Reviews with content warning for Misogyny - Stone Blind

Reviews tagging 'Misogyny'

Stone Blind by Natalie Haynes

67 reviews

kendrashea's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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angelofthetardis's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional funny mysterious sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

The myth of Medusa is beautifully retold in this book by Natalie Haynes, turning the focus from the 'hero' Perseus to the woman with the deadly gaze. Abandoned by her divine parents and victimised over and over again through no fault of her own, this book poses the question of just who really is the monster in this tale?

The book is written from the point of view of several different characters (much like 'A Thousand Ships'), utilising both third and first person perspectives. And yet the book still flows really well and keeps you immersed. I particularly liked the chapters that 'break the fourth wall' and address the reader directly - you can definitely sense the author's own attitude and comedic prowess coming through in those pages.

Equally though, because of the constant shifting in perspectives it doesn't always feel like you're getting the depth you want; it is very much skimming the surface. The chapters are also quite short, so it is a lot of bouncing around - the story is linear, but it's hard to tell how much time is passing between chapters, sometimes due to the author's own phrasing. For example, we know that Perseus has two months to retrieve the head of a Gorgon and return home to save his mother from an unwanted marriage. But at one point, the author includes the line (paraphrasing) 'she could have been married and had three kids by now!' And yet he manages to return home with a day to spare? I know that time is immaterial to Gods and this is illustrated throughout, but there's just something about the way it's written that muddies the waters a bit for me.

I've been listening to Natalie Haynes a lot recently - both her audio version of 'A Thousand Ships' and her Radio 4 show 'Natalie Haynes Stands Up for the Classics' on Spotify, so I feel like I'm getting a good grasp of the way she expresses herself. As a result, it was very easy to 'hear' her reading the words in my head and this gave the book an extra lift.

While I knew the story of Medusa, I didn't know the wider story of Perseus and how he came to pursue her nearly as well, so this was something of a reintroduction to me. Overall, while this book is about Medusa, the author very cleverly balances the other strands of the tale, both human and divine. If you aren't familiar with the story, there are a couple of moments earlier on which do throw the reader and make you wonder how a mortal queen with vanity issues links into the story, but everything weaves together seamlessly and all is revealed as you progress. However, this does also raise a criticism - there's just not quite enough Medusa for me!

This books also highlights some of the 'problems' with Greek myths generally. How many times must a mortal woman be punished for being the victim of a God forcing himself upon her? I love the stories of Ancient Greece, always have, but I don't think it's ever come across to me so starkly that the men (human and Gods) aren't always quite as heroic or divine as they might seem, and how vindictive the Goddesses can be, even when it should be obvious to all that they're taking their anger out on the wrong person. This is one of the reasons I love these feminist retellings though; some of the women involved absolutely deserve to be seen in a different light!

Clever, different and a good read.

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goblinbooks's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark informative sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I want to preface this by saying that I am a major Medusa fan (if you can say that), but I truly really loved this book.

The switching between many perspectives

(including her snakes and also some olive trees)

, made this ancient story still feel very fresh and interesting.

The author also took a holistic approach and investigated all the surrounding myths that all contributed to Medusa and Perceus. Haynes obviously deeply cares about the content of her stories and I can't wait to read more.

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hwerle's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful reflective tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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sammy357's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

One of the best books I've ever read! It's heartbreaking and so horribly sad. The audio book is amazing and I insist everyone listen to it

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meant2breading's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

“I’m wondering if you still think of her as a monster. I suppose it depends on what you think that word means. Monsters are, what? Ugly? Terrifying? Gorgons are both these things, certainly, although Medusa wasn’t always. Can a monster be beautiful if it is still terrifying? Perhaps it depends on how you experience fear and judge beauty.”

“You aren’t monsters,’ Medusa said. ‘Neither are you. Who decides what is a monster?’ ‘I don’t know,’ said Medusa. ‘Men, I suppose.’ ‘So to mortal men, we are monsters. Because of our teeth, our flight, our strength. They fear us, so they call us monsters.”

This was my first major Greek Mythology read for me in many years. I don’t have a lot of background in Greek Mythology and I didn’t feel like I was missing context, though it may have helped. I enjoyed reading the multiple POVS and the short chapters! Love short chapter books!! The story also gives a glimpse into how Medusa faces sexual violence, misogyny, sexism, and dehumanization, among other oppressive realities in depicted Greek Life (I mean, not like we’re past that in society today…). For me though, this felt like more of a glimpse. I wish we would have had more of the story focus on Medusa herself and her perspective, but I appreciated the pacing, the ending, and I love some feminine rage. 💕

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onyxisalive's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.25

The writing of this book was okay - it is predominately written in third person (with the exception of some POV's); the different POV's do not have a distinct voice between them, because of this it makes it difficult to become attached to the characters as they don't feel real.
Due to the constantly changing POV's in this book it makes it near impossible to become attached to any of the characters. The exception being Medusa at the start, this happened for me due to the relationship with her sisters and her being in the story before the conception of her trauma. Most of the female characters are only added when their trauma happens this makes it much harder to grow attached to them and makes the events much less emotional.
Due to this wide scope of POV's the impact of the book is lessened as it means their is less time to develop each character, making some events not feel realistic, and making it difficult to connect with anyone.

The stone chapters

felt like a waste of time and I did not care about them at all.

In regards to Medusa, I really liked her at the start,

but her death did not hit hard at all. This was mostly because of the way it is told through her cut off head. Who has such a drastic personality change in such a short period of time and shows very little empathy I found her insufferable. I really hated the head chapters through the book. I did not like that the head was constantly yelling at the reader for things, which at some points in the story, we have very good reason to believe. It made her seem really insufferable and made it impossible for me to care about her; consequently, severely reducing the impact of her death.

In regards to the books message, it was interesting on the surface level, but it did not feel like the author dove deep enough into the various different aspects of it. The really horrible characters barely got any acknowledgement of wrong doing,

the book spends most of the time getting annoyed at Perseus - who we have no reason to be mad at until the end of the book (a character change, by the way that felt rushed and, as a result, completely unrealistic (even if it felt like it would make sense in theory)).

The really horrible characters are either treated humorously after their wrongdoings or like children. Instead of focusing on specific characters it instead focuses on the wrongdoings of many character and as a result many of the traumas feel either unrealistic or overshadowed by other plot points.

Other than Perseus,

the female characters themselves are actually some of the most petty and angry, with very few of them being likeable. Most of them have the same personality and are completely unlikeable.

It felt like the book focused too much on the rage of the females and their infighting instead of levying any hate the way of the Greek Gods - which could have been done in the head chapters which would have made the infighting between the females feel more like it had a point.

In regards to the positive, I really did like the sections at the beginning with Medusa and her sisters I really grew attached to them

(even if it was ruined later).

Also, the comedic sections of this book were really funny and did not feel like the messed with the serious tone of the book too much - I would definitely be interested in reading a less serious and more comedic book by this author.

All in all, it had potential, but I really wish the story had stayed more streamlined and centralised on one or two characters instead of 10 - I feel like it could have been really good if that was done as most of my issues with this book stem from this one issue.

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garnethalo's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I'll never look at Perseus the same. With the switching veiwpoints, I understood Medusa, the gods, and Perseus better. And I definitely have favorites. A wonderful, captivating read.

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sierraashley's review against another edition

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adventurous funny fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

5.0

Very well done. Love the satire. I was giggling as I'd read, especially when they were making fun of Perseus. Medusa is one of my favorite characters ever and didn't deserve what happened to her and I'm glad someone finally told her story.

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nak34's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

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