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karissabubble's review against another edition
4.5
Graphic: Murder, Grief, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Violence, Blood, Misogyny, Child death, Rape, Suicide, Death, Incest, Kidnapping, and Sexism
berrybiaful's review against another edition
4.25
I really enjoyed this! I do exercise a bit of caution when delving into reads such as this one, in case the feminist takes were of the white feminist brand, but that wasn't the case here.
Natalie Haynes brilliantly dissects the myths in which these women were apart of and offers new perspectives of their characters. I especially enjoyed the chapters on Helen and Penelope.
However, I did feel as if she would digress in a few places and leave me forgetting what the main point was or how a certain tale related to the women she was talking about.
This was a good book to start of my 2023 reading year!
Moderate: Transphobia, Violence, Incest, and War
Minor: Sexual violence and Rape
ashhearddwrites's review against another edition
5.0
Moderate: Incest, Rape, Infidelity, Murder, Child death, and Pedophilia
moonytoast's review against another edition
4.25
Graphic: Child death, Genocide, Death, Death of parent, and Grief
Moderate: Incest, Sexual violence, Rape, Infidelity, War, Violence, Suicide, and Murder
rbacon's review against another edition
Graphic: Sexism, Rape, Murder, Infidelity, Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Child abuse, War, Violence, Suicide, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Misogyny, Incest, and Death
scarlettoliver's review against another edition
4.25
Graphic: Misogyny, Infidelity, Rape, Sexual assault, and Suicide
Moderate: Violence, Child death, Murder, and Death
Minor: War, Kidnapping, Slavery, Cannibalism, and Incest
kkalicky94's review
4.5
Graphic: Murder, Death of parent, Slavery, Suicide, War, Death, Grief, Kidnapping, Child death, Incest, Infidelity, Misogyny, Rape, and Sexual assault
northernlitreading's review against another edition
5.0
Minor: Incest, Pregnancy, War, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death of parent, Misogyny, Sexism, Child death, Death, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Murder, Rape, Sexual assault, and Cannibalism
asipofcozy's review against another edition
4.5
I have always been fascinated by Greek culture and mythology. I grew up on stories of Achilles and Hercules and thought, "this is what it means to be a hero". Yet, now, after reading Pandora's Jar I can say that I have changed my tune. It's not that I don't still respect these childhood stories that we still teach children today; it's that I now see the truths that lay behind each of them.
Haynes takes the voices of these marginalized women in greek myths and finally gives them a voice. She analyzes each artist, writer, poet, and singer and how they have hidden away these women in the background. Too afraid to sing of their pain, suffering, and loss at the expense of these heroes. She makes us question if Medusa is actually the villain due to earlier accounts of her story or if Clytemnestra was an out-of-control woman that wanted power. The greek writers and even modern-day writers never want to talk about the women's side of the story, and now we have it.
I think what disturbed me the most was how modern-day writers and retellers of these stories gloss over some serious issues that were normalized in the original greek retellings, which Haynes points out quite often in Pandora's Jar. Such as r*pe, sexual harassment, Stockholm syndrome, and suicide. Take the thousands/millions of retellings of Persephone and Hades for example.
Not one story talks about how Hades forced himself on her or forced the Pomegranate down her throat every day so she couldn't leave. Or how Zeus was a part of all this, yet it's in all of the original texts. Why was this? Was it because it wouldn't be as "romantic" of a story? If so, these modern-day writers are turning a blind eye to r*pe culture and just allowing it. Even now, with some very popular retellings out like Lore Olympus: Volume One or A Touch of Darkness, not one talks about Persephone being r*ped. That it was "romance" that kept her there.
I get that we need these retellings. I mean, I love a good retelling as the next person but are these stories, in the end, taking away the voices from the original women of the myths who are constantly used, abused, and thrown to the side as trash for the next woman that catches the fancy of the hero?
Pandora's Jar made me think analytically about women in literature, women in the modern day, the original stories of these myths, and the retellings of these myths. It led me to question the stories I was told as a child and whether I would think differently of these so-called 'heroes' if I knew how they treated women. Or how modern-day storytellers treat these women by wiping away their original voice. Haynes, in the end, creates a complex situation behind these women like Helen of Troy, Phaedra, and Pandora and if they truly are the beautiful villains we have come to see today.
Graphic: War, Rape, Domestic abuse, Gore, Blood, and Adult/minor relationship
Moderate: Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Gore, Incest, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Slavery, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Violence, and War
nila's review against another edition
5.0
Moderate: Child death, Death, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Torture, Violence, War, Grief, Incest, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Misogyny, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Suicide, Murder, Sexism, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, and Xenophobia
Minor: Cannibalism