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A review by eirenophile
The Beautiful Stories of Life: Six Greeks Myths, Retold by Cynthia Rylant
2.0
The thing is, this is the kind of book I usually really get into. The illustrations add very little, being scattered through the book )one per story), but they are nice and detailed pencil drawings. The short 9-20 page retellings of six carefully chosen stories is a great way to introduce people to the myths. They are told in a way that (I think) acknowledges both the history behind the story AND the person of the new storyteller. Rylant has her own very Rylant-y angle to these myths (although she doesn't tell the reader that it's her angle, not an ancient Greek one), and I don't think that's a bad thing.
Here's what I DO think is a bad thing:
1) the essence of femininity is, apparently, joy in submission in heterosexual relationships. I wish it were just the Pandora story that had that, but it's also Persephone. And Pygmalion. And Narcissus. And, to a lesser degree (thank godddess) Psyche. And even though the ancient Greeks WERE patriarchal, what Rylant presents is much more in line with conservative American gender roles.
2) She gets the "details" wrong. (Like Prometheus is a "man" not a god, and "Persephone was a mortal, but her mother, Demeter, was a goddess." Oh really? I doubt the huge chunk of the population that followed the Mysteries at various times would have been happy to hear that.)
Of course, not everyone cares about that. If you don't, and you want a retelling that uses contemporary language and storytelling style, then maybe you should check this out.
Here's what I DO think is a bad thing:
1) the essence of femininity is, apparently, joy in submission in heterosexual relationships. I wish it were just the Pandora story that had that, but it's also Persephone. And Pygmalion. And Narcissus. And, to a lesser degree (thank godddess) Psyche. And even though the ancient Greeks WERE patriarchal, what Rylant presents is much more in line with conservative American gender roles.
2) She gets the "details" wrong. (Like Prometheus is a "man" not a god, and "Persephone was a mortal, but her mother, Demeter, was a goddess." Oh really? I doubt the huge chunk of the population that followed the Mysteries at various times would have been happy to hear that.)
Of course, not everyone cares about that. If you don't, and you want a retelling that uses contemporary language and storytelling style, then maybe you should check this out.