Reviews - Pandora's Jar: Women in the Greek Myths

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Pandora's Jar: Women in the Greek Myths

Friends - I told myself in late December that my New Years resolution would be to write reviews of everything I read on Goodreads, and then I proceeded to stop logging anything I read because it meant I would have to write reviews! I'm making good on the resolution and a whole bunch of reviews are about to show up in your Goodreads updates :) You're welcome, or sorry.

Pandora's Jar straddles a line between literary analysis and humor in a way that I hadn't seen before and really enjoyed. Each chapter explains the evolution of a female character from the Greek myths and tragedies, so you get to revisit (or discover) Pandora, Jocasta, Medea, the Amazons, etc.

Haynes' feminist reading of the myths is smart and dry. I wasn't surprised to hear that she also does stand-up. She has a refreshing take on stories that have been twisted by generations of mostly male artists over the centuries. For instance, Helen of Troy is known in literature as the "face that launched a thousand ships" but her various kidnappings were orchestrated by gods and men - why is everyone blaming the violent behavior of all these men on Helen's physical appearance? Sound familiar? Hmmmmm?

If you were into Jason and the Argonauts or D'aulaire's greek myths as a kid, you'll probably enjoy this.