"Elektra" by Jennifer Saint (2022)

Not long ago I saw stage production of "Trojan Women" by Euripides and it struck me how the play was ancient and modern at the same time (the fact strengthen by the characters wearing modern-day clothes) - the story about the war, destruction, suffering and survivors/victims might be the ultimate story of our world. I even watched 1971 film version, which was not bad at all. But reading is something else, it brings you completely in the mind of the characters and this is why books are still my number one treat. From the top of my head I recall several titles dealing with Trojan war - "Cassandra" by Christa Wolf, "The Penelopiad" by Margaret Atwood and "The Firebrand" by Marion Zimmer Bradley are just some that come to mind, apparently the subject is very popular again and exploration of Greek mythology is turning into a new literary trend. It is refreshing, because we are all getting a bit tired of same old Tudors. 

I was familiar with Greek mythology - at least I thought that I was, but obviously I forgot a lot trough the decades, so it struck me as a surprise to recall that notorious Clytemnestra was twin sister of Helen, almost like dark mirror to Helen legendary glow - but where Helen is shrouded in some imaginary cloud of her beauty, Clytemnestra is forever associated with murder of her husband and this is where Jennifer Saint gets her inspiration from - why Clytemnestra hated him so much and why did she do it. So the book is divided into three different (but connected) points of view - the sorrow of Clytemnestra who can't get over the ritual killing of her daughter Iphigenia as sacrifice, the confused anger of cursed priestess Cassandra and finally the white hot fury of Elektra who is obsessive about revenging her father's death. There is a lot of anger, hatred and all sorts of violent feelings here - one revenge follows another and it all gets a bit too much sometimes. Here is one voice of reason:

'‘You’ve lived under the shadow of this curse all your life. You’ve learned from your family’s history that blood must be repaid in blood. But I’ve been farming, working on your father’s lands for all of mine. I learned it from my father, how everything dies away and comes back again, how we sow and reap the harvest every year. I’ve learned the rhythms of the seasons, and how even the harshest of winters is always followed by spring. It’s a cycle constantly changing, but always the same. And your family’s curse, it’s like that, too. All the way back to Tantalus, your ancestors have done the same thing to one another. There’s a terrible crime, unbearable pain and then the lashing out of vengeance, and then it all begins again. I know it’s hard for you to see it, when the storms are raging and it’s impossible to imagine the dead earth will ever bring forth crops again. But it does – it always does."

‘But if we don’t take vengeance, if my brother lets our father’s killers go unpunished, what will the gods do then? It’s our duty.’ I clutch at the lock of hair in my hand, the only thing I have to give my father until Orestes comes back. ‘A woman can’t kill her husband, a usurper can’t steal a throne, and neither of them pay. It’s an insult to the gods, to my family, to everything.’

But where does it stop?’ His vehemence startles me. I’ve never known Georgios like this before. ‘Can’t you see that it just goes on, over and over? The gods demand their justice, but we suffer for it, every time.’

‘Well, what else should we do?’

‘You could be happy.’ He reaches across the table for my hand. ‘You escaped your mother and Aegisthus. They have nothing to do with your life any more.’

I snatch my hand away. ‘My father is dead because of them.’

‘Many people have dead fathers, Elektra.’

Strangely that the novel is named after Elektra (the sister of sacrificed Iphigenia and daughter of Clytemnestra herself) because Elektra herself might be the least interesting character of all - while all he other characters have some kind of background and explanation, Elektra is basically very one dimensional (at times even irritating) daddy's girl who almost gets mad with her daddy issues and than when he actually returns home after ten years, she can only get a glimpse of his helmet before he is murdered. So the revenge and fury goes on and on and its quite exhausting. Still, makes for great reading.