I bought Circe last year after it won a few awards. I finally read it because a friend from work read it and recommended it to me. We were both changing jobs so I wanted to read it while we still worked together so that we could discuss it. It was fantastic. It reminded me, thematically, of Grendel by John Gardner in that the premise is the book is the POV from a character that is considered an antagonist in a different, famous story. Like Grendel from Beowulf, Circe is best known from the epic poem The Odyssey by Homer. She is a witch who confines Odysseus to her island and prevents him from returning home, prolonging his journey.
This book is her story told by her (I’m pretty sure it is second person perspective) and it is fantastic. Miller really makes Circe a human character, ba-dum-ching. Honestly though, I felt like Circe was every woman and I absolutely understand the popularity of the book. Her trials and tribulations are not much different from what modern women deal with every day, at least from my perspective, and that is both sad a beautiful. I love that as I read a book about a goddess, I thought about the women I know best and saw them in her. I loved the pithy commentary Circe provides as she does things, knowing that she is talking to the audience, especially about parenting. The line about how her baby never slept and how difficult it was even though she was a goddess who did not require sleep. It was just outstanding writing. If you haven’t read it, you should.