House of Names by Colm Toibin

     We had quite a rich discussion about House of Names at book group this month.  Some disliked the book (unfortunately not present) while others liked and were stimulated by it.  There was appreciation of Toibin's spare writing, although the tale was dense and packed with storytelling.  Toibin expressed the Greek myth from a woman's perspective, having Clytemnestra and Electra speak in the first person while Orestes' tale was told in the third person.  The book is based on the Greek myth originally of 750 BC, but Toibin does make his characters seem human and have human feelings.  Clytemnestra behaved in vicious, unfeeling ways, but one could feel compassion for her character and understand her behavior to some extent.  After all, her daughter was murdered by Agamemnon after he tricked Clytemnestra to bring her to him to be married and then trapped Clytemnestra in a hole in the ground for several days!

     Some commented that the gruesome details of all the killings were worthwhile for keeping the reader aware of the suffering people endure around the world today.  The Greeks, from Homer on, were warning mankind that violence begets more violence and revenge leads to more revenge.  In the end, nobody wins through violent acts.  Too bad humankind has not yet learned that lesson after nearly 3000 years.  Toibin was particularly aware of this having lived through the troubles in Northern Ireland when sectarian violence kept feeding on itself.

     In Toibin's rendition of the myth, Clytemnestra felt that the power of the gods was waning and that they were no longer relevant.  The consequence is that humans have the responsibility to affect their own destinies, for the good or not so good.  Responding to violence with more violence was not so successful for her or her family.

     Some in the group felt that Orestes was the one member of the family who was not caught in the cycle of vengeance and thus was the most appealing character.  Others felt the contrary because throughout the tale he didn't express much emotion over all the murders, and then he murdered his own mother in a gruesome way.  Others felt that Leander, who was Toibin's addition to the ancient myth, was the most appealing.  He sobbed over the deaths of his family members and expressed the need for no more killings, including Aegisthus.  He seemed to be the only character with true feelings.  Some in the group felt that Orestes' character matured through the tale, though others disagreed.  At the end, he still yearned to be a boy and engage in mock sword fights with the soldiers.

     There was agreement that the ending was rather abrupt and didn't fit the character of the tale very well.  It seemed to make light of the recent events, expressing that in time all would be forgotten.  Once the current players in the tale were gone, "what had happened would haunt no one", suggesting that all would be well in the end.  Alternatively, perhaps Toibin was expressing the reality that humankind has not and would not learn the lesson of the myth.