Troy

I chose to read Troy because last summer I went out and bought The Iliad on audio book, and listened to it from start to finish in my car. It was read by a really good actor who I thought very accurately performed the story as it was meant to be experienced. Looking back after reading the novel Troy, I realize just how machismo and bellicose Homer’s tale actually is, and how much women must dislike it! Just kidding. Geras’ story is quite different than the traditional telling of the story because for one, it isn’t written as poetry, but rather in novel form, and also, we are given the perspective of many different people of Troy, most of them being women. Using a feminist lens, this book really lends itself to analysis.

It took me quite awhile to get into this book, but once I did I really enjoyed it. It wasn’t until the love triangle of Xanthe, Marpessa, and Alastor occurred that I started to realize what was going on, or what the author’s intentions might be. Geras did a good job keeping my attention because I tend to enjoy stories that are a bit dirty or lusty, and this epic love story between two sisters and a wounded soldier doesn’t dissapoint. One thing I noticed immediately is that nearly every woman in Troy is completely sexualized by the men of Troy. It seems like in order to be a good man in Troy, one needs to be a good, well-built soldier, but to be a good woman, one must be beautiful.

While the war rages on for all those years, the people inside the walls must try to keep on living their lives. Strangely enough, as though intervening in the war wasn’t enough fun, the Gods intervene in the lives of ordinary people. Eros makes Xanthe fall in love with Alastor, and then Aphrodite makes her sister Marpessa do the same. All this happens while the poor stable boy Iason is desperately in love with Xanthe. Most of the elements from The Illiad are preserved, but a lot of the focus is taken off of major characters like Odysseus, Achilles, and Hector and placed on other, more minor characters and women of Troy. I was surprised that Geras could get away with only giving one or two pages to Achilles’ death, but when I read on I knew that it didn’t matter much.

The part of this book I will never forget involves Marpessa and her pregnancy. The love between her and Alastor seems real at first, and the passion that they show each other seems authentic, but after Alastor admits that he is betrothed to another so nonchalantly, I was stunned right along with Marpessa. Marpessa then thinks about having an abortion to rid herself of anything Alastor, and even buys the poison for it. This is all in vain, though, for she has a miscarriage anyway.

One major thing that I didn’t like about the novel was the ending. It seemed very foggy to me, and even though the sisters are reunited, it gave me little closure. I realize that Geras didn’t really have too many options since she couldn’t deviate from the inevitable end of Troy to maintain authenticity, but I feel she could have been more creative. Another smaller thing that I didn’t like was the shear length! Although some of the more trivial or insignificant parts of the book were interesting, I felt that they robbed the plotline, which could have been more exciting if the author cut out, say, 100 pages.

I knew that it would be incredibly hard to write a response for such a thick novel with so many different characters and subplots. All in all though, I really enjoyed the book. One question I will always have about this book is whether a person who is unfamiliar with The Illiad would appreciate this book. My short answer is “no,” but only by conjecture.