BOOKS FOR KEIKI
A female spin on classics stories

By Jolie Jean Cotton

Clemence McLaren's latest book, "Aphrodite's Blessings: Love Stories from the Greek Myths," details the triumphs of three Greek women in their quests for love. Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser

The new book, recommended for ages 12 and up, is already receiving notable national reviews. Here's a sampling:

Publisher's Weekly: "(McClaren) artfully preserves the ambiance of myth while offering an insightful glimpse of women struggling in a male-dominated world."

School Library Journal: "For classroom reading or as a substitute for popular romances, this collection entices readers with the fresh vision and original voice that distinguished McLaren's 'Inside the Walls of Troy' (Atheneum, 1996)."

And just this week, Amazon.com praised McLaren's latest title, concluding, "Divinely recommended."

The three heroines in "Aphrodite's Blessings" are Greek women, not goddesses. McLaren's retelling pits Atalanta, Andromeda and Psyche against the reality of their day, when fathers married off their daughters in their early teens and girls became their husbands' property. In each story the young woman marries not a man of her father's choosing, but a man whom she loves.

The book opens with the captivating story of Atalanta, a better athlete than most of the men in her kingdom. Atalanta is a gifted runner, so it is decided she must race her suitors. If the challenger wins the race, he wins Atalanta. Should the challenger lose, Atalanta wins her freedom but the loser is put to death.

The first challenger is Leonides, who stumbles at the finish line, allowing Atalanta to win the race. Atalanta wants to celebrate her victory until she learns Leonides must die:

I fought the urge to look at my opponent.

I was afraid of the terrible sadness on his face. I stood there, rooted to the earth, taking deep breaths. The crowd was absolutely silent."

While Atalanta tries unsuccessfully to dissuade more challengers, she anguishes over whether she is capable of intentionally losing a competition.

In the second story, "Dreams of a Golden Hero," Andromeda learns she is to marry the less-than-appealing Fineus, king of Tyre.

"I kept my face blank. I didn't want them to see my foolish disappointment. I always knew a husband would be chosen for me by my father for political reasons.

Our northern territories shared a common border with Fineus's kingdom of Tyre. It was reasonable to want to unite the two states by marriage."

But when Andromeda's mother angers the gods, the oracles decree her wedding must be to a sea monster. A slave curls ringlets in her hair, "a ritual beautification," she is dressed in a white sacrifice robe and chained to a cliff by the sea to await her fate.

The final tale, "For the Love of a God," is the most fantastic. Here McLaren paints a mesmerizing portrait of love between a mortal and a god. The story of Psyche begins:

"Whether you believe the story of my marriage to a supernatural being, of living surrounded by powerful magic, is not important. What is important are the lessons it teaches, lessons I had to learn — that trust is necessary in order for love to survive, and that great love always demands an equal measure of sacrifice."

In the concluding author's notes, McLaren discusses the business of marriage in ancient Greece, sources are identified and explanations on their variations are given.

"I think it contains really good stuff for teachers," said McLaren, who works for the Kamehameha Schools. "I start off telling about the really awful isolation of upper-class Greek women, and how my heroines are examples — or not — of the social system the myths were in place to support."

McLaren wrote the first draft for her new book more than 13 years ago when she was teaching on Maui. A note on the flap copy reads, "At the time, I was telling my Hawaiian students these myths from other islands half a world and three thousand years away, and they encouraged me to write them down."

McLaren then got to know Marcia Marshall, her now-retired editor at Simon and Schuster. Marshall helped her rewrite the book. However, she still couldn't sell the book.

"Picking it up after l5 years to rewrite again, I found good stories — fresh outlooks," McLaren said. "But I had become a better writer from doing the three other books.

I was better able to flesh out the characters, cut the cliches, and keep the story moving."

Her publisher was happy to pick up this version because of her track record with the previous books.

"I'm now plunging into one more book, based on the story of Achilles and Briseis (two narrators.) She was the slave girl who caused the world's greatest hero to drop out of the Trojan War." With the previous books behind her, McLaren said, "I'm feeling more confident to be able to tell that story, in all its depth, I hope."