Elektra follows three different women through the Trojan War. First are Clytemnestra and Elektra herself, a mother-daughter duo that demonstrates the tragic interconnection between their fates. Cassandra, the “mad” daughter of King Priam and his wife, Hecuba, is cursed by Apollo to be able to predict the future yet have no one believe her. Clytemnestra, after Agamemnon kills their daughter Iphigenia to obtain a good wind to sail to Troy, begins to hate her husband. Later, her hatred is cemented when she learns that Agamemnon has taken Cassandra, a female prisoner from Troy, to serve as his concubine. Clytemnestra determines to kill her husband for revenge. Elektra, a “daddy’s girl,” has waited impatiently for the war to end to prove to her father that she’s grown into the royal daughter he envisioned. She hates her mother for killing Agamemnon. Cassandra has predicted the Trojan War and its devastating end—to no avail.
Jennifer Saint weaves the stories of these three women together effortlessly. The connections between the three women are rich and complex, particularly the twisted relationship between Clytemnestra and Elektra. Although Saint’s prose doesn’t quite rise to the majesty of Madeline Miller’s in Circe and The Song of Achilles, I’d still rate this a five-star read.
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Elektra (Flatiron Books, May 3, 2022) is available through:
You can see my reviews of Jennifer Saint’s Ariadne and Madeline Miller’s Circe and The Song of Achilles here.
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