This book very interestingly chronicles one woman's struggles through lockdown. It perfectly captures some of the most persistent anxieties of our times.

Pollard's debut novel is a fractured narrative which delivers incremental installations of meditations on prophecy during a tumultuous time in the protagonist's lived experience, while menacingly foreshadowing the novel's climax which delivers a shocking action alluded to throughout the narrative.

While I consider myself an amateur in classical studies, I was shocked to learn that Pollard was not a classicist herself, the level of research she has poured into this novel blended seamlessly into poetic prose to form a convincing argument that the novel's protagonist is an academic within the field of classics, a subject she leans heavily on as she navigates the uncertainty of a pandemic and the role of mother to a son on the cusp of adolescence from her home in the suburbs of south London. We follow the unnamed woman through lockdown as she witnesses the transformation of her familial surroundings becoming uncanny, her relationships becoming a burden, and the breakdown of the structure that governed her life previously. Pollard's prose creates tangible frustration, palpable to the reader, communicating the feeling of the middle-aged woman's invisibility in public life and the obstacles that comes with this feeling.

One limitation of the fractured narrative is that it can at times feel like disjointed due to the inconsistent change in pacing, perhaps due to the variation in chapter lengths when Pollard has more social commentary to add to the narrative. This altered the tension within the dramatic scenes of this character study, leaving some plot points to feel anti-climatic or implanted for the sake of progressing the narrative. Of course this could have been a tactical literary device from Pollard to comment on the mundane realism of life in lockdown which felt anti-climatic with hindsight after living with fear and monotony for so long.

Pollard does make a conscious effort to emphasise that the novel is not a work of auto-fiction and does not draw from the real lived experience of the author, perhaps due to the unreliable narration that the protagonist offers, ensuring that her actions throughout the novel sometimes deem her to be unlikable. Yet it is these acts that deem her to be realistic, creating a well-rounded, fleshed out, flawed woman. In these short pages she spins an oracle of truth which encapsulates the current state of the conversations surrounding class, race, children's mental health, self-harm, and failing relationships. Not only does Pollard accomplish this but she does it with wit and snark, creating not just a gorgeous prose but an enjoyable reading experience which proves that it is not too soon to begin reading pandemic novels. I could not recommend Delphi enough, what a enlightening, entertaining and educational book. A delight!

My thanks to Penguin General UK and NetGalley for providing the eARC for this title.

It is truly mad to me that there are books coming out now that we’re written during the first wave of the pandemic. I know for many it’ll be too soon to be hearing of Tiger King, Joe Wicks, sourdough starters and clap for the NHS, but I found it to be an interesting yet surreal experience.

The book focuses a lot on prophecies and gods/goddesses - the protagonist is a classics professor - each short chapter is titled as a form of prophecy. I like the idea - that we are constantly using prophecies to try and predict our future all the time as a way of making us feel safe. Like somehow reading the news all the time and being informed on everything allows us to be above whatever danger is coming for us.

It is similar to Offill’s work in that it is very much ‘the world is dying and everything is going to shit but we have to laugh about it right - ha ha’. There is commentary on social media, the constant notion of trying to make meaning of our existence, the singularity. Definitely a lot to discuss.

I did not like the ending however. I understand that the prophecies within the book had to build to something, but I don’t felt it added anything to the book and seemed rushed.

I wonder what it would be like for a reader who is not British - whether the topical references and relatability of it are lost on them?

It is intriguing to get an insight into others’ experiences of the pandemic - albeit a privileged one. It’s a lot about the strain put on relationships and the isolation felt even when in company.

A short read that gives a lot to think about.

Thank you to NetGalley, Clare Pollard and Penguin for this advanced read - big old kiss to you all <333

This book felt like a unique take on the covid-19 pandemic ! That is a good thing and being on netGalley I have actually somehow managed to read quite a few books about the pandemic surprisingly. So before the bookshops start getting overloaded by them I would like to shout this one out as special!

The narrator is a classics professor who is obsessed with prophecy and telling the future, and when everyone else is going through phases of Bridgerton, sour dough and banana bread she is obsessed with different ways of reading the future/ the current whether its Twitter, Nostradamus, tarot or a whole host of other predictors. I really liked how Delphi captured the mundanity of every day life especially in the weird between lockdown spaces.

It is a very middle class perspective on the pandemic which, depending on your experience during the lockdowns can be a bit off putting (as someone who worked retail and cried over anti maskers the week or two before Christmas and genuinely saw some of the worst bits of the public's reaction I got pretty pissed off at certain bits where the narrator was complaining about queuing lol) I definitely would check in with yourself before hand that you are ready to read a book about the lockdowns. Its quite triggering at times and deals with a lot of the mental health issues that people suffered from.

My favourite things were the little classics lessons I got along the way - very entertaining and a good way to cut up the book !

3.5 Stars but rounding up to 4 because I am nice like that <3

I devoured this novel in one sitting, but had to leave and re-read to really decide what I thought about it. It definitely wasn't what I expected, having opted to read because I thought it would be a myth retelling. Instead, the novel charts the first eighteen months or so of the coronavirus pandemic through the perspective of a classicist who is researching for a book on divination. The novel is split into short chapters under the names of different types of divination, the themes of which are loosely related to the chapters themselves. Despite being light on plot, <i>Delphi</i> still manages to be surprising, which is a feat in itself considering that so many of us have had such similar experience over the last two years.

Although I found this novel extremely compelling and easy to read, I'm not sure I was really prepared to read about the pandemic when it is still so close, and wouldn't have sought out a book about it. I found the narrator and her experiences convincing, especially the slow building of domestic tasks and paid labour that her husband is unaware of or unwilling to acknowledge. I liked the framing around the futility of divination, underscored by the narrator's turns to an online psychic. The references to myth and ancient history serve to underline the arbitrary nature of the double tragedy at the novel's culmination. Although I was thrown by the framing around COVID, I did enjoy this book and would recommend it.

Thank you to Fig Tree and Net Galley who provided me with a free ARC in return for an honest review.

I have mixed feelings about this book- on one hand I adored the almost apathetic retelling of the pandemic as though it was through a window of shock. On the other hand, it felt slightly soulless as though the narrator was just dictating their days and without much depth.
The other side which mentioned Greek myths was slightly confusing to me- it felt random and out of place however it may just be that this book was not aimed at me.
I was slightly taken back by the ending as I didn't expect it but the writing was probably best there I enjoyed the disconnect and dysfunction of those last moments.
Overall I'm grateful I read it but will probably not read it again.

This clever debut is written like a piece of autofiction –Pollard is at pains to point out in her Acknowledgements that this is not her life and family she's writing about – with a side order of metafiction (the narrator, in struggling to write a book about prophesies does, in effect, write a book about prophesies) for good measure. Set very firmly in the just-recent past of the pandemic, this is not, perhaps, one for those in love with the current trend for retelling classic tales, but fans of Louise Erdrich's latest, The Sentence, or the likes of Jenny Offili are in for a treat. 4.5 stars.

This was such an intriguing read, It was well written, partly set during the first year of the pandemic with a classical greek twist that provides an almost retelling of the pandemic through the eyes of a struggling family in lockdown - something we can all relate too. I really enjoyed the historical elements along with the divination of this book as they added more dimension to the plot.
I found the pacing tricky with this read, sometimes it felt perfectly paced and other times it felt lengthy and a bit like walking through quicksand.
This is sa short book and so even with the pacing issues I found it was a quick read, I was expecting more of a greek retelling but that didn't make me enjoy this any less. I think there will be a lot of people that will be put off by a lockdown novel so close to living through themselves but that didn't bother me. I still found it an enjoyable read.

Delphi by Clare Pollard (28/07/22)

I recently finished an advanced copy of Delphi by Clare Pollard and I have some thoughts. Some aspects of this book, people may find triggering.

The majority of this novel is set during the first year of Covid (March 2020-March 2021). Throughout the whole book, I had the same reoccurring thought; is it too soon for a “covid” novel? When I read ‘beautiful world, where are you, the last chapter annoyed me as they were in lockdown and my feelings weren’t any different this time. However, in July, when Delphi comes out, people may feel differently to me right now. It’s too present and on-going.

Another aspect of this particular timeline is that you get a lot of historical events and living through history - which is a theme in the novel. Because of this, it gives me ‘no one is talking about this’ vibes. You have the two conflicting narratives - the witnessing of international history but, also, the personal history these characters are experiencing.

For me, the strongest aspect of the novel was the mythological referencing. The main character is a classics lecturer so she often is discussing it but in a personal manner. I think, for the novel it ended up being, it wasn’t necessary.

It had a few problems with pacing, especially around triggering moments. The main character would complain about everything superficial but when something actually happened to her, it was glossed over and not referenced much afterwards.

Overall, it was definitely not a bad novel. It had its highs and lows. Plus, it only has 196 pages. I gave it ⭐️⭐️⭐️/5. Thanks to @penguinukbooks for letting me review.

On a slightly different note, the author referenced herself as she isn’t the main character and I just thought it was weird.

I went into this expecting a retelling of the Greek mythological story, think Natalie Haynes or Pat Barker, and while this was not what I actually got from this book, I did still rather enjoy it. It felt slightly disjointed or rambling at times, but was ultimately a satisfying and enjoyable read!

Thought provoking and poignant at times, though at other times it dragged? The constant shift to mythology made for a disjointed and ramble read. I found it hard to keep interest in this book.

*3.5 stars*

When I first began reading this book, I had in mind the likes of Madeline Miller and Pat Barker. I was expecting a retelling of the Prophetess Delphi, expecting her to be re-incarnated in modern times. What I got was a retelling of a different time, of 2020 and the Covid-19 pandemic and everything else that came during and after it. Truth be told, if I had known that it was set during the pandemic, I would never have chose to read it. I'm not so far removed from everything that happened that I need to re-live it through literature. That being said, it was still an enjoyable read. I really enjoyed the cynical tone of the writing and the references to Ancient Greek mythology, though I did feel like some dragged on a little and it became less of a novel and more of an academic text.

Overall, an enjoyable read, and I'm looking forward to read more from this author!

Delphi is a literary account of a family struggling through the COVID-19 lockdown in London. Chapters are short, each titled and loosely related to a type of fortune telling or prophecy, while the narrative of the family slowly unfolds.

This is a short read, and interesting in its take on the pandemic and timeless themes. While I don’t think we will stock this book, we will keep it in mind for recommendation to the right reader.

Delphi is a window into one woman’s account of navigating 2020 lockdowns in the UK amidst marital troubles and fear for her son framed throughout by references to Greek myths and ancient divination practices. Our protagonist lives through and ‘predicts’ the inevitable cycle of lockdowns and restrictions lifting and re-restricting and the consequences of political and social unease. This is a story of recent history that reaches back into ancient history in an attempt to process the massive weight of collective and personal grief. As a reader that lived through London during this time the sense of déjà vu is uncanny and used to great effect by Pollard. Pollard’s skill as a poet makes the prose of this novel sing. Perfect for fans of Anne Carson, Jenny Offill and Maggie Nelson.

DNF 30%

I went into this novel thinking it would be about Delphi and prophecy, and while this used Greek myths and practices as metaphor, most of this was set about the past two years and Covid-19- which had my attention completely waning.

I couldn’t tell if this book was non-fiction or fiction, but anyway it’s about a woman experiencing the pandemic (like the rest of us) but who uses Ancient Greek literature and beliefs as metaphor.

Obviously I really enjoyed the Ancient Greek references and after taking classes of learning about Ancient Greek Divination, I could understand the references. However, that was not enough to get me through this book.

Thank you NetGalley for the Arc!

DNF at 20%. The blurb doesn't really make it clear what the book is about, and I found a lot of the Greek references difficult to understand. It started to feel a bit too much like hard work to read.

This wasn't what I expected from the blurb but I did enjoy it. Less about mythology and more about family and life through COVID 19 with a lot of mythology metaphor. Felt it could have been shorter to be honest, and not a lot really happens but I did enjoy the mythology references

This book has me torn as I liked parts of it but then other bits I felt confused and lost. The beginning took me a few attempts to read as it was slightly confusing. I also think that some of the Greek references are not that easy to understand, many of them I understood was due to prior knowledge. I think the story is good but I really think some parts were too confusing.

Pollard’s language is astonishing; she has an almost alchemical way with words. They become slippery, her phrases so desirable that you imbibe her work like it's quenching a druth.

But this is an odd novel for me. As a Classicist: I feel so at home when the narrator is discussing Classics or putting into her own, quite Jenny-Offill-esque, words, excerpts from Classical texts; yet, I feel so uncomfortable when reading about the past two years of the still-unfolding Covid-19 pandemic.

I read contemporary fiction in order to switch off from the unpleasant parts of daily life, and take pleasure in escaping to the little universes that authors have created.

So, I chose 'Delphi', partly because of the staggeringly good cover, but primarily because I was drawn to the Classics element. However, after persevering for a good few chapters, I'm afraid I have to mark it as DNF. Maybe in who-knows-how-many-years, I would be able to revisit 'Delphi' again and enjoy Pollard's prose.

But right now, in our own pandemic misery, it's no escape or pleasure to me to read a fictional character's corresponding misery. I just can't bring myself to thole it all the way through.

Thank you to Penguin Random House UK. Regretfully, I did not finish the ARC generously provided through Netgalley.

I don’t think I fully realised this book was set in the pandemic (which I have been avoiding books on) but once I pushed past this, the book had a really interesting premise. I have always had an interest in myths since doing classics at school and liked the way the author captured desperation of lockdown through different fortune telling and divination.
Read through netgalley