Reviews with content warning for Misogyny - STONE BLIND - Der Blick der Medusa: Roman

Reviews tagging 'Misogyny'

STONE BLIND - Der Blick der Medusa: Roman by Natalie Haynes

61 reviews

onyxisalive's review against another edition

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.

Content Warnings

garnethalo's review against another edition

Go to review page

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.

Content Warnings

sierraashley's review against another edition

Go to review page

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.

Content Warnings

nak34's review against another edition

Go to review page

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

Content Warnings

hanschub's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous emotional informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

Content Warnings

annick's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional funny informative mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

Wow. Haynes does a marvellous job narrating her book.

This is beautifully poignant in writing and audio . It makes so much more sense than the tales of Perseus and Medusa and Athene I grew up with.

There are many moments of beautiful writing. Chapter from the snakes’ perspective. The dialogue of assertive Medusa and petulant Poseidon. But especially when it’s 1POV addressed to the reader.

I like the choice for most of the violence and sexual assault to be excluded from the scenes written. Even the narrative on turning people to stone is empathetic to the character’s trauma and the readers.

I can’t find fault with the writing, I want to revisit it, and recommend it to others. So it meets my pesky criteria for five stars.

Content Warnings

stellahadz's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous reflective medium-paced

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

4.25

"Who decides what is a monster?"

Aside from the final chapter, I wouldn't call this book a retelling so much as a reframing; the character of Medusa is given space to be a fully fleshed-out character as opposed to simply a monster. Haynes turns the idea of a "hero" on its head through the character of Perseus, who is portrayed as impulsive, bratty, and incompetent instead of brave and adventurous. The tone of the story is elegant and wise but not overly serious - as much as I enjoyed Madeline Miller's books, I found that they lacked levity. I appreciated that there was some humor in Stone Blind. It helps the book feel more modern, reinforcing the idea that its themes and topics are still relevant. I liked the multiple POVs and getting to see how the different aspects of the story tied together through different characters.

Overall a super enjoyable read. I'm often skeptical of Greek mythology retellings, but this one definitely exceeded my expectations and I'm very interested in reading more of Haynes's work.

Content Warnings