Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

Pandora's Jar: Women in the Greek Myths by Natalie Haynes

45 reviews

elisetutt's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

I loved learning new versions of famous women in greek myths and new women from myths I’ve never heard of. It was very interesting to see the changes made to these myths over time good and bad. These stories, especially Medusa’s story is still relevant to how women are in society today.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, and War

Moderate: Incest

flonergan's review against another edition

funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism

Moderate: Sexual assault and Sexual violence

wherethebooksgo's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny informative medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, Infertility, Infidelity, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicide, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, and Murder

stormwise's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Moderate: Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, and Sexual assault

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Infidelity, Slavery, Suicide, Violence, Kidnapping, and Murder

readabilitea's review against another edition

funny informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, and Suicide