I was grading sophomore essays on The Odyssey - the ones where they inevitably call Odysseus "relatable" without explaining why - when I needed something to keep me from writing increasingly sarcastic margin notes. Persephone's Choice seemed fitting. Greek mythology retold through a Singaporean lens? Philosophy major author? This had my name on it.
And for about the first two hours, I was genuinely charmed.
When Gods Forget Themselves
The premise works better than it has any right to. Sophie runs a flower shop. She cares for her mother, who has dementia. Into this very grounded, very human life crashes a man who insists he's Hades - except he can't quite remember being Hades. The setup allows Sim to play with something I find endlessly fascinating: what happens when myth meets mundane? When the god of the underworld has to sweep floors and learn to arrange chrysanthemums?
Sim's philosophy background shows in the best way. The book asks genuinely interesting questions about identity and memory. If the gods exist because we tell their stories, what happens when a god forgets his own story? Sophie's mother can't remember her daughter's face. Hades can't remember ruling the dead. There's a quiet parallel there that Sim doesn't hammer home, and I appreciated the restraint.
The comedy lands more often than not. Hades adjusting to modern Singapore - the food, the humidity, the absolute bafflement at HDB flats - provides consistent low-key humor. It's not laugh-out-loud funny. It's the kind of absurdist warmth that made me smile into my coffee while a student's paper tried to convince me that Penelope was "basically just waiting around."
Where the Audio Falls Flat
Here's where I have to be honest, because I always tell my students: acknowledge your biases.
Leonie Koh's narration didn't work for me. And I can't pinpoint exactly why, which frustrates me as someone who believes narration is performance art. There's nothing technically wrong - no mispronunciations that made me wince, no jarring audio issues. But the delivery felt... flat? Where Sim's prose has this whimsical lightness, the narration felt like it was reading the words rather than inhabiting them.
I found myself drifting. During a faculty meeting about standardized testing (sorry, Martinez), I realized I'd missed about twenty minutes because my brain had just... wandered off. That's not entirely fair to the audiobook - those meetings could make anyone zone out - but it happened again. And again.
At five hours, this should have been a quick, delightful listen. Instead, I had to restart sections multiple times. Other listeners have reported the same thing: the story seems to lose momentum, and the narration doesn't provide enough energy to pull you back.
What Hemingway Said About Icebergs
Hemingway talked about the iceberg theory - the idea that the dignity of movement of an iceberg is due to only one-eighth of it being above water. Good writing suggests more than it states.
Sim understands this. The relationship between Sophie and Hades develops with restraint. There's no dramatic declaration scene. There's just... growing accustomed to someone's presence. The way Sophie starts leaving his coffee out. The way he learns which flowers she touches when she's anxious. Love and Friendship builds romance through the same kind of quiet observations - though Austen's characters would probably have stronger opinions about the coffee. It's subtle. It's earned.
But subtlety requires a narrator who can convey what's beneath the surface. And I'm not sure Koh quite gets there. The tender moments feel rushed. The comedic beats don't land with the timing they need. I kept thinking: this would work beautifully on the page. In audio form, something's missing.
Who Should Listen (And Who Should Read Instead)
If you're fascinated by mythology retellings that don't take themselves too seriously - if you loved Circe but wished it had more jokes about air conditioning - the story itself is worth your time. Husband's Secret pulls off a similar trick, finding mythic weight in ordinary domestic life. Sim has a genuine gift for finding the human in the divine.
But honestly? I'd recommend reading this one. The prose deserves to be savored at your own pace, not delivered at someone else's rhythm. My students would hate this advice. They'd say audiobooks are the only way they'll consume anything longer than a TikTok. They're wrong about a lot of things, but they might be right that I'm being too precious about this.
Skip the audio if you need energetic narration to stay engaged. If you do go audio, prepare for a slow burn that occasionally feels like it's barely smoldering. Background listening while doing something else might actually help - gives your brain something to do during the lulls.
Class Dismissed (With Reservations)
Not quite worth pausing the faculty meeting for. And I say that with genuine regret, because the bones of something lovely are here. A god learning to be mortal. A mortal learning she might want more than ordinary. A meditation on memory and story and what we owe to the myths that made us.
Sim's debut, Fear of the Guest, is apparently well-regarded. I might seek that out - in print. Because this author has ideas worth sitting with. I just needed a narrator who could make me sit still long enough to hear them.
