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A review by river24
Stone Blind by Natalie Haynes
adventurous
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
4.25/5
She was asleep. We were awake, but she was asleep. It’s important that you know this, because he will try to claim there was a battle. But there is no battle to be had between an armed man and a sleeping girl.
I immensely enjoyed this retelling. I've immensely enjoyed every other work that I've read by Natalie Haynes, but this one is my favourite so far. Not only do we delve into Medusa's story (which was definitely my favourite part) but also into several of the other prominent female figures surrounding both Perseus and the myth of Medusa.
Medusa's story is one so many seek solace in, it's one that so many know was a warped retelling, that so many have fought for the truth of. I'm so glad that Haynes took on the task of its retelling and I love that she entirely made it her own. Even though there are, of course, heartbreaking and devastating moments which sing with emotion, Haynes still writes with her classic brand of wit and humour. I loved this style especially when it was used to prove the absurdity of the gods and the stupidity of mortals. I think it paralleled very well with the more serious moments.
I adored every moment we spent with Medusa and the Gorgons. I found it to be the strongest part of the narrative, however I thought every voice was essential and added so much more to the book. I loved how they were characterised, especially Stheno and Euryale as they are so often excluded from any humanity in their characterisations. In this, we instantly connected with the care they showed for Medusa as they founded the protection that they held for her all throughout. Their bond was at the very heart of the story.
So to mortal men, we are monsters. Because of our teeth, our flight, our strength. They fear us, so they call us monsters.
I adored how intricately woven it was, every character played their part and added their own fury and grief to the narrative. I adored witnessing such a wide breadth of characters come to tell their piece. Haynes develops a voice that is quite reminiscent of oral storytelling, I found, mimicking the ways in which this story would have been sung before by a poet. It feels like a play as well, with all its moving parts. I was just sitting, reading in my room, yet I felt swept across the centuries, airborne as if on wings, travelling to every land and listening to the tales spun by each woman. It was richly evocative and astoundingly immersive. I was enamoured not only with every mortal and immortal voice, but with the abstract ones too; the crows, the olive trees, the snakes, every element added to the silken tapestry of this story.
I'm an avid Greek mythology reader, yet hearing these myths retold never bores me. Especially not when they are as imaginative as this. The ending was the most surprising part of it all for me and I've noticed this as a theme throughout the fiction I've read by Haynes. She loves to make a compelling narrative change, this one is less affecting than the one in The Children of Jocasta (which I found very interesting), but still there nevertheless. Here, in Stone Blind, it made an emotional story all the more emotional and created a fascinating ending for a thread of this myth that I have never seen an ending to. It felt cyclical, almost. A true end. I'm always so interested in these choices and I think, love them or hate them (I often love them), they are there for a reason and it's a very intentional choice that I love to think on for a long time afterwards.
Men will tell you that Gorgons are monsters, but men are fools. They cannot comprehend any beauty beyond what they can see. And what they see is a tiny part of what there is.
I highly recommend this if you enjoy Greek mythology, but know that it's not a retelling in the same vein of Circe by Madeline Miller, a story with only one person retelling it, instead it spans great distances and is influenced by a whole range of other characters as well. Medusa is just one voice in the large legacy of her myth.
She was asleep. We were awake, but she was asleep. It’s important that you know this, because he will try to claim there was a battle. But there is no battle to be had between an armed man and a sleeping girl.
I immensely enjoyed this retelling. I've immensely enjoyed every other work that I've read by Natalie Haynes, but this one is my favourite so far. Not only do we delve into Medusa's story (which was definitely my favourite part) but also into several of the other prominent female figures surrounding both Perseus and the myth of Medusa.
Medusa's story is one so many seek solace in, it's one that so many know was a warped retelling, that so many have fought for the truth of. I'm so glad that Haynes took on the task of its retelling and I love that she entirely made it her own. Even though there are, of course, heartbreaking and devastating moments which sing with emotion, Haynes still writes with her classic brand of wit and humour. I loved this style especially when it was used to prove the absurdity of the gods and the stupidity of mortals. I think it paralleled very well with the more serious moments.
I adored every moment we spent with Medusa and the Gorgons. I found it to be the strongest part of the narrative, however I thought every voice was essential and added so much more to the book. I loved how they were characterised, especially Stheno and Euryale as they are so often excluded from any humanity in their characterisations. In this, we instantly connected with the care they showed for Medusa as they founded the protection that they held for her all throughout. Their bond was at the very heart of the story.
So to mortal men, we are monsters. Because of our teeth, our flight, our strength. They fear us, so they call us monsters.
I adored how intricately woven it was, every character played their part and added their own fury and grief to the narrative. I adored witnessing such a wide breadth of characters come to tell their piece. Haynes develops a voice that is quite reminiscent of oral storytelling, I found, mimicking the ways in which this story would have been sung before by a poet. It feels like a play as well, with all its moving parts. I was just sitting, reading in my room, yet I felt swept across the centuries, airborne as if on wings, travelling to every land and listening to the tales spun by each woman. It was richly evocative and astoundingly immersive. I was enamoured not only with every mortal and immortal voice, but with the abstract ones too; the crows, the olive trees, the snakes, every element added to the silken tapestry of this story.
I'm an avid Greek mythology reader, yet hearing these myths retold never bores me. Especially not when they are as imaginative as this. The ending was the most surprising part of it all for me and I've noticed this as a theme throughout the fiction I've read by Haynes. She loves to make a compelling narrative change, this one is less affecting than the one in The Children of Jocasta (which I found very interesting), but still there nevertheless. Here, in Stone Blind, it made an emotional story all the more emotional and created a fascinating ending for a thread of this myth that I have never seen an ending to. It felt cyclical, almost. A true end. I'm always so interested in these choices and I think, love them or hate them (I often love them), they are there for a reason and it's a very intentional choice that I love to think on for a long time afterwards.
Men will tell you that Gorgons are monsters, but men are fools. They cannot comprehend any beauty beyond what they can see. And what they see is a tiny part of what there is.
I highly recommend this if you enjoy Greek mythology, but know that it's not a retelling in the same vein of Circe by Madeline Miller, a story with only one person retelling it, instead it spans great distances and is influenced by a whole range of other characters as well. Medusa is just one voice in the large legacy of her myth.