawn into the palace and their lives. The secrets that are kept and the deceptions that are planned lead to more and more confusion, rumor and disloyalty. Toibin breathes life into their introspection and behavior.
In this retelling of the story, the characters deal with all the pain of human suffering and the duplicity of those around them. The narrators brought them to life as their performance was not only insightful, but their portrayals felt genuine. I could actually see the shade of Clytemnestra walking in the corridor, feel the blade plunge into the neck of Agamemnon, hear the cries of Iphigenia as she was brought to the slaughter, feel the fear of Orestes as he tried to pretend to be brave and grown up when he was kidnapped and didn’t fully understand his position, and the deceitfulness of Elektra as she carried out her own plans.
I wondered how it would have turned out if Orestes had been a more active participant in the entire process of the palace intrigue. Although he is not, and is rather an observer forced to be on the sidelines, it felt to me like Orestes was the dupe, the foil, the Job like character who was the catalyst for bringing about the events that would take them all into the future. At the end of the novel, there is a germ of greater freedom planted and the yoke of slavery begins to be questioned.
Each character modeled his/her behavior on someone who may or may not have been worthy. Power was constantly changing hands. Fealty was questioned, people were murdered. Elektra’s character was hard to read as she seemed to be part heroine and part villain, as did Aegisthus and even Leander. Orestes seemed to be caught in the trap each laid. I believe the author has done a wonderful job of reimagining this myth, making the inner workings and feelings of the palace and the characters real, rather than objects of imagination.
I am not sure if it is as good a read in a print book, but as an audio, I found it captivating. I could not stop listening and felt regret when I was forced to put it down for awhile by other earthly needs.
Show Less
LibraryThing member RandyMetcalfe
In this imagining — it wouldn’t be fair to call it a re-imagining — of the events surrounding Agamemnon’s sacrifice of his daughter, Iphigenia, and the horrific consequences of that act, Tóibín once again confirms his mastery of tone and touch and pace. Told from the viewpoints of
It is always curious to read a story whose broad outline and specific ends one knows well in advance. Although it is a common enough experience for our appreciation of the standard repertoire of, say, Shakespearean dramas, it is less common in literature to tread much furrowed ground. Tóibín concentrates on the impressions and understandings or misunderstandings of each of his serial protagonists in close third-person in order to bring immediacy to his tale. And he is such a master of word choice and subtle shifting of pace that you’ll read this like a paperback thriller, turning page after page after page to chase the outcome. Brilliant!
Highly recommended.
Show More
Agamemnon’s aggrieved wife and mother of Iphigenia, Clytemnestra, Orestes, his son, and Electra, his second daughter, Tóibín gives us a measured and nuanced treatment full of righteous anger, ambivalence, and veils of ignorance.It is always curious to read a story whose broad outline and specific ends one knows well in advance. Although it is a common enough experience for our appreciation of the standard repertoire of, say, Shakespearean dramas, it is less common in literature to tread much furrowed ground. Tóibín concentrates on the impressions and understandings or misunderstandings of each of his serial protagonists in close third-person in order to bring immediacy to his tale. And he is such a master of word choice and subtle shifting of pace that you’ll read this like a paperback thriller, turning page after page after page to chase the outcome. Brilliant!
Highly recommended.
Show Less
LibraryThing member AmaliaGavea
There are writers that choose to build their own work on stories that have existed for an eternity and create their own vision of them, because they know they have the skills to do so.
There are books that you can see they are glorious 5- star material before you even reach page 50. Colm Toibin is
"I have been acquainted with the smell of death."
Don't tell me I need spoiler alerts...I shall be very disappointed...
Death is always the main character in the Atreides saga. Agamemnon took the throne of Mycenae through death, he sailed to Troy after sacrificing Iphigenia and was killed by Clytemnestra upon his return to the homeland. Orestes and Electra killed their mother to avenge their father. It's a mythical family where blood and death rule. Blood, death and murder....
Colm Toibin makes excellent use of the tragedies and fills the gap between Iphigenia's death and Agamemnon's return, as well as the time between the king's murder and Orestes' matricide, in a superbly crafted way. He treats the characters and the source material with utter respect (which is more than can be said for ridiculous filmmakers and films, e.g."Troy"....) and breathes new life in this timeless story of a cursed family. The manner in which he presents the characters and sheds light on their motives of their actions is exquisite.
Toibin narrates the story in a literary detached manner, as is fitting to the material. These are myths known to all, undying, unchanged. There's no need for the "personal voice" of the author, no need for melodrama. We cannot view a novel based on these characters in the same light as any other common book. Able writers know how to make a well-known story without projecting their voice loudly. It's very interesting to note that while Clytemnestra and Electra's chapters are told in First-Person narration, Orestes' chapters are written in the Third- Person technique. Perhaps to further isolate him from all the conniving of his mother and his sister. Orestes' rendition of Iphigenia's sacrifice is hair-raising and one of the most powerful written pieces I've read. There is also a beautiful reference to the myth of Helen's birth and the death of her brothers, Kastor and Polydeuces, the Dioskouroi as they're forever known.
I am praying to no gods."
There are no gods ruling the fate of our Atreides now. There are only insufficient oracles and prophecies, elders that are unable to make a desicion. Each character obeys to their own personal principles, to their own notion of justice and revenge. What is alive, then? The souls of the slain that linger in dark corridors and shady gardens trying to find their way to the world of men. So here, there is no excuse that the gods dictated them. Each one is responsible for their actions. And the consequences....
The greatest success of this novel is that it preserves the spirit of the myth. The beauty of the characters in Ancient Greek Tragedy is that there is no black and white. Even the ones considered "villains" have their own alibies to justify their deeds. How forward were the ancient dramatists looking...What masterpieces they created and handed down to the generations until the end of time....And Toibin respects and listens as our heroes and heroines speak...
Clytemnestra believes she exacts revenge for the unimaginable terror of losing one of her children. I confess I've always been hesitant to blame her, but she falls victim to her rage and to Aegisthus' cruelty and ambition as he finds the chance to revenge Agamemnon's crimes towards his family. Electra and Orestes are the victims, along with Iphigenia, while Electra has an idealized image of a father who's been a monster of greed and ambition. And she's more like her mother than she'd be willing to admit. ...Orestes struggles to find his way to a world that was taken from him and he becomes a murderer in the process.
Characters like Clytemnestra, Electra, Agamemnon and Orestes cannot be "reviewed". It's almost blasphemy. They are larger than life. It is more than possible that they never existed and yet, they are immortal, eternal. To say Clytemnestra "is bad", Electra "is mad", Orestes "is boring" is -in my opinion- foolish and immature. And pointless. Colm Toibin writes them as three-dimensional characters, sometimes powerful, other times full of doubt, full of love and malice and ambition. But above all, they are human beings, complex and fascinating.
The writer chose a difficult subject that can burn any less skilled author bound to fail in the attempt. He created a novel of exquisite beauty. Not boring or cold or dragging, but respectful, vivid, poetic, raw and dark. It's not an easy read. It wouldn't have the Atreides as its protagonists if it were. It wouldn't have murder as its main theme. As a Greek who has grown up with these myths that run in our blood, I can only say that Toibin made me proud to discover how alive our legendary ancestors still are. I'm not interested in trivial technicalities. For me, this is a book that touched perfection.....
There are books that you can see they are glorious 5- star material before you even reach page 50. Colm Toibin is
Show More
one of those writers and House of Names is one of those books."I have been acquainted with the smell of death."
Don't tell me I need spoiler alerts...I shall be very disappointed...
Death is always the main character in the Atreides saga. Agamemnon took the throne of Mycenae through death, he sailed to Troy after sacrificing Iphigenia and was killed by Clytemnestra upon his return to the homeland. Orestes and Electra killed their mother to avenge their father. It's a mythical family where blood and death rule. Blood, death and murder....
Colm Toibin makes excellent use of the tragedies and fills the gap between Iphigenia's death and Agamemnon's return, as well as the time between the king's murder and Orestes' matricide, in a superbly crafted way. He treats the characters and the source material with utter respect (which is more than can be said for ridiculous filmmakers and films, e.g."Troy"....) and breathes new life in this timeless story of a cursed family. The manner in which he presents the characters and sheds light on their motives of their actions is exquisite.
Toibin narrates the story in a literary detached manner, as is fitting to the material. These are myths known to all, undying, unchanged. There's no need for the "personal voice" of the author, no need for melodrama. We cannot view a novel based on these characters in the same light as any other common book. Able writers know how to make a well-known story without projecting their voice loudly. It's very interesting to note that while Clytemnestra and Electra's chapters are told in First-Person narration, Orestes' chapters are written in the Third- Person technique. Perhaps to further isolate him from all the conniving of his mother and his sister. Orestes' rendition of Iphigenia's sacrifice is hair-raising and one of the most powerful written pieces I've read. There is also a beautiful reference to the myth of Helen's birth and the death of her brothers, Kastor and Polydeuces, the Dioskouroi as they're forever known.
I am praying to no gods."
There are no gods ruling the fate of our Atreides now. There are only insufficient oracles and prophecies, elders that are unable to make a desicion. Each character obeys to their own personal principles, to their own notion of justice and revenge. What is alive, then? The souls of the slain that linger in dark corridors and shady gardens trying to find their way to the world of men. So here, there is no excuse that the gods dictated them. Each one is responsible for their actions. And the consequences....
The greatest success of this novel is that it preserves the spirit of the myth. The beauty of the characters in Ancient Greek Tragedy is that there is no black and white. Even the ones considered "villains" have their own alibies to justify their deeds. How forward were the ancient dramatists looking...What masterpieces they created and handed down to the generations until the end of time....And Toibin respects and listens as our heroes and heroines speak...
Clytemnestra believes she exacts revenge for the unimaginable terror of losing one of her children. I confess I've always been hesitant to blame her, but she falls victim to her rage and to Aegisthus' cruelty and ambition as he finds the chance to revenge Agamemnon's crimes towards his family. Electra and Orestes are the victims, along with Iphigenia, while Electra has an idealized image of a father who's been a monster of greed and ambition. And she's more like her mother than she'd be willing to admit. ...Orestes struggles to find his way to a world that was taken from him and he becomes a murderer in the process.
Characters like Clytemnestra, Electra, Agamemnon and Orestes cannot be "reviewed". It's almost blasphemy. They are larger than life. It is more than possible that they never existed and yet, they are immortal, eternal. To say Clytemnestra "is bad", Electra "is mad", Orestes "is boring" is -in my opinion- foolish and immature. And pointless. Colm Toibin writes them as three-dimensional characters, sometimes powerful, other times full of doubt, full of love and malice and ambition. But above all, they are human beings, complex and fascinating.
The writer chose a difficult subject that can burn any less skilled author bound to fail in the attempt. He created a novel of exquisite beauty. Not boring or cold or dragging, but respectful, vivid, poetic, raw and dark. It's not an easy read. It wouldn't have the Atreides as its protagonists if it were. It wouldn't have murder as its main theme. As a Greek who has grown up with these myths that run in our blood, I can only say that Toibin made me proud to discover how alive our legendary ancestors still are. I'm not interested in trivial technicalities. For me, this is a book that touched perfection.....
Show Less
LibraryThing member AmaliaGavea
There are writers that choose to build their own work on stories that have existed for an eternity and create their own vision of them, because they know they have the skills to do so.
There are books that you can see they are glorious 5- star material before you even reach page 50. Colm Toibin is
"I have been acquainted with the smell of death."
Don't tell me I need spoiler alerts...I shall be very disappointed...
Death is always the main character in the Atreides saga. Agamemnon took the throne of Mycenae through death, he sailed to Troy after sacrificing Iphigenia and was killed by Clytemnestra upon his return to the homeland. Orestes and Electra killed their mother to avenge their father. It's a mythical family where blood and death rule. Blood, death and murder....
Colm Toibin makes excellent use of the tragedies and fills the gap between Iphigenia's death and Agamemnon's return, as well as the time between the king's murder and Orestes' matricide, in a superbly crafted way. He treats the characters and the source material with utter respect (which is more than can be said for ridiculous filmmakers and films, e.g."Troy"....) and breathes new life in this timeless story of a cursed family. The manner in which he presents the characters and sheds light on their motives of their actions is exquisite.
Toibin narrates the story in a literary detached manner, as is fitting to the material. These are myths known to all, undying, unchanged. There's no need for the "personal voice" of the author, no need for melodrama. We cannot view a novel based on these characters in the same light as any other common book. Able writers know how to make a well-known story without projecting their voice loudly. It's very interesting to note that while Clytemnestra and Electra's chapters are told in First-Person narration, Orestes' chapters are written in the Third- Person technique. Perhaps to further isolate him from all the conniving of his mother and his sister. Orestes' rendition of Iphigenia's sacrifice is hair-raising and one of the most powerful written pieces I've read. There is also a beautiful reference to the myth of Helen's birth and the death of her brothers, Kastor and Polydeuces, the Dioskouroi as they're forever known.
I am praying to no gods."
There are no gods ruling the fate of our Atreides now. There are only insufficient oracles and prophecies, elders that are unable to make a desicion. Each character obeys to their own personal principles, to their own notion of justice and revenge. What is alive, then? The souls of the slain that linger in dark corridors and shady gardens trying to find their way to the world of men. So here, there is no excuse that the gods dictated them. Each one is responsible for their actions. And the consequences....
The greatest success of this novel is that it preserves the spirit of the myth. The beauty of the characters in Ancient Greek Tragedy is that there is no black and white. Even the ones considered "villains" have their own alibies to justify their deeds. How forward were the ancient dramatists looking...What masterpieces they created and handed down to the generations until the end of time....And Toibin respects and listens as our heroes and heroines speak...
Clytemnestra believes she exacts revenge for the unimaginable terror of losing one of her children. I confess I've always been hesitant to blame her, but she falls victim to her rage and to Aegisthus' cruelty and ambition as he finds the chance to revenge Agamemnon's crimes towards his family. Electra and Orestes are the victims, along with Iphigenia, while Electra has an idealized image of a father who's been a monster of greed and ambition. And she's more like her mother than she'd be willing to admit. ...Orestes struggles to find his way to a world that was taken from him and he becomes a murderer in the process.
Characters like Clytemnestra, Electra, Agamemnon and Orestes cannot be "reviewed". It's almost blasphemy. They are larger than life. It is more than possible that they never existed and yet, they are immortal, eternal. To say Clytemnestra "is bad", Electra "is mad", Orestes "is boring" is -in my opinion- foolish and immature. And pointless. Colm Toibin writes them as three-dimensional characters, sometimes powerful, other times full of doubt, full of love and malice and ambition. But above all, they are human beings, complex and fascinating.
The writer chose a difficult subject that can burn any less skilled author bound to fail in the attempt. He created a novel of exquisite beauty. Not boring or cold or dragging, but respectful, vivid, poetic, raw and dark. It's not an easy read. It wouldn't have the Atreides as its protagonists if it were. It wouldn't have murder as its main theme. As a Greek who has grown up with these myths that run in our blood, I can only say that Toibin made me proud to discover how alive our legendary ancestors still are. I'm not interested in trivial technicalities. For me, this is a book that touched perfection.....
There are books that you can see they are glorious 5- star material before you even reach page 50. Colm Toibin is
Show More
one of those writers and House of Names is one of those books."I have been acquainted with the smell of death."
Don't tell me I need spoiler alerts...I shall be very disappointed...
Death is always the main character in the Atreides saga. Agamemnon took the throne of Mycenae through death, he sailed to Troy after sacrificing Iphigenia and was killed by Clytemnestra upon his return to the homeland. Orestes and Electra killed their mother to avenge their father. It's a mythical family where blood and death rule. Blood, death and murder....
Colm Toibin makes excellent use of the tragedies and fills the gap between Iphigenia's death and Agamemnon's return, as well as the time between the king's murder and Orestes' matricide, in a superbly crafted way. He treats the characters and the source material with utter respect (which is more than can be said for ridiculous filmmakers and films, e.g."Troy"....) and breathes new life in this timeless story of a cursed family. The manner in which he presents the characters and sheds light on their motives of their actions is exquisite.
Toibin narrates the story in a literary detached manner, as is fitting to the material. These are myths known to all, undying, unchanged. There's no need for the "personal voice" of the author, no need for melodrama. We cannot view a novel based on these characters in the same light as any other common book. Able writers know how to make a well-known story without projecting their voice loudly. It's very interesting to note that while Clytemnestra and Electra's chapters are told in First-Person narration, Orestes' chapters are written in the Third- Person technique. Perhaps to further isolate him from all the conniving of his mother and his sister. Orestes' rendition of Iphigenia's sacrifice is hair-raising and one of the most powerful written pieces I've read. There is also a beautiful reference to the myth of Helen's birth and the death of her brothers, Kastor and Polydeuces, the Dioskouroi as they're forever known.
I am praying to no gods."
There are no gods ruling the fate of our Atreides now. There are only insufficient oracles and prophecies, elders that are unable to make a desicion. Each character obeys to their own personal principles, to their own notion of justice and revenge. What is alive, then? The souls of the slain that linger in dark corridors and shady gardens trying to find their way to the world of men. So here, there is no excuse that the gods dictated them. Each one is responsible for their actions. And the consequences....
The greatest success of this novel is that it preserves the spirit of the myth. The beauty of the characters in Ancient Greek Tragedy is that there is no black and white. Even the ones considered "villains" have their own alibies to justify their deeds. How forward were the ancient dramatists looking...What masterpieces they created and handed down to the generations until the end of time....And Toibin respects and listens as our heroes and heroines speak...
Clytemnestra believes she exacts revenge for the unimaginable terror of losing one of her children. I confess I've always been hesitant to blame her, but she falls victim to her rage and to Aegisthus' cruelty and ambition as he finds the chance to revenge Agamemnon's crimes towards his family. Electra and Orestes are the victims, along with Iphigenia, while Electra has an idealized image of a father who's been a monster of greed and ambition. And she's more like her mother than she'd be willing to admit. ...Orestes struggles to find his way to a world that was taken from him and he becomes a murderer in the process.
Characters like Clytemnestra, Electra, Agamemnon and Orestes cannot be "reviewed". It's almost blasphemy. They are larger than life. It is more than possible that they never existed and yet, they are immortal, eternal. To say Clytemnestra "is bad", Electra "is mad", Orestes "is boring" is -in my opinion- foolish and immature. And pointless. Colm Toibin writes them as three-dimensional characters, sometimes powerful, other times full of doubt, full of love and malice and ambition. But above all, they are human beings, complex and fascinating.
The writer chose a difficult subject that can burn any less skilled author bound to fail in the attempt. He created a novel of exquisite beauty. Not boring or cold or dragging, but respectful, vivid, poetic, raw and dark. It's not an easy read. It wouldn't have the Atreides as its protagonists if it were. It wouldn't have murder as its main theme. As a Greek who has grown up with these myths that run in our blood, I can only say that Toibin made me proud to discover how alive our legendary ancestors still are. I'm not interested in trivial technicalities. For me, this is a book that touched perfection.....
Show Less
LibraryThing member froxgirl
In post-Trojan war literature, it seems to be the losers who gather the most literary acclaim and effort: Aeneas and the founding of Rome, and the miseries of Hecuba, Andromache, and the other widows enslaved by the victorious Achaeans. On the Greek side, Odysseus earns an entire memorable and
Show More
adventurous story for himself. But there's also the fall of the House of Atreus, as Agamemnon returns with war bounty Cassandra (who you'd think would know better, considering her gift of prophesy) to his wife Clytemnestra, who has been plotting revenge with her lover Aegisthus. Throughout Homer's epic Iliad, king and general Agamemnon feuds with hero Achilles, both coming off as entitled sulking whiners who care not a whit for anything but their own financial rewards and renown. In Toibin’s novel, Agamemnon's sacrifice of his daughter Iphigenia, required by the gods to provide winds for the sail to Troy, is the sole source of his wife's enmity. Her husband's deception (enticing them with a promise of a brilliant marriage to Achilles) drives Clytemnestra's tale of horror. The longest (and most boring) passages belong to their son Orestes, imprisoned and exiled as a young boy by Aegisthus as a strategy to maintain their control of the throne, as he and companion Leander (a Toibin invention) struggle for years to return to Argos. Electra's section is somewhat colorless, although it is she who gives the pliant and confused Orestes the weapon and the opportunity to take revenge on their mother for their father's murder. This entire retelling seems lifeless and unnecessary, and as the blood spurts and the bodies pile up, the only plot line of interest is the shunning of Orestes, even by Electra, for the crime of killing his mother, who killed her husband, who killed his daughter. Show Less
LibraryThing member snash
I found this retelling of the Greek classic, Agamemnon, enjoyable. Several family members recount their version of events from the sacrifice of Agamemnon's daughter through the various revenges over the years thereafter.
LibraryThing member kthomp25
Left you hanging
LibraryThing member vguy
Blood soked as you would expect of the tale of clytemnestra & co. Starts strongly inside her head but gets difuse with too many narrator’s PoVs. And mixing up “avenge” and “revenge “ is unforgivable given the theme .
Awards
Audie Award (Finalist — 2018)
Europese Literatuurprijs (Longlist — 2018)
NPR: Books We Love (2017)
Boston Globe Best Book (Fiction — 2017)
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
2017-05-09
Physical description
5.75 inches
ISBN
9781489405036
Similar in this library
DDC/MDS
| 823.914 |