I will start this review saying that I am not a huge fan of greek mythology normally, however, fell in love with the genre by reading Madeline Miller and Jennifer Saint (both of whom are exceptional writers). This story fell extremely flat in comparison. Firstly, it took me quite a bit to realize that this was written to be from the view of Hera, overlooking everything. After I realized this, it was hard to enjoy the story because I felt the author was trying to capture the writing style of Miller, but it just didn't work. The thoughts and dialogue of the characters were written very poorly, and the author bounced around while trying to convey thoughts of characters. It just didn't work for me and I didn't like this book very much.
Thank you to NetGalley and Redhook Books for the advance copy.

I'd like to start off by saying I think this book was well constructed and would be very enjoyable to the right type of reader, that reader is just not me. Ithaca follows the story of Penelope as she awaits Odysseus to return home from the Trojan War. It follows the course of 3ish months, 7 years into her waiting his return. The book was narrated by Hera which at first really drew me in, but Hera speaking in modern quips really started to grate on me after awhile. Like I mentioned at the start, for the right reader, I think having Hera have more of a modern flair could be a really fun way to engage the reader, but it just didn't really work for me. This book really hones in on Penelope's political machinations to keep the kingdom together while her husband is away, but I felt we really didn't get to dive into her as a character as much. This is probably due to the fact that it is told from Hera's perspective rather than Penelope's. This is also the start of a series, so maybe the next books will look into her more. Overall, I found it to be an enjoyable read.

We’ve heard the stories of the men of Ancient Greece, so now it’s time to hear the stories of its women.

In Ithaca, we hear the story of Penelope, the wife of Odysseus, when he went missing on his way home after the fall of Troy.

As this book started, right away I was hit with how beautifully it was written. The way that the settings and people were described helped create the imagery of the story in my mind.

And then you learn that the book is narrated by Hera, a goddess we all know well. So through Hera we see all and hear all, while she also adds a bit of humour that I wasn’t expecting as I read! Having the gods and goddesses play their parts in the mortal world was also really cool.

The only problem with having Hera as narrator is that the characters are all held at a distance, and there are a lot of characters. So you aren’t able to emotionally connect with any of them as much as you could if it was from one of their perspectives. I also felt that the story dragged on quite a bit as you observed everything that was happening all around the island of Ithaca.

Otherwise I really enjoyed this book! It showed the quiet power of women and how women have to be more clever than men to manipulate the world around them. I also loved how the women all stepped up to support and protect each other when no one else would.

Thank you to NetGalley and Redhook Books for the eARC! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Ithaca, by Claire North, is another in a recent spate line of Greek myth retellings, with the source material here being The Odyssey and the House of Atreus storyline (Agamemnon, Clytemnestra, Electra, Orestes). North greatly narrows the focus here in setting, time, and plot, lasering in what was happening at the periphery or in the gaps of those epic tales, giving voice especially though not solely to the women on the edges of those stories. It’s a wonderfully voiced, thoughtful reimagining story and a strong entry point into a new series.

That wonderfully wry and sharp voice belongs to Hera, who narrates the book from her godly perch, able to see all and transport herself wherever necessary. The bite in her voice makes itself known immediately, as when she describes Ithaca as “a thoroughly backwards wretched place” and labels Athena a “priggish little madam.” These early lines set a pattern, as most of those she names throughout the book come off poorly: Horus is an “interloping little twerp,” her husband Zeus a cheating hypocrite, Achilles a “whiny little mummy’s boy,” Agamemnon the “butcher of Troy,” Athena “smug and preening,” Jason a “little shit.” As for the poets, well, they’re all a bunch of liars — they do not, for instance, “sing of massacres,” and so, Hera assures us, “What you think you know of the last heroes of Greece, you do not know at all.”

Hera, though, “will tell you the truth … will tell those stories that only the women tell,” since as Athena says (approvingly), “The poets don’t sing about childbirth … whether a mother’s milk flows easy or slow … The only songs that are sung in the palace of kings are of the men who make something of themselves … Who the fuck cares about the mothers?”

Hera cares. And in Hera’s narration it is the mothers, and women in general who (mostly) come off the best, the women whom Hera has an eye and an affinity for, in particular the three great queens of Greece: Penelope, Clytemnestra, and Helen, though especially Clytemnestra, “my truest queen, my beautiful one, my lady of the blade … Clytemnestra [who] I love best, my queen above all, the one who would be free.”

The fear that there will be no more queens after them is mostly what drives Hera’s actions in the novel, out of her love for the three and out of her own experiences, having herself been “stripped of honor, of power, and of that fire that should be mine...” Of course, anyone who knows the stories knows it doesn’t end well for all of them.

But until then, what we get is an engrossing story that focuses most of its time on Penelope’s situation on Ithaca, which is growing ever more desperate as the suitors are getting weary of her unwillingness to declare her long-missing husband dead (he’s currently on Calypso’s Island having lots of nymphy sex) and choose amongst them for a husband. Recent deadly raids of coastal villages and the increasing truculence of her son Telemachus further complicate matters. And most dangerous of all is the arrival on her island of the three from the House of Atreus — Clytemnestra in flight after killing her husband Agamemnon and Electra and Orestes in pursuit, with Orestes aiming to kill his mother, not simply to avenge his father but to ensure his own kingship, especially with his greedy uncle Menelaus eyeing expansion. What is compelling in all this is not only how Penelope tries to solve her many problems, but the ways in which she must conceal even the attempts to do so, since as she tells one of her women, “the greatest power we women can own is that we take in secret.” This obscuring of action is mirrored by Hera as well, for she cannot do anything to draw the attention of Zeus or Poseidon to Ithaca. She fears, even, to catch the interested eye of Athena and Artemis (their relationships are prickly at best).

North intertwines other stories as well — Clytemnestra’s backstory and attempt to escape Ithaca, Electra’s maneuverings to install her brother in power, Telemachus coming into his manhood, the changing relationships amongst the trio of goddesses, and more. All of them are engaging and stimulating, with both echoes and oppositions amongst the stories, the characters, the situations. While several battles occur, the tension is mostly interpersonal or political: a taut confrontation between Penelope and one of the more powerful suitors, a meeting between Hera and Athena, making this a more character-oriented novel rather than an action-oriented one. And while Hera’s godly perch, sharp tone, and the overall style of the novel can somewhat distance readers from at least some of the characters, most will find it hard to not to be fully taken in by Hera and Penelope from the start and others by the end as they get their own moments in the narrative spotlight.

The prose is sometimes elevated, sometimes earthy (see Jason as “that little shit”) and always matched precisely to the speaker and occasion. ”). It is also often moving, particularly in its vivid depiction of the treatment of women by men, but also in its depiction of relationships between parents and their children or between women, or its exploration of how women can or cannot wield power.

All of this — the plotting, the characterization, the prose — builds to an emotionally powerful conclusion, one that that brings resolution to some of the issues (and that resolution may be only temporary), keeps other up in the air, and adds new ones. Odysseus has yet to return, one strand but only one of the Atreus story comes to an end, and Penelope remains on Ithaca, even more alone than she was at the start.

If Ithaca isn’t in my top tier of Greek retellings with Miller’s Circe or Barker’s Silence of the Girls, I’d rate it above other such works like A Thousand Ships or House of Names. Even knowing how some of the rest of the tale must go, readers will be eager for North to continue the story.

Remember that feeling you had in High School of dreading going to English class because you were reading The Odyssey? I endured the adult version all week while chipping away at this novel.

I grabbed this arc because it sounded promising; it’s been 18 years since the men of Ithaca sailed to Troy, so this was to be the tale of Ithaca’s years under the leadership of Queen Penelope while her husband Odysseus had not returned from battle. A retelling of the narrative through the eyes of the women and narrated by Hera. While this allowed for her to see all and comment on dozens of relationships, it took away from the point that it was to be Penelope’s story, making her feel more like a side note most of the book, and then the POV would change and Penelope had dialogue and was the narrator. There was just way too much going on and it all detracted from what could have been a great story.

I’ve stayed away from all the recent tales and variations on Greek mythology because I never enjoyed it as a teenager, and my fear that this would be laden with names I’d have to Google to put context to came true. I had hoped it would feel like The Red Tent and maybe have a small glossary or family tree, but alas, the gods did not look upon me favorably and made me toss and turn as much as Telemachus. I guess one could read this and just gloss over the dozens of characters but I had to Google each one to see what spin they author put on the retelling of what is historically known of them. Usually I enjoy these rabbit holes. This one? It felt like I’d fallen into Tartarus.

This novel comes out 9/6 and if you are into Greek mythology then maybe you’ll enjoy it. If you spent more time passing notes and doodling in your notebook years ago, you’ll find yourself caught between Scylla and Charybdis wishing to escape a DNF, trapped for what feels like years by Calypso.

I’m sorry Mr. Cooperman. You truly helped me with my writing skills, but mythology is still all Greek to me.

Thank you NetGalley for this arc.

Ithaca by Claire North
4.5 Stars

This is the first book by Claire North I have read and I am blown away by her talent. I imagined throughout this book that North must be a writer who truly and deeply loves her craft and that this book is her writing with pure joy in celebration of the English language. It is really that beautifully written, full of detail, raw emotion, and humor.

The story is told in the voice of Hera, Queen of the Gods as she watches over Penelope, awaiting the return of Odysseus, or word of his death. Eight years since the defeat of the Trojans, Penelope is surrounded by suitors, determined that Odysseus is dead and that they should be Ithaca’s next king. She must strike a fragile balance to keep peace in Ithaca and protect herself and her son, Telemachus.

Penelope is often portrayed as clever, but somewhat passive, day after day weaving and unweaving her father-in-law’s funeral shroud, promising to marry one of the suitors when she finishes it. In this story, we are given a more realistic view of what Penelope may have had to do in order to keep the balance in Ithaca for ten long years. She and the other women of Ithaca are given more agency and shown to be boldly active, carrying out secret plans beneath the noses of men. This is a must read for lovers of Greek mythology, especially those of us who want to hear the women’s stories that hide beneath the oft-touted heroics of the men.

There are many references to Greek myth throughout, and being familiar with Greek mythology will serve the reader well. This is not a “Greek mythology for beginners” type of book. A lot of the humor and references will be lost on a reader unfamiliar with the Greek gods and goddesses and the Trojan War.

This is also a very slow-moving read. While I deeply enjoyed this read, I did have to take breaks from it and read lighter material. I also wished that I had made a list of characters at the beginning of the book to keep straight all the suitors, their fathers, and the numerous maids and slaves of Penelope who play a role.

All-in-all, this is an amazingly intricate, beautiful, at times humorous, read that I greatly enjoyed. It belongs in a place of honor alongside the works of Madeline Miller and Natalie Haynes as must-reads for Greek mythology lovers.

Thank you to #Netgalley and Redhook Books for the ARC.

Ithaca is an interesting look at the women left to maintain their country after the men leave for the Trojan War. It's from Claire North and releases 06 Sep 2022. Published Redhook Books.

Overall, this was a really interesting concept and take on classic mythology. I love slowing down and focusing on the women in mythology and history and Penelope is probably the definition of a Queen literally and figuratively. I also found it interesting that Hera was the narrator because I think she's classically portrayed just as jealous and spiteful? At least to the casual mythology consumer. At the same time, I found the narrative slow and a bit hard to get into.

Overall, I think this is a beautiful, well written and interesting story that you should check out if you're into mythology and the less explored characters within mythology and history.

⭐⭐⭐

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I am a huge Greek mythology buff and Odysseus has always been one of my faves, hence my interest in this new series. For clarity - I have also always thought Penelope was legit AF.

I was surprised to learn the narrator of this story was Hera, queen of the gods and Zeus' long-suffering wife. I personally didn't like this decision because 1) I've always disliked Hera and knew that bias would be hard to overcome, and 2) because she barely has anything to do with the Iliad or the Odyssey. She's mentioned, sure, but those myths/epics don't feature her as a major player. I can sort of understand the decision from a storytelling standpoint, as Hera is basically omniscient, but her overwhelming brattiness and disdain for literally everyone give her more personality than a typically omniscient narrator. A terrible personality, but a personality.

The writing style was very reminiscent of the head hopping, almost dispassionate language used in Homer's epics, which I appreciated, but this does make it hard to really connect with the characters, since you're kind of kept at arm's length.

My major problem with this re-telling relates to a larger issue I've noticed in a lot of recent re-tellings/re-imaginings. Specifically, it seems like a lot of stories take individuals we've known and loved and basically shit on them or make them villainous for no apparent reason. In Ithaca specifically, Odysseus comes across as a douche and Penelope seems ambivalent about him at best. This is a pretty far cry from most stories, where Penelope was a devoted wife and the two were very much in love before he left for Troy. Like, Odysseus literally pulled his name out of the running for Helen's hand because he was so interested in her witty cousin. Now, don't get me wrong, Odysseus behaves like a douche many times in the Iliad and the Odyssey. This is fair because every human acts like a douche sometimes. These moments are balanced out with his finer moments until you can see the shape of a heroic but flawed king. Penelope, similarly, is devoted and in love and thrust to the sidelines because of her gender, but she's also cunning and clever and doesn't act as quickly as she should sometimes and goes back and forth between doubting Odysseus will return and knowing he will. All that complexity that has made these characters stay with us for literally thousands of years, was over-simplified in this "women rule, men drool" re-telling.

Sorry for the mini-rant there, and thank you for attending my Ted Talk.

On a less self-righteous level, I thought it was odd how much page time went to Clytemnestra given the focus on Ithaca....but maybe this will make more sense in later novels? Though I'm guessing the author just has a personal preference for the more active female character.

Oh well, on to the next.

Ithaca is a retelling of the story of Penelope from the perspective of Hera, Queen of the Gods. It is slow at times because there are a lot of characters to keep track of and it doesn’t embellish the plot much. But, the characters are well written, especially Hera, our narrator. She provides a fun perspective on what is happening in the story using language you wouldn’t expect from Ancient Greece while also empowering the often overlooked women in the story. I think that even though it is supposed to be the story of Ithaca, it is also a story about Hera and her relationship with the city and the other Gods. And that even though she is the Queen of the Gods, sometimes like the queens in the story, she too is overlooked and under appreciated.

I am a big fan of Troy and this was a good novel for the perspective of those left behind when Odessyeus left for war.

Ithaca is a retelling of the Odyssey focused solely on what was happening on Thaca during the decades that Odysseus was gone, namely, Penelope's story. The narrator is Hera, which in my opinion was an excellent choice. Hera watches the goings-on of the women left behind on Ithaca while the other gods and goddesses ignore the stories of the women unfolding there, including those of the slave-women, widows, orphans, priestesses, warrior women, and Queen Penelope herself as she struggles to keep Ithaca from descending into chaos and bloodshed, and to keep her son alive.

North's prose is gripping and she does justice to the women who are so often overlooked time and again by the poets and storytellers. There is a sharp wit that carries throughout thanks to Hera's observations. These characters, whose stories are familiar, are no longer one-note (nor from a man's perspective). They feel fully fleshed out, flaws and all. This will be a duology (at least) and I am excited for the next book.

Trigger warnings for the usual things you can expect from Greek mythology: sexual assault, rape, animal sacrifice, etc.

CONTENT WARNING: rape, gore, violence, murder, violence

I’ve kind of been on a Greek myth retelling kick lately, and I figured I’d give this one a shot, especially since I don’t know too much about Penelope. My knowledge of her is basically that she waited around forever for her husband to come home from the Trojan war and had to use her brain to outsmart a bunch of suitors vying for her hand.

This book is narrated in the snarky voice of Hera, goddess and wife of Zeus. She is jaded, sarcastic, and cynical, and she’s limited in what she’s able to do, not really allowed to interfere too much. She sums up the situation of the three queens of Greece (Penelope, Helen, and Clytemnestra) as:

“Once upon a time, there were three queens in Greece. One was chaste and pure, one a temptress whore, one a murderous hag.”

Now, my first thought was, why the hell wouldn’t Penelope just kick these loser suitors out of her house? But it quickly becomes clear that she’s caught up in a web of restrictions based on the rules of hospitality and a number of pressures from the various competing suitors, as well as worrying about her son, who would be viewed as a potential threat:

“‘It’s been eight years since Troy. I know it’ll be a disaster, I know, but if marrying one of them is less of a disaster than the alternative…’ ‘A little civil war, some light carnage now to put off something worse later?’”

She’s also trapped by gender roles that limit what women are allowed to do. Even a queen isn’t truly free, even in the absence of her husband. Every outcome for a woman in that era seemed to be bad, whether she was a slave or a queen:

“‘The scraps of freedom that we have are to pick between two poisons, to make the least bad decision we can, knowing that there is no outcome that will not leave us bruised, bloody on the floor.’”

While I thought that the story was mainly going to focus on Penelope, it became apparent that she’s more of an afterthought to Hera, and that Clytemnestra is her favorite. And Clytemnestra does show up and complicate things. For such a small, isolated island, there’s actually a lot going on, and the story still managed to be relatively slow. It’s a highly character-driven story, and felt like it meandered through a series of events. I found it dragging on, and I probably would have enjoyed it a lot more if it was a hundred or more pages shorter. I did like the focus on the women, who are often overlooked in traditional Greek mythology, and wind up simply being a side note. It was interesting to see more about what was going on in Penelope’s life while her husband was living it up with Calypso, and to see that she wasn’t just a pretty face, but actually had a very smart mind to go with it.

Ithaca by Claire North is a retelling of Odysseus’ wife, Penelope, through the eyes of the goddess Hera. We follow Penelope and her maids as they try to maintain power in Odysseus’ absence.

I have always really loved Penelope as a character and that’s why I am a little disappointed in this book. I feel like having Hera as the narrator really did Penelope a disservice. I was hoping for a sweeping, emotional narrative from the perspective of a woman who was married off at a young age only to be left alone with a baby as war rages and I just didn’t get that gut punch to my feelings that I wanted.

This is my third book by this author and I haven’t really enjoyed any of them so I definitely think it is me just not enjoying this author’s writing style. It is a mix of lyrical prose and then info dump and then just strange comments from Hera. It just didn’t feel cohesive to me but I can see why other people would really love this book.

I think if you go into this book expecting Madeline Miller’s style, you will be disappointed. But if you just want a kind of quirky story told from an unlikeable goddess who definitely inserts her bias into the story, you would probably enjoy this story.

Ithaca by Claire North is a retelling of Penelope, the wife of Odysseus and the queen of Ithaca. It has been seventeen years since she has last seen her husband and the many men who had to leave their home for war. Her home is filled with suitors who have nothing better to do than to eat her food and wait. So Penelope must bide her time so avoid more bloodshed but the people are getting restless.

I am always a big of Greek retellings and I enjoyed the vibe of this one! Here we get to see intimate details of life in Ithaca as Odysseus continues his journey away from his home. I always felt like she must have been a lonely character considering she was so young when her husband left. And with a baby too! I loved Penelope presented herself to her suitors as a woman willing to turn a blind eye. But in actuality her and her maids were always listening. Whether it be within the shadows or in plain sight, they stayed aware. My only real complaint with this book is that it was muddled at times. There were several characters that were introduced all at once and sometimes with an unnecessary backstory. Also Penelope isn't the central voice of the story but rather Hera is. Which was confusing to me at first as it took me a while to realize. Not obvious at all in the beginning but as I continued reading I felt neutral about the situation. I still wish I was hearing everything through Penelope's point of view rather than someone else.

All in all this is an enjoyable story about women helping other women and how Penelope wasn't as meek as she appeared.

- I received this book from NetGalley -
I wish I could have loved this book, but unfortunately, it just fell short. It is definitely leaping on the train started by Madeline Miller's Circe, but is unable to definitively establish its own voice in the genre. The voice shifts between that of a modern quirky narrator (Hera personified) and attempts to mirror the classical language of the Odyssey, which makes it an inconsistent and frankly difficult read.

My summer reading continued with this ARC of Ithaca by Claire North that I was gifted from @netgalley. Overall a fairly enjoyable read. It was a little slower paced than what I was hoping for and I would have loved if the narrators snark had been ramped up just a little higher. Those minor preferences kept it at being a good book instead of a great book for me personally.

The truth be told, I am not a huge fan of Greek mythology. I haven't read any of the classics, nor have I ever had a lot of interest in them. However, something about this book attracted me - perhaps it was the promise of the story of the Odyssey (with which I have only a few vague familiarity) or the story itself being told from a different view. Ithaca follows the life of Penelope during Odysseus' absence from Ithaca, and from a woman's point of view. We see the story not only from Penelope's viewpoint, but also the Goddess Hera, and the Queen Clytemnestra. The story is told not in the fashion of a myth, but from a woman's point of view as we would approach it now. How there were things that had to be done merely because they were necessary, but that they were unfair to the women involved and how that affected them.
The characters were rich and relatable despite being thousands of years old, and the story itself was beautiful, well-told, and very clearly well-researched. I recommend this to anyone who has wanted to understand the interest in Greek mythology but doesn't know how to make it something they will relate to, or something that will ring true (as I had).
This ebook ws provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I really wanted to like this book and had high hopes because it has been a while since I read and enjoyed a Greek mythology book. This book fell flat on its face. I didn't like that Penelope wasn't telling any of the story, instead it was told my goddesses. The writing style wasn't a favorite either due to the fact that it didn't flow throughout.

Tried, but couldn't get into this one. Didn't get too far, though, so I will try again later. I was disappointed to see that this book wasn't explicitly Penelope's story - I wanted to hear FROM her, not more ABOUT her.

This book was amazing. I loved the story, the timeline, the character building and all. Absolutely amazing