Natalie Haynes' novel aimed to shift the focus away from male warriors towards the women caught up in the Trojan War and its aftermath
June saw the Tyneside Book Group tackle a very different version of the Greek myths, with Natalie Haynes placing the emphasis on the stories of the women Homer only mentions in passing in The Iliad.
A Thousand Ships had both fans and detractors among members, although everyone appreciated some elements of her take on the events surrounding The Iliad and The Odyssey.
For supporters, this book was a necessary corrective to some male-dominated accounts, and also benefited from the perspective of a woman, albeit one born thousands of years after these tales were first told.
Natalie Haynes certainly had the classical background though to base her account on intimate knowledge of the source material, and she made it clear that was largely the basis for the novel.
Members enjoyed the pace of the writing and the use of different perspectives to keep the narrative moving along. They also appreciated her choice not to write a straightforward narrative, but to move around in both time and place.
There was some division on the sections narrated by Penelope. For some members these were the pinnacle, written with wit but also with insight into how Odysseus' wife might deal with a long separation.
For others though these sections felt glib and lacked psychological insight, offering a missed opportunity. That was also a more general criticism of the book for some, who felt that Haynes added little depth or new perspective on events and characters. Some felt they would much rather have returned to the original classical sources.
Those who enjoyed the book though felt she did bring a freshness to the tales, and breathed life into characters like Cassandra, Hecuba and Clytemnestra. They felt she brought home the powerlessness of women in a male-dominated society which treated them as possessions.
A Thousand Ships had both fans and detractors among members, although everyone appreciated some elements of her take on the events surrounding The Iliad and The Odyssey.
For supporters, this book was a necessary corrective to some male-dominated accounts, and also benefited from the perspective of a woman, albeit one born thousands of years after these tales were first told.
Natalie Haynes certainly had the classical background though to base her account on intimate knowledge of the source material, and she made it clear that was largely the basis for the novel.
Members enjoyed the pace of the writing and the use of different perspectives to keep the narrative moving along. They also appreciated her choice not to write a straightforward narrative, but to move around in both time and place.
There was some division on the sections narrated by Penelope. For some members these were the pinnacle, written with wit but also with insight into how Odysseus' wife might deal with a long separation.
For others though these sections felt glib and lacked psychological insight, offering a missed opportunity. That was also a more general criticism of the book for some, who felt that Haynes added little depth or new perspective on events and characters. Some felt they would much rather have returned to the original classical sources.
Those who enjoyed the book though felt she did bring a freshness to the tales, and breathed life into characters like Cassandra, Hecuba and Clytemnestra. They felt she brought home the powerlessness of women in a male-dominated society which treated them as possessions.
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