A review by jolibon4e
A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

I was expecting much more from this book. To be honest the foreword is better than 90% of the book in the way it treats women. It may be that I expected something different. This book does retell a lot of Greek mythology around the Trojan war from the point of view of women, and it definitely gives them more background and feelings than the original texts. However, it is still the story of men. It tells the full story of the men, as previously told, with a bit of female reaction. For the most part, women are not actors but reactors. They don’t make decisions, they have feelings but follow whatever someone else decides
How do you manage to make Helen a passive figure in the war? Of course she is not solely responsible for the war, but why just take away all of her autonomy?
Also, all if the women have “male perspective” on other women.
Why does Penelope insist that the women with whom Odysseus sleeps are sluts? Why does Hecuba do the same to Helen? They seem to be unwilling to understand basic gender politics and power structures and as a whole women rarely support other women in this book
Also the ecofashism was not fun to listen to even if it was in one chapter. Also it is a very boring proposition in my opinion- instead of exploring the complex aspects of humanity that lead to such a devastating war, you say it was forced on them and it was entirely for ecofashist reasons. Also there some light gender essentialism throughout the book that doesn’t sit well with me - all the women have good intentions, all the men have bad intentions. It oversimplifies and again makes the story less interesting as it refuses to engage with the complexities that make power imbalances and morality so important to discuss.
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