Alcestis

by Katharine Beutner

In Greek myth, Alcestis is known as the ideal wife; she loved her husband so much that she died and went to the underworld in his place. In this vividly-imagined debut, Katharine Beutner gives voice to the woman behind the ideal and reveals the part of the story that’s never been told: What happened to Alcestis in the three days she spent in the underworld?

Genres: Historical Fiction, Mythology, Fantasy, Fiction, Greek Mythology, Retellings, LGBT

304 pages, Hardcover

First published February 1, 2010

About the author

I write fiction and creative nonfiction and teach writing and literature at the College of Wooster. My novel KILLINGLY is forthcoming from Soho Crime and Corvus in the UK in June 2023.

My first novel ALCESTIS, a retelling of the Greek myth, will be reissued by Soho Press in September 2023.

Reviews

[Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

The ancient Greeks held up Alcestis as a model of wifely devotion. Her husband, Admetus, was spared from death on the condition that someone else die in his place. When Admetus’ relatives and friends refused, Alcestis volunteered herself and made the journey to the underworld, but was later rescued by Heracles. In her debut novel, a poignant literary fantasy, Katharine Beutner fleshes out the figure of Alcestis, and gives her a backstory that helps explain her willingness to sacrifice herself.

Beutner’s Alcestis has always lived in the shadow of death, starting with her mother’s death in childbirth. Then, as a child, Alcestis loses her favorite sister, Hippothoe, to asthma. When her father remarries, Alcestis forges a bond with her new stepmother and later with her half-sisters, but she still misses Hippothoe terribly and sneaks out of the palace to visit her grave whenever she can. Later, Alcestis marries her cousin Admetus, but their wedding night is marred by a near-fatal encounter with poisonous snakes. Admetus is spooked, and between that and his love for the god Apollo, he’s a little distant from his wife. Yet Alcestis has never seen any reason to hope for more from a marriage.

Beutner paints a vivid picture of a world where women have few rights. This is not done in a heavy-handed way; Beutner’s portrayal of ancient Greek misogyny is all the more horrifying because of the matter-of-fact way it is presented. A wedding celebration that continues in its merry dancing even when an unmistakable scream pierces through the music; a father praying for his newborn child but never bothering to name the wife who just bore the child, and pointedly not mentioning to the gods that the baby is female; these things serve to remind us that Alcestis’ world is not our own. And Alcestis is a product of her times. She knows she is considered property to be handed from one man to another, and she doesn’t like it, but she doesn’t develop an anachronistic grrl-power attitude.

This is also a world where gods walk among men and women. Alcestis herself is the granddaughter of Poseidon, whom she has met only once: “Mostly I remembered Poseidon’s thick sea-clogged smell, and the way his black hair lay dull and damp against his skull, and the pattern of drips he’d left on the floors, like stories marked out in the stars.” Gods drift in and out of human lives, siring children and breaking hearts, not knowing (or not caring) what havoc they wreak.

When Alcestis descends into the underworld, she too is swept into a divine love affair, but an unusual one; she becomes the plaything of the goddess Persephone. Persephone is not likable, but I think that’s the whole point. You can love gods, and fear them, but you don’t do anything so cozy and mundane as like them.

I also think, though I may be stretching, that Persephone’s mercurial personality may be a reflection on the nature of storytelling. Persephone is sometimes said to have been claimed by Hades against her will, but sometimes it’s said that she loved him, and sometimes that she was the dominant one in the relationship, and so Beutner’s Persephone is made up of all these different versions of herself.

Beutner’s underworld is haunting. She does a great job of incorporating the existing mythology and of using her prose to set a scene both beautiful and utterly alien: “We flew, the god and I, wrapped in his fluttering cloak. The space around us was uniform as a cloud, but I saw shapes and patterns below us, patches of darkness, ribbons of gloom, glints of metal or stone. Lines of strange-colored light. I felt as if I were trying to make out the floor of the sea by looking through deep water.” Later, when Alcestis meets some of the shades who live in the underworld, there are some moments that will break your heart.

Speaking of heartbreaking, Alcestis left me with a mixture of pensiveness and sadness. Despite the sadness, I was glad to have followed her on her journey, and to feel like I “knew” this mythological character better than I did before. I do wish Beutner had written more about Alcestis’ daughter, though! I did some poking around after finishing the book, and there isn’t really anything known about this girl, but I wanted to see Beutner flesh her out and show how she lived up to what Persephone said about her. (Maybe in a later book? Please?)

I think anyone who liked Jo Graham’s Black Ships will find Alcestis rewarding, and so will anyone who liked Ursula K. LeGuin’s Lavinia. Alcestis seems to exist in a middle ground between these two novels in terms of abstractness; I’d say it’s more abstract than Graham’s work and less abstract than LeGuin’s. I recommend it to readers who enjoy retellings of myth from the female perspective, and readers who are looking for a blend of fantasy and literary fiction.

[Faith Simon · Rating 2 out of 5]

*EDITED to add possible CW/TW for mentions of sexual assault*

Oh my god, this book is literally so boring!!! I was waiting pretty much the entire book for things to get exciting, and they never did!
I thought that I would absolutely adore this book, simply because it has to do with Greek mythology, and I LOVE books written about Greek mythology. However, my experience reading this book (listening, rather, as I had the audiobook) was like trudging through molasses the entire time. I suppose there's not really a lot you can do with a pretty obscure character with not much written about her, to then write an entire book about her. But, come on, did I really need to sit through 8 hours of absolute boredom?
In the classifications of the book, it says LGBT, and so, of course, I got ridiculously excited. Books about Greek mythology that are also gay? Sign me up! And although I love Persephone with all my heart and soul, and quite enjoyed this characterization of her, the romance here with which made the book LGBT was, uhhh, really weird?
First of all, Alcestis spends basically her entire time in the underworld trying to find her dead sister who turns out to not even know her own name, much less remember that she has a sister. And this whole time, Alcestis SUPPOSEDLY wants nothing to do with Persephone, yet she watches her and Hades have sex in their domain and then feels jealous over it?? And Persephone proceeds to just be really weird and tricky with her interest in Alcestis, even going so far as to have sex with her without her consent, even while she's repeatedly saying no and she's pinning her to the ground so she can't escape. And then suddenly after that Alcestis is in pure and beautiful love with Persephone? I'm sorry, I know this takes place way back when rape was just like, normal and not as big of a deal, but this just did not sit well with me at all. I couldn't quite get behind this romance because of this. Oh look, yet another extremely unhealthy example of an LGBT relationship in fiction, because I guess that's all us queers are granted in terms of representation. Super!
And then, of course, we have the storyline where her husband is secretly fucking Apollo. I mean, wouldn't you? But besides that, she's so sad that her husband won't look at her the same as he does this BRIGHT AND CHISELED AND EXTREMELY HANDSOME GOD, like she really expects to be comparable? And I did not care in the slightest about these marital issues of hers. And her husband literally got the help of a God just to be able to convince her father to marry her because he was so fixed on her being his bride, and then he hooks up with the God that helped him win her over instead and neglects the wife he so viciously fought for? What is happening in Greece, y'all.
The narrator of this audiobook, too, was really bland and dreary, but she had great expressions when reading the dialogue, but otherwise, this book was just not exciting. The first while is just Alcestis growing up and being boring, boring, boring. I'm so glad that it's finally over.

[Iset · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is definitely one of those books where I have to honestly tell my fellow reader: Alcestis is a very subjective book, and I can equally see someone hating it as loving it.

I wasn’t too interested in it myself at first, and struggled my way through the tedium of early chapters, which, if anything, struck me as very Young Adult. What I mean by that statement is that I’ve read a lot of Greek myth novels in recent years which usually attempt to retell the tale from a young female character’s perspective, eliminate the fantasy elements in favour of something more plausibly historical, but which usually end up far too simplistic and fluffy, shying away from the full impact of the horrors these ancient myths could contain and reducing the complex humanity of the characters to teenage girls either stamping their foot at their arranged marriage (decidedly anachronistically, for bronze age Greece) or mooning over their suitors. I felt like I’d stepped into another of those novels, and my interest was waning.

My first clue that this was something different was the fact that the gods make appearances. So this wasn’t another novel trying to do a historical retelling. However the fantasy elements remained on the fringe until halfway in, when a certain event sets everything in motion. Suddenly, it felt like I was transported into a completely different sort of story. The writing becomes almost lyrical, the setting and characters alien and utterly mesmerising. I was transfixed. I think you could justifiably say that this book has a dark romance at its core, one that pulls on you just as much as it repels. Again – I warn my fellow readers that one’s reaction to this really will vary. I can clearly see, from some of the other reviewers, that some people were switched off completely by this. I don’t condone Persephone’s actions, but I don’t condemn the book either: to me, it seemed plain that the author intended to create an outlandish experience rife with emotion, something that is supposed to be thought-provoking and get us to consider how repulsion and attraction mix, dread and desire. I can’t say her gods are exactly as I have imagined the Greek pantheon over the years, but what Beutner does do successfully in my opinion, is bring to life beings who are not familiar in their humanity at all, but instead fascinatingly and terrifyingly alien – and then loop it back round to us by exploring the aspects of ourselves we’d rather not think of as human at all, but if we’re honest with ourselves, are just as much a part of our make up as the traits we trumpet so proudly.

I’ll be thinking about this story for some time.

8 out of 10

[Kogiopsis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reread in 2025 as part of my ongoing shelf audit. Verdict: I stand by my review below, but I also don't see myself re-reading this, so to the used bookstore it goes.


Original 2011 review:

This book reminded me quite a bit of Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni's The Palace Of Illusions and that's good, because that book is what all myth retellings have to live up to in my mind.

Now, bear in mind that I'm not familiar with the original myth of Alcestis.

That being said, this book was gorgeous. The writing might seem overwrought to some readers, but I found it lyrical, visceral, and intense. Alcestis is very much a woman of her times and culture, not a feminist insert put there to challenge the world around her. And yet, even as she is quiet and passive, she is an intensely feminist narrator. She's a lot like Offred from The Handmaid's Tale, actually: while neither really speaks up or does much to break their bonds, their plain description of their lives is in and of itself subversive. Alcestis grows from sheltered girl to jaded wife, and the transition is elegant and a tiny bit chilling. When she goes to the underworld in her husband's place, it is not an emotional impulsive choice but a calculated decision, just this side of cold. It's almost suicide, actually.

The days she spends in the underworld have a dreamlike air to them, and the emotions she has for Persephone are equally hazy and strange. Persephone herself gave me the willies. She was so very inhuman it was terrifying; she was capricious, emotional, dishonest, and impulsive. She was cruel, sometimes without meaning to, sometimes just acting as she had learned from the other gods. I never doubted that she didn't play by mortal rules, and that was scary. While she was the most present member of the pantheon, her stories and the stories of humans showed the other gods to be just as inhuman. I've read a lot of reviews complaining that new Greek mythology-inspired novels whitewash the gods. This one certainly doesn't.

Reading Alcestis was an intense experience. Beutner's writing and voice drew me in, and her story was deeply emotional and beautiful. I loved, loved, loved that the conflict of Alcestis and Persephone's relationship was not that they were both women but that they were married women, and yet at the same time that Alcestis was aware of her husband's infidelity - that through her very complacency, not through speaking out, she highlighted the cultural misogyny to which she was subjected.

I received this book through the First Reads program and I'm so very glad I did.

[Mely · Rating 4 out of 5]

From http://coffeeandink.dreamwidth.org/10...

Review copy provided by the agent.

For years I've loved the historical novels of Mary Renault, and for almost as many years I've longed for versions of them that centered on women. The apparent effortlessness of the world-building in Renault's rich recreations of Classical Greece is matched only by the elegance of her prose and the fascinating obliquity of her characterization; she is one of English's great masters of textual negative space. In her books, what isn't said or what's almost said is as significant as what is. Her major flaw as a writer -- as great, unfortunately, as any of her virtues -- is her extraordinary misogyny. Most of her early contemporary novels from the 1930s and 1940s are unsettling and subversive takes on the "nurse romance": the work is hard if sometimes worthwhile; the hospitals are full of internal politicking and bullying, sexual and otherwise; there is an uneasy struggle with sexuality and Platonism, in which erotic love appears (as it would in the historical novels) as a degradation from a purer and unconsummated affection. Women are sometimes goddesses and sometimes monsters and occasionally helpmeets to male geniuses; they can never hope to match male ambition or accomplishment. Male and female homosexuality are both depicted sympathetically, but the relationships between men always trump the relationships between men and women, as the relationships between men and women always trump the relationships between women; many critics have described The Friendly Young Ladies/The Middle Mists as an account of a lesbian couple, a reading which unfortunately ignores that the majority of the book concerns the relationship between one of the women and her male mentor/hero/crush. He is, of course, a better a writer than she could ever hope to be. On the whole, I prefer the historicals, where women are more or less invisible.

So I can't be particularly objective about Katharine Beutner's first novel, Alcestis, in which the ideal wife of Greek myth, who loves her husband so much she agrees to take his die in his place, becomes the lover of Persephone for the three days she dwells as a shade in the Underworld. It is so exactly what I have always wanted some book to be.

In Beutner's retelling, Alcestis has been familiar with death since birth, and yet its sting never grows less: her mother dies giving birth to her, her beloved elder sister dies in childhood, her stepmother risks death with every pregnancy, her brothers risk death with every journey. Life is a series of losses, even if not fatal ones: another sister is traded off in marriage, never to be seen again, a future Alcestis knows awaits her. All that Alcestis can keep is her secrets, and even those are a kind of lack, a forced hiding from power: "I would marry, but I could never reveal to a man what was damp and hungry in me, not like these girls, these laughing children, destined to be shepherds' wives or sailors' mistresses, to die bearing or beaten or old. I leaned against the wall and I felt the skin of my inner thighs brush, the dry slide of hot skin and tiny hairs." (p. 37) Alcestis sees, sometimes, brief chances to escape the limitations or fulfill the losses of her life: the love of her kind and handsome husband Admetus, the seduction by glorious Persephone, the chance to meet again with her sister Hippothoe in the lands of the dead. But these all prove illusory, the gods selfish and violent beyond human understanding, and death a chasm that can't be crossed even by the dead.

The book is beautifully and thoroughly centered in women's experiences, with particular attention to the bonds between women: between sisters, between daughters and mothers and stepdaughters and stepmothers, and between mortal women and immortal goddesses. Both the rich and rivalrous bond between Alcestis and her sister Pisidice and the strong and sweet bond between Alcestis and her sister Hippothoe are echoed in various ways in Alcestis' relationship with Persephone; Alcestis can see her future in her stepmother's treatment, in her husband's fearful and enthralled love of the god Apollo. She is most like and most unlike Persephone, who rules in Hell the way no human woman rules in Greece; except, perhaps, in moments of desire or strength of will, and even those human women pay for in the end, when women's strength is taken as the weakness and shame of men.

I've focused on what Adrienne Rich would call the continuum of lesbian existence in the book (cf. "Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence"), but Alcestis also explores a gorgeous sexual fluidity: Alcestis' desire for Admetus is real, perhaps realer than any other connection they have with each other. If it's not unaffected by their fears and their social roles, it is at least something like a feast of misrule, where they can reverse the usual rules if not escape them.

If I have any complaint, it's that the overall tone of the book is so cool. Alcestis is so predisposed to mourning that it sometimes feels like loss cannot actually touch her, as if all her emotions are separated from her by a layer of grey cotton or the knowledge of death. But it's hard to call that a flaw when it may very well be deliberate; this is a tale, after all, told from beyond the Styx.

[Lobo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oficjalna wersja mitu jest taka: Alkestis stanowi, na równi z Penelopą, symbol miłości i oddania żony. Dobrowolnie zgodziła się oddać życie za swojego męża, Admeta, który puszczał się z Apollem. Apollo tak ukochał Admeta, że obiecał mu długowieczność- jeśli ten znajdzie kogoś, kto zgodzi się za niego umrzeć, gdy przyjdzie pora. Alkestis zgłosiła się na ochotnika. Wedle oficjalnej wersji mitu Persefona była tak porusza tym aktem małżeńskiej miłości, że zgodziła się, aby Alkestis powróciła do świata żywych (z małą pomocą Herkulesa, który tak często podróżował między światem żywych i umarłych, że Hades powinien zamontować dla niego drzwi obrotowe).

Katherine Beutner mówi "a takiego wała" i pisze swoją, lepszą, ciekawszą, bardziej realistyczną psychologiczne wersję. I przy okazja zastanawia się nad jedną kwestią - w mitologii straszny los spotykał kobiety, które miały pecha wpaść w oko bogom. Śmierć, przemiana, tragedia - wszystko to w efekcie gwałtu Zeusa, Posejdona czy innego Olimpijczyka. Beutner zastanawia się - a jak czuje się kobieta, którą pokochała bogini? Jaki los ją spotyka?

Niewiele lepszy. To nie jest książka z happy endem. Nie zrozumcie mnie źle, wszystko przebiega tak, jak podają mity. I to jest właśnie straszne.

Po pierwsze, Admat jest tchórzem. Rozpaczliwie boi się śmierci, której nie może uniknąć, a jedynie odroczyć. I to za cenę życia kogoś innego. Alkestis w tej wersji wie, że czeka ją albo życie przy boku zhańbionego tchórzostwem króla - a to coś, czego Achajowie nie wybaczają - albo uda się w zaświaty i przestanie męczyć się życiem. Bo życie kobiety w tamtych czasach było niekończącym się pasmem poniżenia i rozczarowania. Już mniejsza o to, że twój mąż to wielki bottom, który puszcza się z Apollem. Skoro nie może cię kochać, niech chociaż czuje się winny. I jakoś cię pamięta. Alkestis ma wiele powodów, aby przyjąć dłoń Hermesa i udać się w zaświaty.

Prawdziwa historia zaczyna się po jej śmierci. Przedstawienie zaświatów oraz Hadesa i Persefony jest fascynujące. Jeśli ktoś zna podcast Mabel (pride'owo polecam - gotyk, wróżki i lesbijska miłość, która przenosi góry - dosłownie!), zrozumie nastrój tego romansu: więcej w nim bólu niż radości, wszystko ma gorzki posmak, który uzależnia, szczęście podszyte jest rozpaczą. To kochać wbrew sobie i wbrew rozsądkowi. Kochać boga to paść ofiarą tragedii, Alkestis to wie, ale to nie zmienia jej uczuć.

Hades to lesbian supporter.

Świetny retelling, nie wiedziałam, na co się piszę, kiedy zaczynałam czytać. Jeśli podobała Wam się "Kirke" - powinniście sięgnąć po "Alcestis", ten sam nastrój, sposób pisania, rytm zdań, skomplikowane postaci. Urzekające.

[Ria · Rating 3 out of 5]

This will contain spoilers. i warned u, not my problem if u get spoiled 🍵 *it is a retelling tho so what the fuck am i even spoiling*



i heard so many good things about this 🤭 so naturally i had to buy it and review it.
the story takes place on earth and in the underworld. honestly nothing really happens on earth . i mean shit happens but here we get a boring portrayal of what happened in the old stories. her sis dies, her father's nephew wants to marry her and then she turns into a stepford wife. ancient Greece, what a time to be alive. what i didn't understand is the timeline of her time on earth. honestly i couldn't even understand when a day ended and when another started. if u had told me that the first half of the book happened in only 18 hours i would have believed you.
Alcestis is a simp, Admetus & Hades are soy boys and Persephone is HORNY.
Admetus and Apollo are fucking... right?
it started as a boring retelling of an ancient Greek story and ended as a mediocre lesbian drama which surprisingly i did not mind. i know that pretty much everyone hated the underworld part but i kinda loved it... am i the drama? Alcestis liking women did not come out of nowhere guys. the author mentioned time and time again that she acts like a boy and that she talks like a boy. irrefutable evidence.

ok so i got it because it was on sale for only a euro and because people bullied the second half of it but the second half of it kinda saved this for me and turned from an 1.5 to a 3.5. the hate is valid tho.

[Hannah · Rating 1 out of 5]

Perhaps I didn't read closely enough, but it took me a few chapters to realize that the gods Alcestis spoke of were actually real and not metaphorical. A lot of things described in the book were hard for me to imagine for some reason. Not a lot of action happens, but Alcestis thinks a lot about the things going on around her and has a strange obsession with her sister.

I didn't know the myth of Alcestis, so about 2/3s through the book, I thought Whoa, this can't be right. When I looked up the myth, I noticed that the author did take some liberties with Alcestis's myth, especially the underworld part. And it was at the underworld part that my brain reacted with "WTF just happened. Nope. NOPE. NOPE. NOPE. NOPE. NOPE. NOPE."

This is the type of book that you read to people and then discuss with them afterwards. You make it very clear that Persephone behavior is unacceptable. She is an abuser and should be left and/or sent to therapy. I don't care if she is a goddess. I don't care if she is a woman. Persephone's behavior is unacceptable.

Some people may think, "Oh, it's so sweet that she wanted to show her love before Alcestis turned into a shade. Oh, it's so touching Persephone will always remember even though Alcestis forgets." Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Can we go back to the part where Persephone pretty much rapes her and abuses her power to take advantage of Alcestis and keeps secrets from her? 'Cause I really just can't deal with that part. That's the absolute reason why I rated this book as a one-star book. There is nothing romantic about someone who violates your will. There is nothing loving about someone holding her power over your head. This is just not ok.

Alcestis even claims that she could've refused Persephone. Yeah, but I don't think Persephone would've stopped if Alcestis refused. I think the fact that Persephone pins down Alcestis arms shows that Persephone didn't plan to stop.

The fact that Alcestis calls this "love" is what makes me really angry. When someone nearly rapes you, that's not love. That's oppression and a violation of your self. I don't care if it's man-man, man-female, or female-female, rape is rape, and it's not ok. It's really unfortunate that Alcestis couldn't find someone better than Persephone. Whether they're dating men or other women, women need healthier relationships than those displayed in this book.

[Nicky · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm torn on this one. It was spellbinding, but in a soft, dusty way -- Alcestis as a character is too obedient for most of her life to have any colour to her. The bit in the Underworld is still quite colourless, quite literally, except for Persephone. I was actually more interested in the relationship between Hades and Persephone than that between Persephone and Alcestis. I wanted to understand them, what made them tick, what made them volatile.

I understand that there's actually a degree of historical accuracy here to way a real Alcestis would've lived, just with the gods treated as a rational part of everyday life as well, but she seems so meek and resigned -- until she's in the Underworld. I can appreciate the liberation of a female character from a stifling traditional role that must have been so flattering to the men in that male dominated world, and it makes sense it could happen in the Underworld, where the rules of life don't apply.

I guess in summary, I just didn't fall for it. There were some lovely sections, gorgeous imagery, and there was some interesting interplay between characters, but all in all it didn't work for me.

[ꪆৎ ˚ cricket · Rating 2 out of 5]

wym she fell in love in the span of 3 days..

[Jamie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good retelling, well written. Not quite Mary Renault, but no one is.

[Ksenia · Rating 2 out of 5]

So the book follows this myth very closely. I wasn’t totally familiar with the original myth so I had to go and read about it. The part that the author focuses on during the last part of the book is Alcestis’ time in the Underworld. Now, I was wholly enjoying everything about the book while I was reading it, but when it got to those three days spent in the Underworld, I felt a slight disconnect. But first….

I really liked the fact that the gods were part of the mortal world, and that they weren’t just some deities that people worshiped and you never got to see them as being living and breathing beings. Here, the gods are real. Alcestis’ grandfather is actually Poseidon and the god that Admetus loves so much? That would be Apollo. And who takes Alcestis down to the underworld? That would be Hermes.

The author did a wonderful job of describing the Underworld by having Alcestis explore it while trying to find her sister that she loved, and who had died years earlier.

So what was my disconnect in the Underworld? Mainly it was the relationship between Alcestis and Persephone. I just didn’t get it. I didn’t see it. I couldn’t fathom why Alcestis would fall in love with the Queen of the Underworld. Was I missing something? Cause I thought there was something missing there! Persephone came off as very manipulating at times. I could understand why she was very hesitant to tell Alcestis where her sister was (since she knew that the sister would never recognize Alcestis, and it would be too painful for Alcestis to witness). But that still didn’t make me like her.

And Hades? I couldn’t get him either. It was like he was Persephone’s lapdog or something. And not the all-powerful Lord of the Underworld I had imagined him to be.

Despite this, if the author does write another book though, I think I will check it out anyway, especially if it deals with another little-known myth.

[Jane · Rating 1 out of 5]

Started out great, giving Alcestis' backstory while growing up and was good through her marriage, but I lost her when we got to Hades and her adventures there. I skimmed most of it set in Hades, then finished up. Her dealings with Persephone were not believable and made me uncomfortable. I enjoyed most the author's comments at the back. Cover misled me; such an atmospheric cover made me eager to read the story.

[Shem · Rating 4 out of 5]

gorgeous book..! It took me longer than expected, and part of that I would definitely ascribe to the fact that Alcestis (as others have mentioned) is pretty much an entirely passive character. Things happen to her and people act on her but she sort of just receives it all. I thought the change in her behavior in the Underworld was interesting for sure, but it didn't end up really affecting that much, which I suppose was maybe the point? I honestly think that this book would be perfect in short story format, but that's not to say I didn't love reading it as a novel.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

All I knew about this book was the summary I read on goodreads, that it was a re-imagined story of the Greek figure Alcestis, who, in Euripides' play, agrees to die in the place of her husband Admetus, so that he may live forever. In Katharine Beutner's retelling, after sacrificing herself for her husband, Alcestis falls in love with the queen of the underworld, Persephone. Sign. Me. Up. I was so excited to read this that I put aside several things that were higher up on my TBR list. And now, having read it, I'm extremely conflicted.

This novel can be divided into two halves, right down the middle: the first half chronicles Alcestis' life, and the second half, her death. Unfortunately, it's rather a difficult format to pull off, when you have two radically different sections that comprise a single story. You spend the first half acquainting yourself with one specific setting and one set of characters, only to be transported to what feels like a different novel altogether. Sometimes this works, sometimes it doesn't. I don't think it worked here, especially because the two halves meet at the intersection of two genres: first historical fiction, then fantasy. I think Beutner's skill shines with the former, then fades in the latter.

The element of this novel that I was most looking forward to was Alcestis' relationship with Persephone, but the part that most captivated me was actually Alcestis' early life. While I can imagine that this section may have come across as boring to some readers, as there wasn't a lot of action, I was transfixed with Beutner's rich prose and the beautifully imagined setting of the palace in Iolcus. In contrast, the setting of the underworld was (pardon the pun) completely lifeless. I struggled to conceptualize a lot of the details, which was disappointing; in the first half of this book I felt like I could smell the sea and feel the fabric of Alcestis' bedsheets. When we got to the underworld, what happened? Persephone as a character was alive and vivid, but not much else was. I often found my attention wandering, and it took much longer than it should have to finish this book after I hit the 50% mark.

I did appreciate that there were a lot of refreshingly feminist aspects to this story: Beutner takes a figure who's known for her wifely devotion, and turns it into a story of a woman trapped by social constraints and expectations, who is, in a way, liberated once she reaches the underworld. It's a fascinating interpretation and I appreciate that Beutner decided to approach the story from this lens. For this reason alone I wanted so badly to be able to give this book 5 stars, as I was sure I was going to when I began reading it. Beutner's prose is visceral and gorgeous, and Alcestis is a stimulating and candid narrator. Unfortunately, the relationship between Alcestis and Persephone never felt as real or believable or even as interesting as it should have. The part of this story that should have most enchanted me ended up feeling like an awkward accessory to an otherwise refreshing and original story.

3.5 stars.

[Kate Vee · Rating 5 out of 5]

My heart broke.

[Tara Chevrestt · Rating 4 out of 5]

This falls into the fantasy genre, I think. I normally read historical fiction, but my interest in Greek mythology caused me to pick this up. I have kept my personal tastes in mind while writing this review.

The first half of this novel is wonderful. Readers meet Alcestis, grand daughter of Poseidon, god of the sea. Alcestis's mother died birthing her and her father is a cruel man who really has nothing to do with his daughters. Therefore, Alcestis grows attached to her sisters, and one in particular, Hippothoe. When Hippothoe dies of what nowdays would be called an asthma attack, Alcestis must overcome her grief and while doing so, she comes of age for marriage. A persistant suitor wins her hand thanks to the god Apollo.

Alcestis marries and discovers her husband and Apollo, the sun god, have more than a mere god and mortal relationship. An even bigger surprise is in store for her tho when Hermes comes to take her husband to the Underworld (land of the dead) and Alcestis goes in his place.

The second half takes place in the Underworld, the land of three headed dogs and gates with minds of the their own. Here, Alcestis begins a cat and mouse game with Persophone, goddess of the Underworld. They begin a lusty and often hateful relationship. What I did not like about the last half of the book is everyone begins speaking in riddles. It takes poor Alcestis forever to find her dead sister. Or will she find her at all?

A good debut.

[Sam · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book sucked me in real quick. I read it in one night.

[N.J. Gallegos · Rating 5 out of 5]

Greek mythology and sapphic themes. Sign me up!

[kendraaa · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars ⭐️

This book was so awesome! The story of Alcestis is one of the most interesting when it comes to women of Greek myth. I have never known much of the underworld other than what I learned when I took Latin, so to read a story that half takes place there was so enthralling. This book took an unexpected turn and I couldn’t be more happy about how that went. I will be grieving the ending for some time though.

[roibean · Rating 4 out of 5]

feet upon the ground you’re spinning me around i dont know where i am do u have to hold my hand - the cranberries

[Sheila · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just received an autographed copy of this from the author through Goodreads First Reads. Thank you Katharine!

I entered to win this book because I love reading about Greek mythology. But as much as I enjoy learning the stories of the gods and the mortals, usually the writing of Greek mythology is very dry, and often hard to follow. I enjoy learning, but often have to force myself to actually read it.

But then comes Katharine Beutner's Alcestis. Greek mythology written as a thoroughly enjoyable, easily readable, and totally believeable novel! What a great idea! Since Alcestis is a bit of a lesser character in mythology, I was not aware of her story ahead of time. But I did look her up on Google, and got the one paragraph synopsis of her tale. But this book fleshes the whole story out wonderfully. And Ms. Beutner's writing style makes all of the characters, both the mortals and the gods, come to life! When Apollo makes an appearance, you actually believe this god could just be appearing in the room, as the story leading up to it was so believable and real life. Even Alcestis' 3 days spent in the underworld with Hades and Persephone is facinating. I've never really spent time imagining what the underworld of Greek mythology is really like, but this is a huge, detailed part of this story, and it is told and described wonderfully.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys learning about Greek mythology, and also to anyone who enjoys a good historical novel. And I hope Ms. Beutner will consider writing more books of this genre. If other characters from Greek myths could have their stories written as novels, I would definately read them.

[Tori Hoeschler · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ancient Greek Myth Turned Acid Trip
I love me my Greek myths. Persephone’s abduction is explanation for seasons? Yes please. Athena punishes master weaver Arachne by turning her into a spyder who’s cursed to “weave” forever? Outstanding.
When I cam across Alcestis, an entire novel centered around a Greek myth, I thought, “yahtzee!” And to be fair, for the first half of the book, the author delivers: mortals co-existing with gods, gods manipulating mortals’ lives, etc. However, about halfway through the book things start to get really trippy. To be fair, any Greek myth is obviously laced with magical realism and imagination benders but in the case of Beutner’s Alcestis, it is flat out bizarre. For about 100 pages Alcestis is just wandering around the underworld playing a sexual hide and go-seek with the gods and making non-sensical conversation with ghosts. It’s like the author discovered hallucinogenic drugs in the midst of writing and decided the novel should double as a visions journal.
Perhaps my expectations for the book were a little exaggerated but when all was said and done Alcestis was less than divine.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm loving the books I'm reading about women in mythology telling their "own" stories, first Lavinia and now Alcestis. Alcestis is the archetypical good and loyal wife, famous for sacrificing herself so her husband wouldn't die. In this version Alcestis is a very complex character, driven not so much by love for her husband but other reasons, including wanting to see her long dead sister. While she is in the underworld, she also falls for the goddess Persephone, Queen of the underworld. A very interesting read.

[Tjaša · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful.

[Melia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stellar depiction of a figure that hasn't gotten much attention in the Greek myth Renaissance. Readers of Sarah Ruhl's "Eurydice" will enjoy.

Before reading the original text of Alcestis, I heard of her through Natalie Haynes' book "Pandora's Jar," a collection of essays and women in Greek myths. In her essays, Haynes supposes that Alcestis might not want to have come back from the dead, and that Admetus isn't a very sympathetic character in the story, begging everyone else to pay his debts. Beutner explores both of these aspects with nuance.

Admetus isn't a monster in this story. He reminds me a bit of the short story by Carmen Maria Machado, "The Husband Stitch." The husband does love his wife, he is devoted, he just also asks too much. He's not some character of evil; he's a man. This invites us to explore the perils of the ancient Greek women, passed from King to King father to husband mortal to immortal, in a much more human sense.

This particular take on the myth places our heroine as something of a bride of death, similar to Antigone. In the opening chapter describing her birth, great attention is placed on how naturally she reacted to her mother's death. They describe "The way the girl had opened her tiny mouth to suck in the fould air as if it could replace her mother's milk. Perhaps she'd grown used to death then, they'd say. Perhaps she'd been hungry for it all her life." When I asked if she belongs to her husband, Alcestis says "I belong to death." For this figure who came back from the dead, but did not conquer it, I really love the way this author portrayed her as in love with death. Partly through her dynamic with Persephone, which I thought was an incredibly interesting choice, but partly through the fact that she is more at home in the underworld. Her rationale to die instead of live is not actually out of love, as the original text had it, but because she has so little lot in life if her husband dies, she's either sent back to her father or left to waste away.

This broadens the scope of the story to all ancient women. It asks us to really, really consider if death would be preferable. In the underworld, she is encouraged to use her name, to drop her honorifics, and to consider who she is and what she wants. It is an equalizing ground for her as a granddaughter of a god, a queen, and as a woman. So outside of this being are just a particularly goth take on an otherwise forgettable myth, it's great for the girls obsessed with death.

[Jeanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

This is the kind of book that makes me almost want to have a conversation with the author. Having read the play of the same name by Euripides not that long ago, I'm quite curious as to why the author made the changes she did. Unlike most Greek myth retellings, I'm not upset with what has been changed, I just want to know the reasoning behind it.

Despite this I still can't give it a full four stars. As much as I enjoyed the author taking on the "ideal Greek wife" myth, the story felt hollow to me in places, especially in the Underworld.

[mythosonlyb · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bu kitapta vefakar bir kız kardeş, iyi bir evlat ve sadık bir eş olan Alkestis’i okuyoruz. Alkestis, içinde doğduğu dünyanın sınırlarını kabul eden, buna göre yaşayan bir kadın.

Hasta kız kardeşine bakıyor. Babasına kızsa da ona uzak hissetse de yine de onun kurallarına uymaya çalışıyor. Onun peşinden koşup evlenen kocasına sevgi besliyor. Kocasını Apollo ile paylaşıyor olsa da gıkı çıkmıyor. Alkestis kendisi hariç herkes için yaşıyor diyebiliriz. Ta ki kocasının ölüm zamanı gelene kadar. Bir tanrının sevgilisi olmanın güzel yanları da yok değil. Alkestis’in kocası yerine biri ölürse hayatta kalabilir. Genç ve güzel eşi de koşarak gönüllü oluyor.

Alkestis kendini yeraltı dünyasında Hades ve Persephone’nin yanında buluyor. O kız kardeşini bulmak için çırpınırken tanrılar da kendi oyunlarını oynuyor. Belki de Alkestis ilk defa direnmeye, kendini ölümle sarmalanmış bir yerde var etmeye çalışıyor.

Mitolojik yeniden anlatımların hep hüzünlü bir yanı var. Kendime artık bu kurgulara doydum, okumak istemiyor desem de gidip yine de alıyorum. Çünkü bu insanların hikayelerinin görülmesi, farklı kalemlerle yeniden şekillendirilmesi beni de tatmin ediyor. Persephone ile yaşadıkları tuhaf çekimi ve ilişkileri konusunda karmaşık duygular hissediyorum ama ara ara sıkıldığım yerler dışında genel olarak kitabı beğendiğimi söyleyebilirim.

[klara · Rating 4 out of 5]

maybe closer to a 3.75

this was a beautiful retelling of Alcestis. i liked the slowness of it, and the writing was beautiful. the time spent in the underworld did fall kind of flat for me. there was a little too much wandering around doing nothing, though Alcestis’s romance with Persephone was intriguing.

[Kate Tidswell · Rating 4 out of 5]

my general issue with retellings of greek myth is the reframing of women’s strength from a 21st C viewpoint but this one actually does a really good job of showing how Alcestis navigates her life and the culture and framework of expectation around women that existed in ancient greece while still being her own person and finding her strength through it! a win!