coriandercake 's review for:

The Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio

3.0

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Some irony in that this a book for women and meant to make women laugh, yet many of these stories are so at odds with modern sensibilities (rape, domestic violence). Begs the question if these stories really reflected what women found entertaining or if they reflected what Boccaccio thought women would like (he, after all, includes several stories that emphasize that women are only good for sex and making babies and lack the higher faculties). How much does this reflect actual medieval gender norms and how much does it reflect only the male perspective?