Reviews tagging 'War'

Pandora's Jar by Natalie Haynes

37 reviews

aseel_reads's review

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dark funny informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

For some reason, I have never thought that the greek myths we know best, are in fact just one retelling and there are many others that could be more accurate, or at least portray a different view (that view obviously being from the women). This was such a good introduction to classical history, in a bite sized manner, and on characters that someone like me (semi decent ancient greek mythology knowledge) is familiar with. I really enjoyed seeing all the art and modern media retellings of famous myths, as well as the snarky comments from the author 

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catsbreadbikes's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny informative reflective fast-paced

4.0

Very engaging, great narration, plus mention of buffy & BeyoncĂ© 

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lauramcc7's review against another edition

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funny informative reflective medium-paced

5.0


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slefebvre95's review against another edition

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challenging funny informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

5.0


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wimzie's review against another edition

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informative reflective medium-paced

4.5


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angelofthetardis's review against another edition

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dark informative slow-paced

3.0

As can easily be gleaned from my reading history, I do love me some Greek myth retellings. I've heard Natalie Haynes speak and be interviewed on several history podcasts I listen to, and she's always come across as bright, bubbly, funny and extremely knowledgeable about her specialist subject, so I thought I'd give this book a go, simply to get me a little more up to speed with the women of the Greek myths and to obtain a more female-centric view of them.

From very early on, the phrase that stuck in my head was 'stream of consciousness'. The writing is interesting and thought-provoking, but it makes for breathless reading - it came across to me as if the author simply couldn't type the words out quickly enough to keep up with her thought process. One line of examination flowed seamlessly into another; while in general that's a good thing, it made it very difficult to discern the point she was making.

The language used clearly puts this book well within reach of a general audience, but at the same time this is not a book to pick up if you only have a passing knowledge of the women and the myths studied. I class myself in that category - I could place most of the women in the right 'place' in the myths, but aside from that my awareness is in fact relatively limited. As a result, once again it became very hard to keep track of exactly what the author was trying to say - it was only with the last couple of women studied that a clearer recap of their 'standard' stories was included. Otherwise, it felt very much like being thrown in at the deep end, and therefore perhaps more appropriate for those with more expertise. I though this was a shame, as if matters were drawn out a little more I think it would have made a truly fascinating read.

Because of both these elements, I found it a harder going read than expected; for a fairly short book, it was quite heavy-going. I could only digest it for about 20 minutes at a time before the weight became too much and my attention started to drift. I think this would be an incredibly useful reference book if you were studying a particular myth or work such as the Iliad, as it would counter the male gaze of the main story and allow you to consider an alternative perspective. Likewise, if you were focused on one particular female from the pantheon, you might find her chapter in here a great source of information. But otherwise it's just not got that hook to make it a 'must read'.

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gaysian's review

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informative reflective fast-paced

4.5


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tashtasher's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.0


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a_violentfemme's review against another edition

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adventurous funny informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

I have a physical copy of this book but I'm so glad I listened to the audiobook. It was like listening to an extended episode of 'stand up for the classics' and I am a huge fan of the podcast. Haynes' writing is informative without be ng pretentious, is sometimes funny but always engaging and relevant. She is quickly becoming a "will always read" author for me.

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cozy_gh0st's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny informative fast-paced

5.0


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