Galatea: The instant Sunday Times bestseller

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This short tale covers issues such as patriarchy, misogyny, the creation and appreciation of art, the value put upon beauty, as well as feminine desire and autonomy. In her own note on the tale at the end of the book, Miller herself perfectly sums it up:

I felt him looking at me, admiring his work. He had not carved me like this, but he was imagining doing it. A beautiful statue, named The Supplicant. He could have sold me and lived like a king in Araby."In Ancient Greece, a skilled marble sculptor has been blessed by a goddess who has given his masterpiece - the most beautiful woman the town has ever seen - the gift of life. Now his wife, he expects Galatea to please him, to be obedience and humility personified. But she has desires of her own, and yearns for independence. So, this is a very strong short story. I would love to see more like it from Miller, a collection of them would certainly be great. For now, I will continue to read everything she writes. Galatea è un racconto di dolore, (in)credibile dolore. Una settantina di pagine intrise di sofferenza e frustrazione per una condizione che, purtroppo, interessa ancora moltissime donne. Pygmalion is a pig, let's face it. It's why he wanted to create the perfect, virginal, obedient thing for his own pleasure. The problem is that a goddess of all "people" helped him by bringing the statue to life.

In short, Galatea was a story that was underwritten and underwhelming. There was no depth to the characters, little substance to the storyline and the underlying themes of objectifying women, domestic abuse and obsession with beauty and perfection, although powerful didn’t really get going. A startlingly original work of art by an incredibly talented novelist … A book I could not put down’ Ann PatchettFrom the internationally bestselling and prize-winning author of The Song of Achilles and Circe, an enchanting short story that boldly reimagines the myth of Galatea and Pygmalion. His insistence for her to be compliant and grateful is incongruous with the reality of her being an independent woman with an interior life and not merely a statue who’s entire identity is bent towards serving his desire: A bold and subversive retelling of the goddess’s story that manages to be both epic and intimate in its scope’ New York Times

The thing is, I don't think my husband expected me to be able to talk. I don't blame him for this exactly, since he had known me only as a statue, pure and beautiful and yielding to his art." Madeline Miller really has a great way of bringing to life this ancient setting and weaving the myths we know and have read with her own thoughts, filling in the blanks, sometimes changing a few details in the process. Enough magic, enchantment, voyages and wonders to satisfy the most jaded sword-and-sorcery palate’ Guardian Everyone looked at me, because I was the most beautiful woman in the town. I don’t say this to boast, because there is nothing in it to boast of. It was nothing I did myself.”

The instant Sunday Times bestseller

The thing is, I don’t think my husband expected me to be able to talk. I don’t blame him for this exactly, since he had known me only as a statue, pure and beautiful and yielding to his art.” The term 'incel' wasn't in wide circulation when I wrote this, but Pygmalion is certainly a prototype. For millennia there have been men who react with horror and disgust to women's independence, men who desire women yet hate them, and who take refuge in fantasies of purity and control. What would it be like to live with such a man as your husband? There are too many today who could answer that. Bur that is the mark of a good source myth; it is water so wide it can reach across centuries." Miller weaves an intoxicating tale of gods and heroes, magic and monsters, survival and transformation’ i Galatea was quite an interesting concept and with a reimagining and retelling of the Greek Myth Pygmalion, it was sure to entice fans of Madelaine Miller. It was this premise and loving Miller’s previous works, Song of Achilles and Circe, that brought me to this short story. While we watch Galatea being denied any agency in her life and accepting a lot of abuse and made to feel it is for her own good (when Pygmalion hurts her and notices the color of the bruises left behind, he tells her ‘ You make the rarest canvas, love’), we also see her fight for the good of her daughter. The ending, which is rather darkly beautiful, is geared to the idea of protection, though retribution also inevitably factors in. In a way it is a call to break the cycles of abuse and ensure the coming generations are raised to know they do not need to accept the toxic behaviors that try to masquerade as love.