The female perspective highlights how in these stories women are still punished for the actions of men and inparticularly the Gods Medusa punished for being raped by Poseidon, Danae and Perseus put out to sea to die because of the actions of Zeus and even the Goddess’s being punished by male Gods. There was a classical feel about it, influenced I think by the origional classical writers.
Natalie Haynes has a beautiful writing style. All these stories and voices blend seamlessly, drawing you into the different stories and perspectives. Interstingly there are also chapters where a character speaks to the reader which reminded me of the narrator or chorus in Greek Tragedies. There are also the voices of the Goddess Hera, and her perspective on the story, and that of the Gorgons themselves. This wasn’t just the story of Medusa and Perseus, it was also the the story of Medusa’s sisters Euryale and Sthenno who brought her up from a baby after their parents left her on a beach for them to look after, the story of Cassiope and Andromeda and of some of the other Gods. What I really loved about Natalie Haynes’s retelling was the many different voices and points of view that she incorporated. From this we get the vision of Medusa we all know, her hair turned to snakes and her gaze that turned those she looked at to stone. The interpretation of this myth does change slightly between authors but all tell the story of a young woman, a gorgon herself, who is punished by Athena after she is raped by Poseidon in her temple as she can’t punish the God. Stone Blind is the second book I have read this year on the myth of the Gorgon Medusa and the Hero Perseus, and how their fates entwine.
Retelling of the Greek and Roman Myths seems to be very popular at the moment, and I have to say they are brilliant stories hero, heroine, good against evil and some wonderous characters. The punishment is that she is turned into a Gorgon: sharp teeth, snakes for hair and a look that turns other to stone. Athene, furious at the sacrilege committed, directs her revenge on Medusa. When, in Athene’s temple, desire pushes Poseidon to commit the unforgivable, Medusa’s mortal life is changed forever.
Her mortal lifespan gives her an urgency that her family will never know. Growing up with her sisters, she quickly realizes that she is the only one who gets older, experiences change, feels weakness. Synopsis Medusa is the only mortal in a family of gods. Follow me Publisher : Mantle Main Market edition (15 Sept.
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