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4.28 AVERAGE
4.28 AVERAGE
informative
medium-paced
Female characters in ancient Greek Literature from a feminist perspective.
emotional
informative
inspiring
informative
reflective
slow-paced
adventurous
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
funny
challenging
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
This was a thoroughly insightful look on the overlooked and often vilified women of Greek mythology. As someone who finds social politics in the ancient world rather fascinating, I was satisfied and hungry for more after this read. The gender imbalance in Ancient Greek society bleeds through into their storytelling, and some of it is just misogynistic, if not horrifying.
My favourite chapters were those on Penelope and Medusa - reasons being that the former is possibly my favourite woman in these stories, and the latter being unjustly disparaged and transformed into the monster she became universally known as. On the other hand, I found myself less interested in the story of Eurydice.
Overall, this was a super fascinating, witty and stimulating read, and in my opinion a must-have for those interested in classics, ancient history, and gender studies.
My favourite chapters were those on Penelope and Medusa - reasons being that the former is possibly my favourite woman in these stories, and the latter being unjustly disparaged and transformed into the monster she became universally known as. On the other hand, I found myself less interested in the story of Eurydice.
Overall, this was a super fascinating, witty and stimulating read, and in my opinion a must-have for those interested in classics, ancient history, and gender studies.
funny
informative
medium-paced
informative
slow-paced
adventurous
challenging
emotional
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
This book tells the story of the women in many of the well known Greek stories, starting with Pandora. Each section starts with the story as most people know it today, and then the author compares the text where that story came from (usually a Renaissance or 19th century re-telling) with other "contemporary" sources.
It's absolutely fascinating. The author compares a lot of the original Greek word choices, especially when identical words were used when telling the men's stories, and how they got mistranslated along the way.
What I love is that you can hear the anger of the author building in each section. Each time she tells the story of a woman being shoved to the sidelines, ignored, or their assault downplayed you can feel the fury rising.
My other favorite but may be my favorite line in a book ever: when telling the story of Jocasta, Oedipus's mother/wife, she talks about how it's odd that most modern people associate the play with the title Oedipus Rex versus Oedipus Tyrannus, which would be the Greek title instead of Rex, which is Latin. It's double odd because most people hear Rex and think of dinosaurs, which do not feature in the story.
There's a LOT of the very English witty humor, and I enjoyed it.
This is a fascinating book that I highly recommend. You've never heard the stories like this before.
It's absolutely fascinating. The author compares a lot of the original Greek word choices, especially when identical words were used when telling the men's stories, and how they got mistranslated along the way.
What I love is that you can hear the anger of the author building in each section. Each time she tells the story of a woman being shoved to the sidelines, ignored, or their assault downplayed you can feel the fury rising.
My other favorite but may be my favorite line in a book ever: when telling the story of Jocasta, Oedipus's mother/wife, she talks about how it's odd that most modern people associate the play with the title Oedipus Rex versus Oedipus Tyrannus, which would be the Greek title instead of Rex, which is Latin. It's double odd because most people hear Rex and think of dinosaurs, which do not feature in the story.
There's a LOT of the very English witty humor, and I enjoyed it.
This is a fascinating book that I highly recommend. You've never heard the stories like this before.