I’ve always enjoyed Greek mythology, so I gravitated to Sarah Underwood’s Lies We Sing to the Sea. Especially, when I read her opening line, “A silent maid braided Leto’s hair into an elaborate crown for her execution.” How could I not keep reading after that?

The story shifted between three different viewpoints – Leto, Melantho and prince Mathias. What made these perspectives a little different for me was how, at times, this change in view happened within the same events versus going to an entirely different place. Another thing I noticed was how there were also instances when I did get a little confused in spots and had to reread things but that could’ve just been me.

Given Greece and homosexuality are intertwined in history, I wasn’t surprised by the same-sex relationship that developed between Leto and Melantho. I didn’t look up what sapphic meant until after I was done reading, but I think it does accurately describe the story in how Leto also later developed feelings for Mathias. As passion and jealousy are also a big part of Greek mythology, I wondered how Melantho would react to sharing Leto’s affections when she found out her girlfriend could be attracted to and intimate with men as well.

As far as Mathias went, he originally came across as a bigger pushover than I thought he should’ve been when it came to Melantho. Not only was Melantho far below the prince’s station as Leto’s supposed maid, but Mathias wouldn’t understand where Melantho’s rude attitude for him was coming from. Throw in how the prince didn’t know anything about Melantho’s powers to be afraid of her and overlook her disrespectful treatment of him, it just felt like he had zero command presence for someone as close to the top of the pyramid as he was. For awhile, it seemed Melantho was walking all over Mathias and this made him feel weak to me despite their extremely different hierarchy and the power he was supposed to have through it.

However, it was also obvious Mathias adored Leto. This made that wimpy part about Mathias’ character more understandable for someone with his power because then I could see he’d want to please Leto – and one of the ways he could do that would’ve been through his patience with Melantho since Mathias saw how important she was to Leto. Plus, it was clearly shown how Mathias was also racked with guilt about Ithaca’s twelve sacrifices that were made annually to Poseidon. I eventually saw how this could’ve also had a part in why Mathias put up with Melantho’s treatment of him if he was trying, in this small way, to atone for his part in the deaths of all the marked girls that he participated in. 

Interestingly enough, I did later become upset with Melantho in how she kept treating Mathias because all she could ever see was her own viewpoint when it came to him throughout most of the story. No one is perfect and Mathias did not start the curse, but he was still desperately trying to end it for Ithaca’s families. But the anger and blame Melantho put on Mathias made a lot more sense to me later and was resolved.

While I do agree with how Lies We Sing to the Sea is described as sapphic, I think to say it’s a “sapphic reimagining of the Odyssey” isn’t quite right. For me, this description felt like it distracted from the merits of the story because I found out after I was done reading that the author had admitted she hadn’t read/finished reading the Odyssey when she wrote this story. I can definitely see why this would become an issue for some readers.

However, even if Underwood had read Homer’s entire epic poem, there are a lot of interpretations and meanings of the Odyssey and the author’s story would’ve hinged on one of those. Given this and how we all have our own opinions and feelings, I think there probably would’ve been some discord about something anyways even if Underwood had finished the Odyssey because of however things come to mean for each of us and what we’re looking for in a story. But to be fair and as a writer myself, I couldn’t help but wonder, when does it come into play that every author obviously has their own vision of what he/she wants their story to be? 

Ultimately, the fact of whether or not Underwood finished reading the Odyssey didn’t matter to me because, in my mind, Lies We Sing to the Sea isn’t a reimagining of the Odyssey. Because if I look at it that way, then Underwood not reading Homer’s epic poem becomes a huge red flag and makes me think, who are you to write about this when you didn’t put the time and effort into making the story reflect this kind of description and have it be more accurate and believable in this regard? Especially when, in all honesty, I already felt like the author could’ve brought more of the customs of the time into her story just for those accuracy and believability parts. But, then again, I’m sure my own interests in history and Greek mythology are making me a little biased in this respect.

Though I personally would’ve enjoyed more of that aspect had it been done, I don’t think the breeze of customs/traditions deterred from the story just because of how I felt about it like the way a “sapphic reimagining of the Odyssey” did. But I also think the way readers look at Underwood’s story in this respect can be subjective, so I threw out the “reimagining of the Odyssey” part of Lies We Sing to the Sea altogether. Because then I’m free to make my own connections about how the story is a link to contemporary concerns about violence against women. In this context, and again in my mind, then it doesn’t matter if Underwood read the Odyssey or not when she still guided her audience to stop and think about how the mistreatment of women keeps echoing throughout time no matter how much of it passes.

However one chooses to look at Lies We Sing to the Sea, I thought it was still an interesting story worthy of reflection.