2021/139: House of Names -- Colm Tóibín

2021/139: House of Names -- Colm Tóibín

As they fade from the earth, the gods do not hover over with their haunting, whistling sound. I notice it here, the silence around death. They have departed, the ones who oversaw death. They have gone and they will not be back. [loc. 99]

Based on, but not exactly a retelling of, the Oresteia. Tóibín depicts a world without gods or furies, in which 'what you did is all you have'. The novel is in three parts, with three narrators -- Clytemnestra, Orestes and Electra -- and tells the story of Iphigenia's sacrifice, the murder of Agamemnon, and the vengeance wreaked by his children. ( Read more... )