Review: Mythology by Edith Hamilton

I love this book. I have always been interested in mythology, but the way some reference book told them is very dry. These stories live through riveting poems and plays throughout centuries; it is by its very nature theatrical. The Greeks and Romans use the stories of the gods to terrify and inspire all kinds of emotions in their subjects.

So I am very pleased with Ms. Hamilton's Mythology. Ms. Hamilton, while still maintaining a respectable distance with her subject-matter, also inserts her own opinions and views in the stories. She is clearly passionate about her work, knows the stories very well, and cares for the characters. She laments the fates of innocents who were needlessly and absurdly brutalized by the gods. She sympathizes with Medea, the wife who was cast off by Jason, but acknowledges that she was cruel in her actions. Though I like Roman mythology, I LIVE for her distaste for Roman writers (she can throw amazing shade). You can clearly see her opinions and sympathies, but she does so subtly, weaving it in her beautiful prose, so that it does not feel patronizing or preaching.

Though the book focuses too much on Greek/Roman mythology and little on the other world mythologies, I still think this is a must-read for any mythology buff.


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Book information:
Title: Mythology
Author: Hamilton, Edith.
Edition: New York: Little, Brown and Company. First Bay Back paperback edition (reissued). 2013. (Paperback)
ISBN: 978-0-316-22333-1