
Famous Family
by I
About This Novel
The latest work of Tobin, the author of "Brooklyn" and "The Master", rewrites the family tragedy of Agamemnon from a modern perspective, an ancient Greek version of "House of Cards". "I have become familiar with the smell of death." A few years after King Agamemnon of Mycenae led the Greek coalition to attack Troy, his wife Clytemnestra began to tell her story. At this time, Clytemnestra and her lover Aegisthus ruled Mycenae, and the two planned to assassinate Agamemnon on the occasion of his triumph. Clytemnestra, who was hated and cursed by the gods, revealed the family tragedy that led to this bloody assassination: Three years ago, in order to please the gods and bless her victory in the Trojan expedition, Agamemnon tricked her eldest daughter Iphigenia into the military camp and killed her on the pretext of organizing a wedding. Clytemnestra turned Aegisthus, the hostage in the dungeon, into his bedfellow and accomplice; when Agamemnon returned, the captive Trojan princess Cassandra had also become his lover; in the end, Clytemnestra killed Agamemnon to avenge her daughter. In his latest novel "The Famous Family", Colm Tóibín retells the ancient Greek classic story of the death of Agamemnon in modern language, giving new life to Clytemnestra, the famous evil woman in Greek mythology, making us not only understand her desire for revenge, but even sympathize with her. Tobin brilliantly reveals her love, desire and pain. This is the story of Clytemnestra, the story of her son Orestes who later killed her, and the story of her second daughter Electra who witnessed it all.
What Readers Think
Rating
Community(0)
Rating
Community(0)
