The story starts at the Palace of Knossos on Crete where Ariadne and her sister Phaedra grow up in the shadow of the terrible Minotaur. It retells the myth of Theseus fighting it, and all that follows after, over many years of Ariadne's life. What fascinated me was how the author gave life and human emotions and motives to these characters - although there is a mythical atmosphere, I cried and hoped with Ariadne, and more than once I felt her anguish and despair in my body while I read.

The novel is written in an evocative style, using figurative language and conjuring up sounds, smells and landscapes, so much that often these impressed me more than the plot itself. Indeed I wish that the plot sometimes had been less meandering - while there were many chapters that had me on the edge of my seat, sometimes I wanted the story to move faster. Although maybe that was intended to make the reader feel what the characters went through: Waiting for the gods to decide, subjected to their whims and their mercy.

While this book has a few flaws and I especially wonder about the inclusion of some elements (I could have done without the Hippolytus story, for example), altogether I loved reading it and am equally impressed by Saint's prose. ( )

2.75-3 stars? Added to my list of "books I really liked until the end."

Men suck and women pay the price - not really much else to gain from the story. ( )

Greek Myths Retold for a Modern Audience

This was an enjoyable read. It is a retelling of several myths,including Theseus and the Minotaur, the Maenads, and the fate of Ariadne. The author makes many references to other myths as well as other mythological characters. It could be distracting if you, like I, am not familiar some of the references. It sparked my interest. I looked up the references and it did enhance my reading experience. ( )

So Ariadne is touted as a feminist retelling of the Theseus and Ariadne myth, but I don't think that it particularly succeeds in either the 'feminist' or the 'retelling' aspects.

Taking the retelling aspect first, the most well known part of the myth is covered in the first third of the book and seems to add very little to the usual narrative beyond being told from Ariadne's perspective. I'm admittedly less familiar with what happens with Ariadne following her marriage to Dionysus, but I think there is a reason why that part of the myth is less mainstream - the lack of a particular 'plot' per se. This meant the Dionysus parts of the book (which made up the majority) were noticeably lacking in narrative drive, and the inclusion of the Phaedra aspect did not overall story more compelling.

On the feminist side, aside from using the voices of the women, I did not feel like this book meaningfully engaged with the myths from a feminist angle like some other novels of the same vein. My two main gripes were that: (a) It seemed like the author had a preconceived notion of wanting to have two opposing kinds of women in Ariadne and Phaedra, and was determined to push this contrast for the entirety of the book, with the result that there was very little character development for either of them (particularly for Ariadne, who aside from making two out-of-character decisions, largely remains the same person despite her experiences); and (b) the book clearly wants to address various aspects which are often glossed over or not featured in regular myth narrative, like childbirth, motherhood, arranged marriage etc. as well as showing how women frequently suffered as a result of the actions of men, but while the events certainly elicited sympathy, I did not feel like were properly woven into or even always relevant for the story, and some almost seemed included for the sake having them.

There were certainly flashes of emotive prose and significant foreshadowing, and some moments in the book were quite poignant and powerful - I thought the portrayal of Pasiphae was quite well done, for instance - but ultimately, Ariadne didn't meet the expectations of a meaningful retelling for me, feminist or not. ( )

I liked it. It is not great, but it was solid enough to enjoy. It is exactly what it promises to be, a retelling of the myth of Ariadne (and her sister, which often made me think the title was a little off). The novel is atmospheric, with some great introspective parts (esp. certain parts told by Phaedra).

One thing I disliked and was impossible to ignore was the dynamics of the relationships that were somewhat unconvincing. The drama for me just wasn't there in some key moments. Jennifer Saint is great with words, but I wish her dialogues and relationships were as nuanced as her descriptions.


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