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emmareadsya 's review for:
Hera
by Jennifer Saint
this was not the saint book that wowed me
/
i feel like this book could have been more successful if it went on one of two different paths: fully leaning into hera as a vindictive, angry woman, or a woman desperately trying to reclaim some agency and failing every time. this book sort of does those things, but also... not really? she's punishing all these women because she's angry at zeus but without any awareness that this makes her wrong. even when confronted by her son about the double standards for punishment! there's never any realization, no reckoning, but also never a true embrace of this villainous side. her revenge plans also made no sense to me lol. i feel like saint wants to write feminist retellings but also never wants to change any of the source material, and that's kind of the point.
the writing itself is beautiful, and since we follow hera over centuries it really gives it a languid pace. i enjoyed it, but i don't feel like it said anything particularly interesting about hera or the agency of women.
/
i feel like this book could have been more successful if it went on one of two different paths: fully leaning into hera as a vindictive, angry woman, or a woman desperately trying to reclaim some agency and failing every time. this book sort of does those things, but also... not really? she's punishing all these women because she's angry at zeus but without any awareness that this makes her wrong. even when confronted by her son about the double standards for punishment! there's never any realization, no reckoning, but also never a true embrace of this villainous side. her revenge plans also made no sense to me lol. i feel like saint wants to write feminist retellings but also never wants to change any of the source material, and that's kind of the point.
the writing itself is beautiful, and since we follow hera over centuries it really gives it a languid pace. i enjoyed it, but i don't feel like it said anything particularly interesting about hera or the agency of women.