Ithaca, Claire North

 

Ithaca by Claire North (pen name for Catherine Webb) is the first book of the Songs of Penelope.

Started: 4/12/2023
Completed: 4/16/2023
Recommendation: Mildly Recommended
Recommended By: Nobody

Review:

This is the latter part of the Odyssey told from the perspective of Hera about, primarily, the women left behind.  The focus is Penelope, wife of Odysseus, and her effort to avoid being married off in general.  It is an interesting look at how the people of Ithaca might have supported her in this venture (as well as the gods, particularly Hera).  In general, however, it was not engaging.  I didn't feel like I got to know any of the characters at all.  It is an approachable retelling, however, and it does go some lengths to explain why women are not remembered (for the most part and queens in particular) by the poets.

Notes From The Burning Age, Claire North

 

Notes From the Burning Age by Claire North.  Claire North is the pen name for Catherine Webb.

Started: 8/19/2022
Completed: 8/22/2022
Recommendation: Recommended
Recommended By: Nobody, just enjoyed another book of hers, The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August.

Review:

I felt like this book was basically a romance from the start.  It is.  It is much more complex than that and there are some very interesting philosophical points addressed (e.g., do the gods care about man, is war ever appropriate, why do we think that the information we have is important, etc.)  There is also some espionage.  And, of course, it takes place in a dystopian future.  This book, thus, defies categorization.  Having said that, it is a romance.  I did enjoy the layers and I really liked the way that characters developed from well explained beginnings.  This book was enjoyable for the rich experience of reading.  The various plots and their meandering through basically flawed people were far from uplifting.

The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August, Claire North

 

The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North (a pseudonym for Catherine Webb).

Started: 5/9/2021
Completed: 5/13/2021
Recommendation: Recommended
Recommended By: Nobody

Review:

The idea of being reborn is not new.  This, sort of, Groundhog Day version kind of addresses time travel paradoxes and goes with the concept of parallel universes only the branches seem to occur whenever a person is reborn into their own life.  Thus you get the chance to relive your life and try to live it better (with Chaos Theory playing a role, small changes can have big effects).  Harry August relives most of the twentieth century and offers insights into how we can view the same events differently and how people can change for the better and for the worse.  It is a good read, but it is not a light read.  I think it takes time to consider all the implications.

Meanwhile, the prose is not compelling.  The plot is fairly predictable (although the details are pretty interesting).  There are two plot twists that are excellent and compelling but mean little to the book's outcome.  The ending felt very predictable to me, although the jumps between lives and between time frames within those lives were disorienting and I occasionally lost track of which life and which event went with which life.  Because the author, helpfully repeats details, one is not lost long.