Galatea: A Short Story
4.2
-
6,933 ratings
NATIONAL BESTSELLER
An enchanting short story from Madeline Miller that boldly reimagines the myth of Galatea and Pygmalion, now in hardcover for the first time
A small hardcover edition featuring a new afterword by Madeline Miller
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. After marrying her, he expects Galatea to please him, to be obedience and humility personified. But she has desires of her own and yearns for independence.
In a desperate bid by her obsessive husband to keep her under control, Galatea is locked away under the constant supervision of doctors and nurses. But with a daughter to rescue, she is determined to break free, whatever the cost . . .
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ISBN-10
0063280515
ISBN-13
978-0063280519
Print length
64 pages
Language
English
Publisher
Ecco
Publication date
November 07, 2022
Dimensions
4.25 x 0.75 x 6.25 inches
Item weight
2.31 pounds
Popular highlights in this book
But I say this so that you understand what I was up against: that I was worth more to her sick than I was well.
Highlighted by 309 Kindle readers
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.
Highlighted by 308 Kindle readers
He says it’s the goddess’ gift first, and then his own since he was the one who made me from the marble.
Highlighted by 255 Kindle readers
Product details
ASIN :
B0B6JSDKJW
File size :
4576 KB
Text-to-speech :
Enabled
Screen reader :
Supported
Enhanced typesetting :
Enabled
X-Ray :
Not Enabled
Word wise :
Enabled
Editorial reviews
Praise for Song of Achilles
“At once a scholar’s homage to The Iliad and startlingly original work of art….A book I could not put down.” — Ann Patchett, author of The Dutch House
“Sharply written, cleverly re-imagined. . . . Incredibly rewarding.” — USA Today
“Wildly romantic [and] surprisingly suspenseful....[B]ringing those dark figures back to life, making them men again, and while she’s at it, us[ing] her passionate companion piece to The Iliad as a subtle swipe at today’s ongoing debate over gay marriage. Talk about updating the classics.” — Time
“One of the best novelistic adaptations of Homer in recent memory.” — Wall Street Journal
“Powerful, inventive, passionate, and beautifully written.” — Boston Globe
Praise for Circe
"Circe,' [is] a bold and subversive retelling of the goddess's story that manages to be both epic and intimate in its scope, recasting the most infamous female figure from the Odyssey as a hero in her own right." — Alexandra Alter, New York Times
"One of the most amazing qualities of this novel [is]: We know how everything here turns out - we've known it for thousands of years - and yet in Miller's lush reimagining, the story feels harrowing and unexpected. The feminist light she shines on these events never distorts their original shape; it only illuminates details we hadn't noticed before." — Ron Charles, The Washington Post
"Miller's spell builds slowly, but by the last page you'll be in awe. In prose of dreamlike simplicity, she reimagines the myth of Circe." — People
"So vivid, so layered, you could get lost in it... Whether or not you think you like Greek Mythology, this is just great storytelling. It feels cinematic." — NPR's Here & Now
"The story of Circe's entanglement with Odysseus lasts far beyond the narrative of "The Odyssey," making for compelling material to revisit. But ultimately it's as a character that Circe stands apart....Through her elegant, psychologically acute prose, Miller gives us a rich female character who inhabits the spaces in between." — Colleen Abel, Minneapolis Star Tribune
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Sample
Galatea
It was almost sweet the way they worried about me.
“You’re so pale,” the nurse said. “You must keep quiet until your color returns.”
“I’m always this color,” I said. “Because I used to be made of stone.”
The woman smiled vaguely, pulling up the blanket. My husband had warned her that I was fanciful, that my illness made me say things that would sound strange to her.
“Just lie back and I’ll bring you something to eat,” she said. She had a mole on the side of her lip and I liked to watch it while she talked. Some moles are beautiful and distinctive, like dappling on a horse. But some have hairs in them, and look pulpy like worms and hers was this kind.
“Lie back,” she repeated, because I hadn’t.
“You know what I think would be good for my color? A walk,” I said.
“Oh no,” she said. “Not until you’re better. Feel how chilled your hands are?”
“That’s the stone,” I said, “like I told you. It can’t get warm without sun. Haven’t you ever touched a statue?”
“You’re chilled,” she repeated. “Just lie back, and be good.” She was rushing a little by then, because I had mentioned the stone twice, and this was gossip for the other nurses, and a breathless reason to speak to the doctor. They were fucking, that’s why she was so eager. I could hear them sometimes through the wall. I don’t say this in a nasty way, for I don’t begrudge her a good fuck, if it was good, which I don’t know. But I say this so that you understand what I was up against: that I was worth more to her sick than I was well.
The door closed, and the room swelled around me like a bruise. When she was here, I could pretend it felt small because of her, but when she left the four wood walls seemed to press toward me, like lungs that had breathed in. The window did not help, for it was too high to see from the bed, and too small to take in much air. The room smelled sweet and sour at once, as though a thousand suffering people had lain sweating in it, which, I suppose, they had, and then ground roses into the floor with dirty feet.
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About the authors
Madeline Miller
Madeline Miller grew up in New York City and Philadelphia. She attended Brown University, where she earned her BA and MA in Classics. She has taught and tutored Latin, Greek, and Shakespeare to high school students for over fifteen years. She has also studied at the University of Chicago’s Committee on Social Thought, and in the Dramaturgy department at Yale School of Drama, where she focused on the adaptation of classical texts to modern forms.The Song of Achilles, her first novel, was awarded the 2012 Orange Prize for Fiction and was a New York Times Bestseller. Her second novel, Circe, was an instant number 1 New York Times bestseller, and won the Indies Choice Best Adult Fiction of the Year Award and the Indies Choice Best Audiobook of the Year Award, as well as being shortlisted for the 2019 Women's Prize for Fiction. Circe also won The Red Tentacle Award, an American Library Association Alex Award (adult books of special interest to teen readers), and the 2018 Elle Big Book Award. Miller's novels have been translated into over twenty-five languages including Dutch, Mandarin, Japanese, Turkish, Arabic and Greek, and her essays have appeared in a number of publications including the Guardian, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Telegraph, Lapham's Quarterly and NPR.org. Most recently, she has published a standalone short story, Galatea. She currently lives outside Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
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Reviews
Customer reviews
4.2 out of 5
6,933 global ratings
Leon and Jamie
5
Incredible
Reviewed in the United States on July 24, 2024
Verified Purchase
This is a short story so it's a quick read but the length doesn't matter! This book is amazing. So much packed into a short story. Miller has a beautiful way with words. She also breaks down why she wrote this they way she did.
l
5
My first Madeline Miller book and my FAVORITE book of all time.
Reviewed in the United States on February 26, 2023
Verified Purchase
OH MY GOD. i first read this book for the first time 4 days ago and have already re-read it 3x (which is SUPER easy due to the fact that it's approximately 50 pages). i had heard of Madeline Miller before as well as both of her books The Song of Achilles and Circe, but neither of them appealed to me, but a comment online said that since i LOVED Comfort Me With Apples by Catherynne M. Valente (my favorite book of all time at the point) that i would love this book, so i checked it out and IMMEDIATELY knew i was going to love this book since it's the closest thing i've ever come to that compares with CMWA. this book overtook that as my favorite book of all time, and the hard copy version (which is MINIATURE AND SUPER SMALL!) comes with an afterword that the e-book did not, and it just made me appreciate this book even more. now i'm going to read her other 2 books because she is an auto-buy author for me now based solely on this gorgeous book. it's incredible, plain and simple. gorgeous. brutal. haunting. perfect.
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5 people found this helpful
Amanda
5
Wonderfully meaningful and thought provoking short story
Reviewed in the United States on August 5, 2024
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