Ariadne

I enjoyed this version of the Greek myth overall

Firstly... I just wanted to say that you can't spell ReAl DisAppoIntmENt without Ariadne. Literally -- just rearrange the letters and you'll see for yourself.

Short Review Rating: 2.5/5

Progress: 37% Okay, fun time's over. This book was disappointing, to say the least.

LONG REVIEW

I was so excited to read this book. It had the potential to be an intriguing retelling of Greek mythology. It really did. Unfortunately, it falls short on many accounts, in so many aspects. As I delved into Ariadne, I couldn't help but feel a sense of disappointment and a lack of connection with the story and its characters.

Plot Analysis:

I feel like what the book suffers from is a lack of a compelling and well-defined storyline. Instead of a cohesive narrative, it often felt like the plot was dragging on without a clear direction. The initial focus on the Minotaur's story, told from Ariadne's point of view, was promising. That's exactly what I wanted. However, it swiftly shifted to become more of a "love story" between Ariadne and Theseus -- and her just whining over him for the last two chapters of part 1, which is where I read up until.

The Not-So-Sweet Escape (SPOILER)

The escape of Ariadne and Theseus lacked tension and excitement. It also didn't seem like they had planned it through. If she knew she was never planning to come back, why did she send Phaedra back? (END OF SPOILER)

Character Analysis:

One of the most significant disappointments was the lack of character depth and development. The characters in "Ariadne" came across as mere stereotypes, lacking complexity and relatability. I struggled to connect with any of them, even after reading over 120 pages (37% of the book).

The portrayal of younger and weaker female characters as heroes or virtuous ones (such as Ariadne, Phaedra and Pasiphae themselves) felt contrived. While the older and stronger goddesses, such as Medea and Hera, were depicted as being villainous. Perhaps it was not the intention, but that's how I interpreted it. And I suppose most of these negative things came from male characters, however, Ariadne didn't seem to stand up for these women/goddesses.

So, for a book that's marketed as being "feminist," I don't know where the feminism is lol. The most profound thing she [Ariadne] said was: It was the women, always the women, be they helpless serving girls or princesses, who paid the price. Cursed to roam the land without refuge, transformed into a shambling bear, a lowing cow or burned to ashes by the vengeful, white-armed goddess.

Anyways, here are some quotes which sort of villainise the goddesses:

Medea (SPOILER)

➳ She was no simple brute upon the path, preying on lonelypassers-by, but a far more conniving and dangerous creature.- said by Theseus

➳ Another shame we carried with us; another stain that befouled our name. For everyone knew that Medea had run away with the hero Jason. - said by Ariadne, herself. (Because she's related to Medea.) (END OF SPOILER)

Hera (SPOILER)

Later on, when he had drunk deeply of our finest wine, he told me with tears in his eyes how he had slaughtered his own wife and child under the madness that jealous Hera had sent upon him. (END OF SPOILER)

Now there are still so many more quotes, obviously. However, these are the ones I highlighted, and the ones from Part One of Four.

Writing Style:

Jennifer Saint's writing style proved to be another stumbling block for me. The storytelling felt disjointed, making it difficult to maintain interest throughout the book. And maybe it was the audiobook that was the problem, but I don't know. I'd been enjoying the story before, and I started it with an audiobook while following along occasionally to highlight and make notes. The descriptions and pacing often felt monotonous, contributing to the overall sense of the narrative dragging on without purpose or excitement.

Conclusion:

In conclusion, "Ariadne" disappoints as a retelling of Greek mythology. Readers who into this book seeking a gripping and innovative retelling might find themselves longing for more. "Ariadne" falls short of its potential and fails to leave a lasting impression.

Don’t think I was intended audience but I really liked this book. I am a huge fan of Greek mythology and seeing one of the most famous stories retold in a way that justifiably spotlights a female character is awesome.

One thing I want to highlight is Saint’s great character development. And not just for Ariadne and her sister. The way she’s able to show Dionysus’ change from Ariadne’s POV was great and made me feel like I was genuinely reading Ariadne’s diary or something.

I will be reading more stories from this author. Even the ones about men being bad

It was good got a bit slow in the middle but good book

“What I did not know was that I had hit upon a truth of womanhood: However blameless the life we lead, the passions and the greed of men could bring us to ruin, and there was nothing we could do.” Men ain't shit, especially if they are Gods. I have been obsessing (again, hello childhood) over Greek mythology, and this book did it for me. If you have read Circe before this book there is an overlapping that will make you feel excited. I love this story and I loved the way it was brought to life.

i love everything about Ariadne, I love the characters and the way they are described, I love the writing that is so beautiful and rich yet easily readable, I love the plot of the story itself and its pace and I love the relationships between the characters.

solid greek mythology retelling, kept me rly engaged throughout. did feel like the end of the book felt rushed / some parts weren't fully developed properly, but overall a good time, love the emphasis on women's role in mythology.

Ariadne is a book that was remarkably engrossing, then remarkably disappointing. I absolutely loved the first half of this book. First and foremost, it was gorgeous. The world pulled me in. I was excited to enter this world it every time I picked it up. I feel so strongly about these things that I'm giving three stars despite some pretty important weaknesses. When what I thought would be the climax happened in the first third of the book, I was excited to see where the plot would turn. But it doesn't really turn in any one direction. Instead, there's a casual, kind of disordered unraveling of character development and conflict that doesn't do justice to the characters that Saint wrote in the first half. The characters simply don't do enough to become the fully realized, saturated characters that the beginning set them up to be. And by the final pages where they are doing something, it's difficult to fully understand their "why." Miscellaneous comments: - Jennifer Saint can (and should) give up any form of the verb "dandle." - I felt that there could have been more oomph and more closure to Ariadne's relationship with the minotaur. She seems to see more than his monstrosity, but this never really comes to the fore of the plot or her development. - I'm begging publishers to stop calling their books "feminist" as though books have the agency to advocate feminism simply because they contain loosely relevant "girl power" and "uteruses before duderuses" sentiments.

This was so sad and beautiful... Loved it so much. Definetly one of my favourites books of 2023!

Loved it!!! This retelling of Ariadne story is amazing. And I loved that we got to know the story of her sister told by her. The way women’s fate is left to the hands of men that only want power and that everyone worships them really makes me mad. The story of these women, and all of other just like them, could be so different if they had to power to change things how they wanted.

Love love love 💋

Prior to listening to the audiobook, I was unfamiliar with Ariadne's story in mythology. Overall, I was interested to learn about her and her life, angry on her behalf at times, and yet, by the end, had lost interest.

Beautifully and thoughtfully written but good lord that was bleak. There was pretty much zero hope for the victim characters and zero redemption for the perpetrator characters. Whereas Song of Achilles was tragic in a way that was beautiful and insightful about the human experience this was tragic in a way that was just depressing and I’m not sure what the point was.

Beautifully written. I learned so much about Ariadne and Phaedra. Not what I expected, in the absolute best way.

UGH THE STYLE WAS SO BEAUTIFUL BUT THE BOOK ITSELF KINDA DESTROYED ME Greek myths, gang. Who knew they didn't always (ever?) end well? This was soooo interesting, so I can't regret reading it, but it was v gritty and dark? Tragic? Devastating? But if you know that going in, it's better. I mean, I assumed, so I'm okay, but also, still very much not OK. But GAH HER WRITING STYLE. PURE GOSSAMER. I cannot with this one.

I read this book as it was pitched to me as a book for fans of Circe by Madeline Miller. I love Greek mythology retellings but I anticipated that this book would be slow-paced like Circe was. This was not the case for Ariadne by Jennifer Saint. This book was fast-paced and did a good job at reeducating the reader on Ariadne and The Minotaur’s mythology. I wish this book had just been from Ariadne’s perspective but her sister’s POV also added much to Ariadne’s story. The brief mention of Medusa’s story has increased my hunger for a Medusa retelling. While it may not be fair to compare this to Madeline Miller’s writing, I do feel like Jennifer Saint’s prose is overshadowed by comparisons to Madeline Miller’s. The prose was not as flowery as the writing in Circe. While I was drawn in by the story from beginning to end, I do feel like the prose could have been stronger and more could have been said at each plot point. I do feel like we should have spent more time in the Labyrinth and with The Minotaur. Overall, it was an enjoyable book and reignited my love for Greek mythology retellings.

Fabulous, fun and moving story from Saint. This one has a quality to it that I don't often see in Greek retellings — where the story feels new and immersive rather than a bland and monotone retelling with multiple vague and pretentious one-liners.

Everything moved me and no real portion bored me other than the tiring long dialogue sequences. But here in Ariadne, I really felt for every character and thought that this was a triumph of a novel. I loved it!

this book pissed me off to new levels. It wasn’t bad, or badly written, and it was actually a great book. But what annoyed me was the consistent miscommunication and things that didn’t need to happen. Of course it was a retelling and as a Greek person I loved it but the sadness itself was not for me it is not a happy book lol

i love everything about Ariadne, I love the characters and the way they are described, I love the writing that is so beautiful and rich yet easily readable, I love the plot of the story itself and its pace and I love the relationships between the characters.

Straight bummer. I don't need any more confirmation of the unfairness of the old greek gods but although the main character is continually confronted with this she never truly grows from it. Ariadne gets older but she never truly changes as a character.

I'm really into these modern retellings of mythology, especially the ones focused on women. When I read Circe earlier this year, I thought, "I'd really like to hear more about Ariadne." And then this book appeared! It retains the episodic feel of Greek myth, but intertwines stories from both Ariadne and her sister Phaedra. Like Circe, Ariadne delves into the deeper thoughts and feelings of characters long known on a surface level, but it never feels overly dramatic or maudlin. It makes these characters from myth feel like real people in a way that makes the reader empathize and mourn along with them.

I was disappointed by Ariadne. I don't think Saint brought any new insight into her retellings. At the beginning of the novel, a young Ariadne reflects that in all the stories she knows, when a men seduces or violates a woman, it's always the woman who's punished by the gods. And that's basically it: the must insightful thing this book had to offer. And this idea and only this idea will be repeated throughout the novel both before and after every event that Saint chooses to retell. And these are very straightforward and uncreative retelling of these myths. The worst are the mini stories within the story where a character, Theseus say, will go "let me tell you about how I became prince of Athens" and then you're subjected to an entire chapter presenting a basic, uncritical summary of the stories you already know.

The events also felt disjointed because Saint constrained herself into building the plot out of a collection of myths featuring these characters. But the time gaps between these tales weren't managed all that well. I'm Greek mythology, the same characters are often depicted across different myths and different versions of those myths. Unifying these changes to her characters would certainly be challenging, and the changes in personality and outlook for the characters were awkwardly rendered and unconvincing here.

The events are also so constrained by the mythology that they're based on, and not just for plot, but for motivation and characterization. Frankly, I consider this cowardly. I'll give spoilers for the story of phaedra and hippolytus as an example. The only "reinterpretation" that Saint brings is that Ariadne was physically in Athens at the time, but then she's off literally putting her baby down for a nap at the time that anything happens, leaving the exact traditional incident intact. Do Ariadne or Phaedra have any original thoughts or reactions to bring to the story. No, the same boring, expected, one note tragedy "wow phaedra went crazy. Oh the tragedy, the irony. I guess that's what she gets for having unnatural urges like her mother. But I'm her sister, so I feel bad for her :("

You're not making a feminist reinterpretation simply by showing the perspective of female characters. Not if they replicate the same thoughts and assumptions that have always been applied to these tales

A good retelling of the story. It wasn't really thrilling but only because I already knew the myth behind it. The book combines more stories in one so it seems a but scrambled but all in all it was a good retelling and a interesting approach on from the perspective of Ariadne with a mix of feminism and myth.

Soy solo lagrimas después de leer esto.