This is one of those books I’ve been meaning to read, but didn’t get to until now, published in 2006. Here’s a somewhat meandering review, more a collection of my reactions/thoughts than a formal review. Margaret George writes historical fiction set in a number of periods from Cleopatra to Elizabeth I. I worried from a distance that someone who jumped around like that might be skimpy on the research and historical accuracy. Then I heard her speak at the Tucson Festival of Books, and I realized she is both very smart and has a great deal of integrity about just that issue. So I approached her gigantic Helen of Troy (606pp) with interest—the period I most care about by someone who cared to do it right. Her approach to Helen is comprehensive. She starts with Helen as a small girl and takes her all the way through the Trojan War, back to Sparta and beyond. Besides making for a long book this also makes for a slightly amorphous book. There isn’t a clear focus or drive—whatever is next up in Helen’s life, that’s what we’ll get. I don’t mean George didn’t lay out a plan, but there’s often a lack of tension and a willingness to include information and scenes just for their enjoyment and detail. I happen to like an abundance of historical information and setting detail, so that’s fine by me, but it’s not a page-turner. Her portrayal of the Mycenaean world is quite faithful to Homer for the most part, which means it isn’t always faithful to the most modern historical understanding of that place and time, but Homer is a good place to be. Her Troy is a Greek city, with only slight differences from the world of Sparta that Helen has left. The historian in me knows there’s been some updates on that—scholars no longer think the Trojans were Greek speaking, for example, nor that their material world was Mycenaean but rather closer to the Hittite cultural world to their east. But this is a mythologically based book so I’m content to immerse myself in this Greek world, which is quite vivid and does reflect pretty accurately what we know about the Mycenaeans. The most compelling things about Helen of Troy, besides the abundance of detail of daily life and war in ancient times, are George’s character portrayals. Helen starts out quite ordinary despite her half immortal parentage, except in the area of her startling appearance. Other than golden hair, George resists telling us what makes Helen’s appearance so unusual. In this she takes her cue from Homer and paints Helen through the reactions of people to her rather than description. Helen acquires her visionary insights and her outsized passion from the gods as she goes along rather than from an inborn nature. She objects to being so special in appearance and as far as personality, she stays in normal human parameters: strong-willed at times, intelligent and perceptive about people and their faults, able to take command in times of need, but often an observer more than a doer. The magical sorceress-like character that sometimes appears in the myths and Homer is not present here except in rumors that Helen rejects. Although Helen and Paris go through a rough spot in their marriage, George has them cleave to each other to the end. Some readers of Homer would see a Helen who has grown bored and disgusted with her Paris long before the end of the war, so that’s an interesting and conscious choice. Achilles is pretty much despicable through and through. He’s violent and mean spirited with only one or two moments, for example in the face of Penthesileia’s death, where he shows any positive actions or feelings at all. I’ve always been partial to Achilles, seeing him as the laudable existential hero of the poem, so I’m not with George on that read, but there’s plenty in the tradition to support her portrayal and it works very well with her overall storyline. I think it does reduce Achilles and therefore the whole Trojan War aura, but her portrayal of Hector’s nobility and her redeeming of Paris make up for that. Paris is a far more heroic character here than I would have been able to imagine, and I enjoyed that vision a great deal. It was fun and made Helen’s choice far more satisfying. George uses some clever, if occasionally a little contrived, devices to put us on the scene with some famous moments in the Iliad. The novel is told from Helen’s point of view, but she wanders in her inner vision onto battlefields, and at other points she observes private moments as an eavesdropper, such as the farewell scene between Andromache and Hector and their infant son. The tragedy of Troy’s destruction is George’s tour de force. As a reader I felt it in my bones. I wept with Priam and Hecuba and the growing bleakness and despair is beautifully depicted. She makes you want to reach into mythological history and rewrite it, make the whole thing come out differently, even as you read along knowing no such reprieve will come. That’s good writing, for sure. The final parts in Sparta and then back to Troy have less emotional kick to them, but given her choice to portray Helen’s whole life, they are unavoidable. I enjoyed George’s Helen of Troy. There are probably pieces here and there that could have been edited out to carry the story forward more quickly (I can hear my critique partners/editors laughing at me—that’s always what I have to do), but if you love immersion in history, George excels at that and you might object if parts were removed.
*I don't know too much about the myth of Troy, just some stuff so bear with me*A wonderful novel of Helen and the Trojan War... everything was brought to life beautifully, I felt like I was walking the streets of Sparta and Troy. Miss George's writing was amazing, very rich and beautifully detailed. The pages fly by very quickly, even though this isn't a fast read. Helen and Paris' falling in love... happened a bit quickly for my taste and I had trouble believing their love for most of the book till they were in Troy and spent more time together... even then I still had mental flags popping up now and then.The 'gifts' of Helen's Sight (or however you want to name it), was a nice touch.Hector and Andromache were my favorites among the side characters, their love and devotion for each other, their family, and Troy shined through. Hector is fair, kind, strong... I would have loved to know him :). Andromache is a fitting partner for Hector, and a good friend to Helen.Having Helen's side of things and seeing how/what she thought of everything leading up to and surrounding the war was interesting... how lonely she felt in her marriage to Menelaus, her love for Hermione and Paris, flight to troy... it was interesting but also grating sometimes. There were many moments that I wanted to shake her and make her 'grow up' in a sense.It felt sometimes that she was 'stuck' a bit mentally and never fully matured... or maybe that's just me *shrugs*Don't get me wrong, I loved seeing things from her point of view and all but I would liked insight/point of views from the other people... Achilles would have specially interesting.-----Quote from near the end:"I cannot believe that the extraordinary deeds and person of Achilles, Hector, Paris, and you will disappear. These were different than all those others. Different from Theseus and the Minotaur, different from Jason and his Argonauts, beyond the destruction of Andromache's city of Thebes.I smiled. At the moment I felt so much wiser than he. "Dear friend," I said "they all felt thus-- felt they, and their valiant deeds, could never vanish." ----These people live on in the many stories about them and will continue to fascinate, there's just something about all of them that draws you in. Makes you wonder too, if any of it could have prevented, or was it destined to play out as it was? Were any of them and the Trojan war real? A masterpiece of a novel, highly recommend :) Will definitely have to look up more about Troy later on. *May add more to the review later on, be gentle haha ;-)*
What do You think about Helen Of Troy (2006)?
Okay, Margaret George is an extremely "wordy" author. She likes adjectives and she likes to use them a lot. I am a simple woman, if the day is hot then I don't want to hear about how the sweat drops slide down your face.Also, I think she got bored in the last 100 pages because Helen just kind of summarizes things and then the book is over.Also, I hate Helen of Troy. If I was to write a fiction book about a fiction woman I would make Helen of Troy a power house. I don't CARE that Homer didn't write her like that. I would write her like that. To me, Helen would be in the war room planning the attacks. She would be on the field with the Amazon Women thrusting and cutting her way to freedom.Instead, George turned her into a whiney, childish, frightened woman and the only reason I finished this book was because it was hot in my apartment, I didn't want to move and I have weekends off.Seriously.
—Jocelyn
I finally conquered Troy!Yesterday, before I read the last page of the book and the afterwords by the author, I was ready to rant and rave about how selfish and vapid Helen was and how ridiculous everyone seemed with their claims of seeing the future and being visited by gods every other day....then I learned that it's a good possibility that she never existed and is simply a myth. How can I get self-righteous with a myth?But seriously, I couldn't feel any sympathy for Helen and Paris. They should have known better. Paris was 16 so he was probably letting his hormones do the talking but Helen was a grown woman.She knew her brother-in-law was looking for a fight with Troy and so she runs away in the middle of the night with the Prince of Troy and was shocked that they would gather a vast army and invade? Please!She left her daughter behind and she left her parents to deal with the humiliation and we're supposed to swoon over the great love affair? Whatever, Helen!So, all ranting aside, this was a lovely read. Margaret George does an amazing job of transporting us back to a time that may or may not have existed. It seemed real to me.She gave each character such distinct personalities that they all came alive.However, the character of Helen and the authors interpretation of Cleopatra were very similar. I guess being queens of ancient lands, you'd imagine they'd have similar personalities or Margaret George has a formula for her ancient queens.I've got her story of Mary of Magdelene on my TBR list. Surely, Mary's character will be different.Bottom line: great read, enchanting writing.
—DeAnna
I felt the same way about Helen and Paris (as Diane Krueger and Orlando Bloom- although I have to admit I don't think Orlando fit the role)! I also enjoyed Memoirs of Cleopatra. And your review was good- short and to the point.
—GeekChick
