Not fair to Greek myth core material

 

 ⭑ I, sadly, did not get on with The Heroines and did not finish. This novel has taught me two useful lessons. First, I will not like anything that hints at being a feminist retelling. More often than not, it is simply angry women demonizing men. Second, I need to be more discriminating in the Greek mythology refresh novels I choose. There is gold dust to be had - Madeline Miller, Natalie Haynes, Claire North, Charlotte Higgins and Stephen Fry (for a bit of fun), to name a few - but there are other authors that don't reach this high standard and may do a disservice to these ancient stories. I can deal with a bit of tinkering but ripping the core out of the story to suit the feminist agenda just doesn't sit well with me. These were different times with different standards and it's time we learn to accept that instead of bending everything to meet today's twisted sense of propriety.

Now, on to The Heroine. A good effort but may have reached too far? This novel is told from quite a few points of view. More than was necessary, I would suggest, but all had the same voice/tone/ flatness. There was no character development to speak of. All were one dimensional and rather unpleasant. There wasn't a single character that was likeable or someone worth investing in.

A Greek myth retelling suffers badly when there are no gods present. That is the fascinating aspect of these tales as it is the misguided gods fuelling the action with their intervention. This story, most especially, as Phaedra falls in love with the unattainable Hippolytus because of Aphrodite's meddling. She charges him with rape though he has not committed the crime. In The Heroine there were no gods (or weren't at the point I stopped) and ALL the males are guilty of, well, being men and the Phaedra/Hippolytus story is twisted out of all recognition.

As much as I believe refreshing these stories to make them accessible to a younger audience is a good thing, changing the story to make greater victims out of women serves no one.