Elektra

I thought I would enjoy Elektra a lot more than I actually did. A retelling of the mythological Trojan War story from a female perspective sounded like just my sort of book, however ultimately I did not feel that Jennifer Saint's novel was in the same class as The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood or Crown Of Ivy by Victoria Audley. It is also confusingly titled. Elektra does play a vital role in the story, but I would say that this novel primarily tells Clytemnestra's experiences with the eponymous Elektra only really coming to the fore in the later chapters. Perhaps the older woman's name wasn't considered snappy enough for a book cover?

Saint's interpretation of the Trojan War myth recounts events from the time when the beautiful Helen runs off to Troy with Paris and it is primarily set in Mycenae, Agamemnon's kingdom where his wife - and Helen's sister - Clytemnestra eagerly awaits his return throughout the ten long years of the siege war. She is enraged and desperately wants revenge on Agamemnon for his betrayal of their eldest daughter. That betrayal scene, for me, was one of the most vivid and real in the whole novel - a moment where the ancient myth truly sprang to life. I felt Saint completely understood Clytemnestra's anguish and got to the heart of her character.

Unfortunately those moments seemed too few and far between to really keep my interest. Perhaps if I didn't already know the underlying myth so well, I might have got more from reading Elektra. As it was, I kept turning pages and did read to the end, however without the enthusiasm I had anticipated. I didn't think that Saint's retelling brought out anything new and, although she did centre the female voices, I didn't feel as though these women were truly driving their narrative. I'm not even sure why Cassandra was chosen as one of the trio as she comes across as peripheral at best.

Clytemnestra weds Agamemnon, catching him on the rebound after being rejected by Helen, Clytemnestra’s sister. They become rulers of Mycenae, and have three daughters, including Iphigenia and Elektra. Agamemnon and the other suitors assuaged their disappointment at Helen’s rejection by pledging to defend her should anyone sully her honor. This sets a trap sprung by Paris, who flees with Helen to Troy. Keeping the pledge, Agamemnon assembles an army and sails off to the Trojan War. During preparation, Agamemnon betrays Clytemnestra and Iphigenia, leaving Clytemnestra prostrate with rage and grief that burns into an implacable urge for vengeance against her husband.

Elektra sees her father off to war and spends the next ten years pining for his return. Her mother tires to get her to understand Agamemnon’s betrayal, but Elektra finds her father’s conduct honorable and grows impatient with her mother’s insistence. Elektra also learns of the curse on Agamemnon’s family, and so on her. When Clytemnestra takes a lover connected with the curse, Elektra sets her course against her mother. Her father returns in victory, her mother has her vengeance and Elektra gets a turn at the family curse.

Cassandra, a princess of Troy, is fascinated by her mother’s spells of foresight. Ignoring her mother’s warnings, she becomes an Apollonian priest in hopes of receiving foresight too. Apollo obliges, but she rebuffs him when he tries to claim what he considers his due. Enraged, he curses her so no one will believe her prophecies. Her inability to convince anyone of the impending doom for the Trojans and for Troy slowly drives her mad.

Elektra is a story of the Trojan War as experienced by Clytemnestra, Elektra and Cassandra. The three stories are interwoven, chapter by chapter, with Clytemnestra carrying the majority of the story until Elektra takes over towards the end of the book. Clytemnestra has the motive, means and method to drive the story forward. Elektra is less successful, mostly being sulky and bratty until her mother is done, leaving her to drive the story. Even then she is sunk in her monomania to a degree that exceeds her mother’s. Cassandra is a puzzle. She is tangential to the Trojan War. She is unable to prevent it, or change it in any significant way, and ends up claimed by Agamemnon as a spoil of war. Her story is interesting allegorically — people who are disbelieved are still called Cassandras, usually by those who forget that the other half of Cassandra’s curse was to always tell the truth — but the connection between her and the Mycenian women is at best coincident.

For two of the three women, the Trojan War is at a remove; they hear of it only through messengers and the occasional returning combatant. For Cassandra the war is immediate, but as an observer until the end when she becomes a prisoner. This lets Elektra emphasize the women’s conflicts, both internally and externally: Clytemnestra and Elektra with each other, and Cassandra with everyone. Saint’s writing handles these currents well, delineating and distinguishing the three women, and exposing their inner drives. Readers familiar with the Trojan War may feel a tinge of guilt when Clytemnestra rages against those in on Agamemnon’s betrayal of her and Iphigenia. Saint makes a nasty little reversal against Cassandra sting: her father perceives she will act against the Greeks’ horse, and convinces some guards to stand alert to the possibility. Cassandra is thwarted when she tries to burn the horse; her father's successful prophecy places a final check on her attempt to react to her unheeded prophecies, sealing Troy’s fate.