The Children of Jocasta

 Book Title: The Children of Jocasta

Author: Natalie Haynes

Date Started: December 16th 2021

Date Completed: January 31st 2022

Genres: Historical, Mythology

Quality Rating: Five Stars

Enjoyment Rating: Four Star

Final Rating: Five Stars

Review:

I love Natalie Haynes, and Antione is my favourite play full stop (let alone Greek Tragedy), so a retelling of the Oedipus cycle was always going to score well for me. Ironically, Antigone isn't painted especially well but how nice to see her sister Ismene, who is so belittled and overlooked in the originals, take centre stage along with their mother. The Children of Jocasta was definitely slow to start off, but then it became impossible to put down.

This book definitely goes down the 'logical explanation' route of retellings, and both loses and gains assets by doing so. There's less of the wonder and righteousness for me, but there was more humanity and of course acknowledgement of the women's stories - however less divine or 'exciting' they may be. What I really loved was how Haynes retold the story, allowing for a bittersweet ending and a more fleshed out narrative than the few fragments of primary research literature have allowed us.

Something that I often find with classical retellings is that writers really like to exaggerate the depressing tragedy and often overlook the moments of magic and love that any human being experiences even in the worst of circumstances. I don't think many people would argue that the Oedipus cycle isn't one of the most depressing out there. But there's a balance that makes these stories timeless, and that's the thing a lot of modern authors don't seem to get. Natalie Haynes does, and it sets her above the rest.

Her afterwords are always so good. Haynes has such an engaging and witty tone, such an understanding of the role Classics has in our modern society - its failings as well as its strengths. I do ultimately prefer her non-fiction to her fiction just because of this marvellous tone she achieves (I wish I could write like that), but The Children of Jocasta is still far and away one of the best classical retellings out there at the moment. Natalie Haynes is the modern face of Classicism that I was so sorely missing when I studied the subject in sixth form, and is undeniably one of the reasons I have continued to learn more as an adult.

I imagine you would probably get more out of the book if you're familiar with the original stories - that's not a strict rule as Haynes weaves together a couple of different versions of the story and retells it in her own way. But I have seen a chunk of other people saying they would've preferred to know the original myth, and I can see why. A lot of the enjoyment for me came from the dramatic irony and understanding of the characters before their fates befell them - and the gentle, nuanced way Haynes adapted little details probably felt so empowering because I understood as a reader how they differ and improve on the classical tale.