Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

Pandora's Jar: Women in the Greek Myths by Natalie Haynes

45 reviews

savage_book_review'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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christylouise's review against another edition

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informative inspiring lighthearted reflective medium-paced

3.5

The way Haynes discusses these women is truly refreshing. My favourite chapter was probably Jocasta, as it was a myth I’m not too familiar with.

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gaysian's review against another edition

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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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cozy_gh0st's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny informative fast-paced

5.0


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frankieclc's review against another edition

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4.0


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junglejelly's review against another edition

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funny informative reflective medium-paced

4.75

Such an amazing book to delve into a few the women of Greek myths. A great springboard to look into other similar texts, too.

Haynes explores various themes and arguments for each woman, linking a few of them together (it's Greek myth, everyone's related).

Not a full 5 stars for me as sometimes I felt I as the reader needed to know the myths better to understand some of the points Haynes made.

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alexisgarcia's review against another edition

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dark informative reflective sad fast-paced

3.0

i wish this was longer, i felt like it was a synopsis of stories. it just felt a little surface level and i wish there was a deeper discussion on the topics and myths. overall, i think this is a great starter book for those wanting to get into greek mythology and retellings. 

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hfleur's review against another edition

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challenging informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

5.0


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mandkips's review against another edition

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challenging informative reflective medium-paced

4.5


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