Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

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

31 reviews

elysareadsitall's review against another edition

informative reflective fast-paced

5.0

"Pandora's Jar" is an excellent analysis of some of the most famous mortal women of ancient Greek myths. Haynes's research is impeccable. She pulls the most well-known stories and obscure mentions to explore how the women were treated in the ancient world, and she explores modern interpretations to show how that treatment has changed or not. She makes clear the misogyny inherent in the ancient and modern interpretations and how it has evolved over time. Her feminist readings are fascinating and provide insight about how women are treated today, whether fictional or real. This book has made me want to reread the ancient works and inspired me to expand my TBR.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny

Moderate: Rape and Sexual violence

sydapel's review against another edition

informative reflective slow-paced

3.75

I really appreciated the in depth look at many different women in Greek myths, examining not just their portrayals in plays of the time, but their complex histories and trauma. Even with the most "evil" of them, Hayes gently reminds us of the context of their decisions and challenges our notions of their characters. There's also a reminder of the subtle power plays they employed, which I appreciated in contrast the to abject suffering. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Death, Rape, Infidelity, War, Physical abuse, Misogyny, Grief, Pregnancy, Suicide, Violence, Murder, and Sexual harassment

hfleur's review against another edition

challenging informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Toxic relationship, Sexual violence, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Rape

Minor: Child death

Each event is not talked about in harrowing detail but definitely saddening/triggering in places.

sunflowerwork's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Violence, Rape, Suicide, Murder, and Misogyny

leanneymu's review against another edition

adventurous challenging informative medium-paced

4.5

A really interesting and accessible exploration of the women from Greek Myths. Although I know a little bit about Greek myths, it's a bit of a blind spot for me, and I found it very easy to follow the stories being discussed. If you know a lot about these stories, you might not enjoy it as much, but it really worked for me. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual violence, Child death, Infidelity, Suicide, Misogyny, Death, Rape, and Violence

berrybiaful's review against another edition

adventurous challenging informative medium-paced

4.25

4.25/5

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!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Transphobia, Violence, Incest, and War

Minor: Sexual violence and Rape

moonytoast's review against another edition

4.25

RTC….. until then, support the HarperCollins Union strike!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Genocide, Death, Death of parent, and Grief

Moderate: Incest, Sexual violence, Rape, Infidelity, War, Violence, Suicide, and Murder

skudiklier's review against another edition

challenging funny informative reflective slow-paced

5.0

I really enjoyed this collection. What I knew about these women going in varied a lot, but all of the essays were thought-provoking and engaging. I also really liked Haynes's writing style, and the funny asides sprinkled in. I'd definitely recommend this to anyone interested in Greek mythology. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Misogyny, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Rape, Child death, and Sexual violence

kers_tin's review against another edition

dark emotional funny informative reflective medium-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Death of parent, War, Death, Child death, Murder, and Suicide

mattyyreadsbooks's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Misogyny, Murder, Pedophilia, War, Sexual violence, Rape, and Violence