Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Pandora's Jar by Natalie Haynes, Natalie Haynes

45 reviews

marianneiriss's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0


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oliverlang's review against another edition

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informative reflective slow-paced

4.0


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olivianw's review against another edition

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funny informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

Brilliant! 
I feel as though anyone could enjoy this book, whether you know a little or a lot about greek mythology. 
It’s a smart and funny deep-dive that somehow manages to stay accessible without sacrificing quality of writing or content. I thoroughly enjoyed every chapter!  

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stormwise's review against another edition

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challenging funny informative medium-paced

5.0

This book was absolutely wonderful - Haynes is becoming one of my favourite authors! 

In each chapter, named after the character it focuses on, Pandora's Jar examines the variations of the original myths, the codifiers that set the cultural standard and the modern interpretations that audiences are familiar with. It's fascinating to learn about some of the alternative versions of these classic stories - what could have been if those tales had been the ones to remain in the public consciousness! Haynes also considers the context of the stories and their classical audiences - Greek plays, for example, were written by, performed by and most likely watched by men. It's no wonder women were so often sidelined. 

I LOVED the insights into language! I love linguistics, so it was extremely cool to look at the original Ancient Greek used and how it has been inaccurately translated in some instances. Word choice can convey so much - one of the biggest offenders that Haynes highlights is the frequent translation of Hippolyta's 'zōstēr' as 'girdle' when the word specifically means 'war belt'. 

I thoroughly appreciated the wry humour and clever wordplay throughout the book, which also helps to alleviate the sometimes heavy subject matter. I found that each chapter was structured and paced really well. Overall this is just a fantastic book which I would DEFINITELY recommend to anyone interested in Greek mythology and feminism. 

Oh, and I'm a Euripides stan now 🤷🏻‍♂️

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douronion's review against another edition

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challenging informative reflective medium-paced

4.25


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