Title is quite ironic: Pythias, the heroine, daughter of Aristotle, is anything but sweet: prickly and feisty might be more like it. We see her childhood in a happy home; Aristotle respects her mind and teaches her. When Alexander dies, as Macedonians, the family leaves Athens for Calchis where Aristotle has property, neglected though it is. He dies and Pythias is left to fend for herself, becoming priestess, helper to a midwife, then a courtesan. In the last part, she marries her cousin, a soldier back from the war, with what we'd call PSTD, and they try to make a life together with him taking up farming. The story ends on perhaps a note of cautious optimism.

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The Sweet Girl by Annabel Lyon is a historical fiction novel in the time of ancient Greece, a story focused on the beloved and only daughter, Pythias, called Pytho, of the philosopher, Aristotle.

When I first opened the novel to the formal list of the Cast of Characters, as I might in reading a Shakespearean play, I was a tad intimidated with the ancient Greek names: Pythias, Herpyllis, Nicomachus, Tycho, Pyrrhaios, Glycera, Euphanor, and Nicanor. As beautiful as they sounded as they rolled off my tongue, I was hesitant in turning the page to read further in anticipation and assumption of a verbose reading—but I’m glad I did and ever so relieved that my assumption, too, was wrong.

The voice of the main character, Pythias, known as Pytho is directly intimate and perfectly written in the tone of an inquisitive, intelligent, yet young, and innocent girl born into privilege and prestige on account of her famous father.

A certain highlight in this novel is the humanized portrayal of Aristotle, the deep and forward thinker, the natural egotism and elitism sometimes awarded to men and women of genius, but especially, the endearing and tender love he has as a family man and father towards his household including those of his servants, and the special bond he has with his highly praised and beloved daughter.

What one would normally know of Aristotle is his philosophical discourse, but it is in this novel, The Sweet Girl, that readers are enlightened to his special pedigree, temperament, and soft inclination and social exception to his daughter, Pythias, who he unconventionally raises to read, think, explore, dissect, and study in so much that she is inclined to a deep reservoir of intelligence, logic, and wit that cannot contain her from the surprise of men of her father’s tutelage and peers and the scoffing irritation and jealousy of their wives as well as the women of the small garrison town, Chalcis.

What’s interesting to note is the ritualistic and relationship dynamic between Macedonian and Athenian cultures at the time of ancient Greece between the privileged wealthy and the destitute poor; the educated and the uneducated; the men and the women; the master and the slave.

The propriety of women as talented weavers, market hagglers, family chefs, and elegant forms of visual beauty come at a high price of illiteracy and social hypocrisy.

To read the rest of my review, please visit my blog, The Bibliotaphe's Closet:

http://zaraalexis.wordpress.com/2012/09/28/a-review-the-sweet-girl-by-annabel-ly... ( )

Pythias, has been fortunate enough to grow up under the tutelage of one of the greatest minds of her time, her father, Aristotle. Encouraged by her father to learn, read, and explore, Pythias does not have the average life of a young woman growing up in 4th Century BC Athens. Her favorite activity is collecting wildlife specimens and placing their skeletons back together. When Aristotle's once student, now King, Alexander the Great dies, resentment against Macedonians, including Aristotle and his family, grows. Aristotle moves the family to Chalcis and a new chapter begins for Pythias.

This is a coming of age story for Pythias. Seeing that this took place in ancient Greece, the story and characters could have been very difficult to relate to. Luckily, Pythias was a wonderful character, she was very easy to relate to for me; it's great to have a female character who was encouraged to learn her entire life, even in this time period. Annabel Lyon's writing style transformed life in ancient Greece seamlessly, I enjoyed reading about daily life, rituals and customs of families at the time. As Pythias' character grows, she has different issues to face, and while there may be no grand adventure, Pythias must overcome several trials for a younger women in Greece and who is alone; she uses her strengths wisely and carves out a life for herself. Parts of Pythias' journey surprised me a bit, as well as the ending, but it is true to history.
This book was received for free in return for an honest review. ( )

Lyon’s new novel tells the story of Aristotle’s daughter Pythos. When anti-Macedonian sentiment is high in Athen, Aristotle and his family relocate to the town of Chalcis. Soon after their arrival, Aristotle dies leaving his young daughter unprotected. What the book does is reframe the role of women in Greek society. Pythos regards her independence of expression as a “gift I’ve hurled at the future.”

I wish was a) brave enough to do a video review or b) lived near all of you so I could just gush in person about this book, which would be easier than trying to write down with words how reading it made me feel. I loved this book -- it broke my heart about ten times -- and I found Lyon's writing style beautifully sharp, modern, slightly magical, a teeensy bit mysterious, and very, very human.

Set in 4th century BCE, the novel follows Pythias, beloved daughter of Aristotle. Brilliant, but not pretty, Pythias' life is unfair: doted on by her father, educated by him and once praised as having one of the most brilliant minds he's come across, but still a woman, and good only for keeping house. She must remain modest, chaste, veiled, silent. 

When Alexander dies, Athens grows hostile to Macedonians, and Aristotle's family flees to a seaside town, heavily fortified by the army, where he has a family estate. After Aristotle's unexpected death, the impact of his passing is more than just an emotional loss. His mistress, the woman who raised and loved Pythias since she was four, is sent away, neither blood nor family nor a slave bequeathed to Pythias. When the family's stores raided, Pythias finds that the household slaves she loves do not feel the same way. Penniless and adrift, an unwanted woman among her father's acolytes, Pythias first fights to survive and then to find some measure of happiness.

Little is known about Pythias, so Lyon created a life for Pythias that is wild, complicated, incomplete (the story ends around, I think, Pythias' mid-twenties.) The strength of this story comes from Pythias, who is smart and striking, emotive and honest. Lyon's writing style is precise and sharp, yet heavy with inference and intimation. Pythias speaks in polite obfuscation at times -- ever the lady -- until her experiences shift her from someone reserved and polite to someone who owns her agency, decisions, voice. The plot follows this subtle transition; at some point the story drifts into the fantastical, but whether it is really magic or just hysteria (we learn earlier from Pythias' young friend about the wandering uterus), there's a disquieting sense that the concrete reality Pythias grew up with may not be the reality of the world she lives in. 

Technically, this book might be a 'sequel' to Lyon's The Golden Mean, but I haven't read The Golden Mean and I don't think I missed anything. This takes place, I believe, some decades after the events in The Golden Mean and is a vibrant, beautiful novel about growing up in the shadow of someone brilliant, famous, and contradictory; coming-of-age in a brutal way; and the powerful agency claimed by this historically forgotten woman. ( )