Book Review: Sirens and Muses 

By Antonia Angress 

5 Stars 

The story of Sirens and Muses, written by Antonia Angress, is about post-secondary art students. It is meant to shed light on the difficulties of pursuing an art career and how expensive it can become when you’re only just a student. There are four perspectives, one being a teacher and the rest being students. There is one student’s perspective that was very difficult to get through. Every time his chapter came up, I wanted to skip it. To me, he was just very uninteresting and not a good person. What I did love about reading this was how it showed that in or out of school, the struggles were still the same. They all had the need for stability and security and were trying to get better, all while there were other obstacles, such as money or pure talent. I found myself wanting to learn more about art because of how immersive the read was. For someone who doesn’t know much about art, it was easy to comprehend while still learning as well. I loved the story as it expanded further than I thought it would go. It took a risk with the plot, but it was realistic. With each individual character developing, their stories were each so unique. The ending is quite controversial, so I recommend reading it. Sirens and Muses does cause a good discussion. The way the characters and the storyline all came together at the end was so worth it. The title Sirens and Muses makes so much sense, and I’m very happy I got to read this book. I would recommend this to a more mature audience since there are some heavy topics like assault and graphic, intimate scenes. And overall, anyone who enjoys or would like to learn more about art.   

Reviewed by Lillian 

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