A crowded, clever retelling that left me wanting more.
Plot in a Nutshell
Hayes turns her accomplished hand to a retelling of Euripides. Haynes builds outward from Jason’s quest for the Golden Fleece. In so doing tracing how he and Medea come together, and how the gods keep interfering right up to the story’s bitter conclusion.
Thoughts
Written in what is a very self assured style, Haynes is an accomplished classist and author. In her end note she also shares how much she loves the original work and I think that also shows up in the writing which is confident and feels like a friend gathering together lots of people to share a really good story.
By which I mean that there are, even by Haynes standards, a lot of narrators here. Chapters can be only a couple of pages long before the perspective shifts again. For the most part, I enjoyed that. It allows different characters and stories to emerge and interact. There is something fun about recognising figures from other retellings in a new context. Having never studied the classics, I particularly enjoy this idea of reappearing characters between the different retellings and how they can be seen differently. Circe, for example, feels familiar but also new and interesting here. This re-seeing and reimagining is I think something that holds true to the spirit of the original texts.
Although I didn’t feel that not knowing the source material was an issue. Its clear what is happening even if I did have to refer to the list of characters from time to time. That said I am not sure the huge list of narrators necessarily adds to the story, some absolutely do but some left me wanting more. A slightly shorter cast of narrators might have allowed more time for the Lemnian women and Pelias’s daughters, to dig a little deeper and give a little more.
I appreciated Haynes version of Jason who does not get to hide behind his glamour or prowess here. He is presented as oddly two dimensional, an easily distracted, shallow maybe even narcissistic man. There are occasional hints at more but he remains hidden and appears to seek out the easy life whenever possible.
Medea is by contract highly complex. At times she is painfully honest and at times an assured liar and untrustworthy narrator. The multiple perspectives really add to this sense. Her own telling is not enough but through other viewpoints we see more of her. By the end, I found myself unexpectedly sympathetic to her final actions, but I still wished I had been given more time with her, not least given she does not appear until quite late in the novel. That became something of a recurring feeling with this book: not confusion, and not boredom, but a persistent sense that I wanted it to stay longer with the most interesting parts.
I also really enjoyed the female Gods in this one. Hera, interested and bored by turn was really fun, as was the portrayal of Aphrodite and some of the lesser Gods. Their interference is played almost satirically and feels in keeping with Greek assumptions about the role of the Gods in everyday life. Here the slightly sarcastic but witty tone that underpins much of the writing really comes to the forefront and is playful but not irreverent.
It’s not Jason or Medea that will stick with me however. It’s actually the origin story of the golden fleece that I enjoyed the most. In a market heavy with retellings it was this component that really felt like the forgotten story. Heynes shares the origins in a way that brings humanity to the person behind the object. It was moving in a way I didn’t expect, and I wished it had been explored more deeply.
Pacing is this one is interesting – she covers long periods of time well which gives a strong feeling of the epic nature of the story but adds to this niggling issue of not quite enough depth. By the end it also felt extremely rushed.
Overall therefore my feelings on finishing was wanting more. More of some of the Gods and other diverse voices, more detail in the setting and framing and perhaps just a little more time with Medea herself.
Enjoyable but not my favourite retelling with me wanting to experience more.