The Whispering Muse: A Novel | 
pan
so-soTo get an idea about the book, Michel Faber‘s review in The Guardian is much better than I could ever give. 22June2012
I almost bailed, but Caeneus kept me reading. I enjoyed Moonstone much more. #Iceland
Mostly mourning the lost potential in the premise.
Despite the extensive amount of the story delivered by an unlikeable narrator, I can see so much here that would have really worked for me if handled differently.
The author writes well, but seems to often choose to write in an attempt to shock the reader, but in ways I've encountered before, that only leave a bad taste in my mouth. 1/?
pick
Then the story within the story of a second mate ostensibly transported from a place and time where he had a past serving aboard the Argo with Jason, in recounting his tale focusing on the Lemnos incident, parallels the fact that he and the listening passengers and crew are (edited) 6mo
One more layer is apparent in a Nordic tale recounted that foreshadows Jason and Medea's own dark endings, told both to the Argonauts and the 40s listeners.
The unlikeable narrator has the potential for farce, because he appears to have a Polonius/Mr. Collins level of clueless chatter that sucks up to his benefactor, and tells people things for their own good and criticizes (edited) 6mo
There's also a strong theme of sexual violence against women and seeing women only as insatiable sexual objects, which is disturbing in itself, but also because it never really feels like the author did the work to explain the linkage between the problems with the latter and the perpetration of the former. (edited) 6mo
There's a single page that suggests a sci-fi/fantasy element that might explain why Caeneus from ancient mythic Greece is in the 20th century, but for the most part this is a bizarre mashup of historical and myth-retelling. (edited) 6mo
⚠️Racism, xenophobia, misogyny, dismemberment, SA, child death 6mo