The novel "House of Names" by Colm Toibin is a retelling of the ancient Greek myth surrounding the House of Atreus, focusing on characters like Agamemnon, Clytemnestra, Electra, and Orestes. The story delves into themes of betrayal, revenge, tragedy, and the complexities of familial relationships. Toibin's writing style is described as measured, nuanced, and full of righteous anger and ambivalence, with a focus on the characters' impressions and understandings. The narrative is told from multiple perspectives, providing immediacy to the tale and keeping readers engaged like a thriller.
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Sensitive Topics/Content Warnings
Content warnings include themes of violence, murder (including filicide and matricide), emotional trauma, and exploration of grief.
Has Romance?
There is a medium-level presence of romantic relationships, particularly explored through the characters of Orestes and Leander.
From The Publisher:
* A Washington Post Notable Fiction Book of the Year
* Named a Best Book of 2017 by NPR, The Guardian, The Boston Globe, St. Louis Dispatch
From the thrilling imagination of bestselling, award-winning Colm Tóibín comes a retelling of the story of Clytemnestra and her children-"brilliant…gripping…high drama…made tangible and graphic in Tóibín's lush prose" (Booklist, starred review).
"I have been acquainted with the smell of death." So begins Clytemnestra's tale of her own life in ancient Mycenae, the legendary Greek city from which her husband King Agamemnon left when he set sail with his army for Troy. Clytemnestra rules Mycenae now, along with her new lover Aegisthus, and together they plot the bloody murder of Agamemnon on the day of his return after nine years at war.
Judged, despised, cursed by gods, Clytemnestra reveals the tragic saga that led to these bloody actions: how her husband deceived her eldest daughter Iphigeneia with a promise of marriage to Achilles, only to sacrifice her; how she seduced and collaborated with the prisoner Aegisthus; how Agamemnon came back with a lover himself; and how Clytemnestra finally achieved her vengeance for his stunning betrayal-his quest for victory, greater than his love for his child.
House of Names "is a disturbingly contemporary story of a powerful woman caught between the demands of her ambition and the constraints on her gender…Never before has Tóibín demonstrated such range," (The Washington Post). He brings a modern sensibility and language to an ancient classic, and gives this extraordinary character new life, so that we not only believe Clytemnestra's thirst for revenge, but applaud it. Told in four parts, this is a fiercely dramatic portrait of a murderess, who will herself be murdered by her own son, Orestes. It is Orestes's story, too: his capture by the forces of his mother's lover Aegisthus, his escape and his exile. And it is the story of the vengeful Electra, who watches over her mother and Aegisthus with cold anger and slow calculation, until, on the return of her brother, she has the fates of both of them in her hands.
Ratings (2)
Loved It (1) | |
It Was OK (1) |
Reader Stats (22):
Read It (2) | |
Want To Read (13) | |
Not Interested (7) |
2 comment(s)
This was my second book by Colm Tobin and at the first few chapters I was excited. It started out as an very intruiging look at a very disfunctional family of the Greek Myth. I was very invested in it and it was hard to put down as I read most of it before bed time. But then it just went a bit lame. The intense emotion and anger that filled the pages just wasn't there anymore and the revenge feelt anticlimactic. The writing was good and the beginning the characters was written wonderfully. But it's just lost its "charm". It could have been an easy 5stars if it had keeped up the steam it began with but I'm not sure if it's the Greek Myth itself that supposed to be like that or if I just didn't like Colm Toibins retailing. I'm interested to read both more books by him but also to try to find more retailings of this myth, however I have at the moment never heard of any more. If you know any, please let me know :)
this original retelling of the clytemnestra/agamemnon story unfolds with dignity and a sense that all this was destined to happen
whether or not the gods are with anyone in this book (and we never hear from them one way or the other) i have to stand with clytemnestra
someone lures my eldest daughter to her death, imma bring that sucker down, even if he is my husband
maybe especially if he is my husband
perhaps the book turns on clytemnestra's actions directly after she returns from iphigenia's sacrifice and her husband's return to war
instead of telling epigene her side of the story, making sure she realizes what her father did to her sister, clytemnestra cloisters herself and reaches out to aegisthus as an ally against the guards loyal to her husband
big mistake
never get in bed with a snake when you could be plotting revenge with your daughter
from there, pretty much everything goes down hill
once everything is set in place, things fall in line as only a greek tragedy can
the players fall where they have been set, where they have set themselves, where their actions have inevitably taken them
What can you read after
House of Names?
About the Author:
Colm Tóibín is the author of ten novels, including The Magician, his most recent novel; The Master, winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize; Brooklyn, winner of the Costa Book Award; The Testament of Mary; and Nora Webster, as well as two story collections and several books of criticism. He is the Irene and Sidney B. Silverman Professor of the Humanities at Columbia University. Three times shortlisted for the Booker Prize, Tóibín lives in Dublin and New York.
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