a thousand ships by natalie haynes

another piece on the importance of female classicists

Last month for book club, our book was A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes. It’s a retelling of the Trojan War through the perspective of female characters. Although I wasn’t sure if I’d like it at first, it was a great book. I didn’t know much about the myths, but it wasn’t hard to follow the plot. When I said it was a good book for someone to start out with for Greek retellings (someone such as myself), people generally agreed. I think I liked it much more than I would a regular retelling of the war because I’m more into literary fiction genres than action. I’d rather watch something that’s more “day in the life” like Ladybird than a Marvel movie, and this preference also translates to books.

the novel, A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes

The story followed the Trojan women, the muse Calliope, some female Greek gods, nymphs, and so on. Although their stories were generally sad, I enjoyed reading the thoughts and feelings of these women as the connected stories gradually unravelled the popular myths around the war, such as the Trojan horse, the cause of the war all the way up to the complaints of the Earth god, and how some of the women fared after the war. Each chapter focused on a different women, although we often returned to central characters such as the queen of Troy and Calliope. I thought the Calliope chapters were interesting as they felt like direct intel from the author, describing how it is important to tell these women’s stories along with the stories of the male heroes (or villains, depending which side you’re on).

This brings me to the point I want to make about this book. I think that part of what makes it exceptional is the close care and attention given to the female characters in a way that only a female author could have done. We understand the story through their memories, their pain, and their lost loved ones. Each women is carefully held, considered, and put down gently, instead of being tossed aside hastily as they often are in these sorts of stories. This reminded me of my essay on Madeline Miller and Circe, which is still one of my most popular pieces to date. It made me appreciate the work of the women before me that allows me to dip my toe into Greek mythology in a more diverse and inclusive way.

I know I’m not the only person that feels this way, for reasons other than the fact that this book won our monthly book club vote. This book generally receives at least 4 stars through different rating systems (Goodreads, Google Books, etc.). Most of the reviews I read afterward were on The StoryGraph once I logged that I completed the book. A lot of the reviews discuss how refreshing it was to read about the women, and the complaints were generally just pacing or the confusing nature of the chapter-switching at the beginning of the book. One review mentions the afterward in which the author says how she questions why people don’t think the women were equally as important or heroic as the men. It’s definitely still relevant to think about how brave it is to face loss, whether it’s people, your home, or maybe even yourself, and keep on going, and this book does a good job of showing that. There is a point in the story where she asks if it is more heroic to start a war because you lost your partner or to raise your child because you lost your partner. This stuck with me. Unfortunately, war is not a thing of the past, which ensures that stories like those of the women in the novel are never too outdated or irrelevant.

It’s interesting how often women will go unnamed, and the audience must try to assume who she is if they care to know her story. I wish we didn’t have to sometimes embellish the details to try to get some of these stories out, but nonetheless it is still interesting to read. The book makes me want to read more Greek retellings, so time will tell what I end up picking up next. For now I’ve returned to literary fiction as I get through my TBR list.

I wanted to end this piece with some of the good quotes I screenshotted while reading (I unfortunately had to read it on my phone as I didn’t have a physical copy and there’s a time limit to finish it when it’s for the club). These quotes are pasted below. As always, let me know your thoughts! I’m curious if anyone else has read the novel, as I haven’t heard of it before. Also, if you have recommendations of other authors that are similar in the Madeline-Miller-Natalie-Haynes way, let me know! Anyway, I leave the quotes below. The yellow highlighting is quotes I liked, and the green is quotes I especially liked.

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