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thecaptainsquarters 's review for:
Galatea
by Madeline Miller
Ahoy there me mateys! I read circe in 2019 and really enjoyed it so I wanted to give this short story a try. Luckily a local library had a copy. For those who don't recognize the title, it is a Greek myth where a sculptor (and king), Pygmalion, falls in love with his statue of a beautiful woman and asks the gods to bring her to life.
The versions that I knew always professed that the sculptor and his transformed wife live happily ever after. This short story is nothing like that. The "original" Ovid tale had Pygmalion swear off all women after seeing prostitutes and being repulsed by them. It always seemed to me like Pygmalion thought all women were unworthy of his status and that he was a bit of an egotistical bastard. He didn't want a women until it was one he created exactly the way he wanted her. This version gives the statue a point of view. It ain't pretty.
The story is well written - enough that the circumstances of Galatea's life are just plain gross. Galatea's husband is a disgusting, horrible person who basically tortures his wife. He wanted a woman based on his ideals of obedience and virginity and didn't expect his transformed wife to have the ability to speak. Much less have thoughts of her own.
I have to say that for me this is not a five-star read merely because I didn't like reading about Galatea's circumstances. While the sex scenes are not graphic, how Galatea is treated made me kinda sickened and rather upset. I did think some of the oddities of how a statue would think were cool. The ending and how Galatea ends up ultimately dealing with her husband was gratifying but I didn't have fun with this one. The author was very successful at making her point though. Ick.
I am glad this story was free from the library as this 20 page story is listed for $3.99 on Amazon. While I am glad I read it, it would not worth paying that price point to read it (for me at least). Arrrr!
Side note: I never realized how much resonance this myth had in terms of influencing other stories! There is a huge list of paintings, poems, short stories, operas, plays, comics, etc. that deal with this myth. The majority by men of course.
The versions that I knew always professed that the sculptor and his transformed wife live happily ever after. This short story is nothing like that. The "original" Ovid tale had Pygmalion swear off all women after seeing prostitutes and being repulsed by them. It always seemed to me like Pygmalion thought all women were unworthy of his status and that he was a bit of an egotistical bastard. He didn't want a women until it was one he created exactly the way he wanted her. This version gives the statue a point of view. It ain't pretty.
The story is well written - enough that the circumstances of Galatea's life are just plain gross. Galatea's husband is a disgusting, horrible person who basically tortures his wife. He wanted a woman based on his ideals of obedience and virginity and didn't expect his transformed wife to have the ability to speak. Much less have thoughts of her own.
I have to say that for me this is not a five-star read merely because I didn't like reading about Galatea's circumstances. While the sex scenes are not graphic, how Galatea is treated made me kinda sickened and rather upset. I did think some of the oddities of how a statue would think were cool. The ending and how Galatea ends up ultimately dealing with her husband was gratifying but I didn't have fun with this one. The author was very successful at making her point though. Ick.
I am glad this story was free from the library as this 20 page story is listed for $3.99 on Amazon. While I am glad I read it, it would not worth paying that price point to read it (for me at least). Arrrr!
Side note: I never realized how much resonance this myth had in terms of influencing other stories! There is a huge list of paintings, poems, short stories, operas, plays, comics, etc. that deal with this myth. The majority by men of course.