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A review by joanaprneves
Pandora's Jar by Natalie Haynes
adventurous
dark
funny
hopeful
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
I loved reading this account of Greek women in myths. Firstly, the title of the book is shrewd because it replaces the word “box” with “jar”, thus provoking the reader. Why “jar”? I asked myself. The title is explained in the first chapter, dedicated to Pandora. The explanation roots the book in a necessity: that of exploring the women’s perspective in myths because as with Pandora, they have been simplified, muted, and at times erased. They have no agency or complexity. And that’s what this book tried to explain by dedicating each chapter to a woman. One of the other things I appreciated was the fact that the women focused on are not all good or virtuous. One of them is incredibly violent and manipulative. However, their story helps us understand how the Greek myths’ retelling has been omitting stories of rape, abuse, abduction, making it seem like these women are just evil, good, or destructive.
The writing is strange as it veers into the colloquial at times while at others it use uncommon and academic words. I am not against having a mixed tone but it was disconcerting at times. This is reflected by the comparisons made between popular culture- there is even a Beyoncé videoclip description - but I think that works much better. The examples were well chosen and could draw more readers to a topic that is either the object of obsession or deemed too “stuffy”. I just wish the language had remained accessible with a few more challenging words thrown here and there. But that’s a minor qualm.
The writing is strange as it veers into the colloquial at times while at others it use uncommon and academic words. I am not against having a mixed tone but it was disconcerting at times. This is reflected by the comparisons made between popular culture- there is even a Beyoncé videoclip description - but I think that works much better. The examples were well chosen and could draw more readers to a topic that is either the object of obsession or deemed too “stuffy”. I just wish the language had remained accessible with a few more challenging words thrown here and there. But that’s a minor qualm.
Content Warnings
There are references to a lot of mischievous or downright violent crimes such as rape, infanticide, abuse etc as in all Greek myths. However the author is careful with the way they are alluded to or described and stands by the reader explaining how these were perceived then and how they can be daunting now.