111 Book Review: Agamemnon (Ἀγαμέμνων)
Agamemnon (Ἀγαμέμνων)
by Aeschylus
If you have cousins, you can probably relate to this one.
Did your father ever once trick your brother into eating two of his sons (your cousins) but then leave your third cousin (not a third cousin but a third cousin) alive (accidentally, I presume) to get vengeance not only on your aforementioned father but on you, the husband of aforementioned third cousin’s lover while you’ve been off fighting the Trojan War for ten years?
Gosh, cousins, amirite? They can be a handful.
Cassandra told me that you wouldn’t get it, but I don’t believe her. This could happen to anybody who’d committed filicide to get a promotion. Family is family.
TL;DR: This is the Empire Strikes Back of the Oresteia trilogy, but Aeschylus put it first. Prepare to be stricken (back) from the get go.
My rating: 7 out of 11 Axes, Which I’m Holding For No Reason At All
Get it here:
- Print: Better World Books, IndieBound, Bookshop
- Electronic: Project Gutenberg (free!), Apple Books, Google Play Books, Scribd
- Audio: LibriVox (free!), Apple Books, Google Play Books
Oh, you liked it? Well then, try: The Iliad (the feels-very-unrelated prequel), The Libation Bearers (the next-gen revenge sequel)
Part of the Oresteia: Agamemnon | The Libation Bearers | Eumenides
