A review by cass1699
Pandora's Jar: Women in the Greek Myths by Natalie Haynes

3.0

this was an intriguing and thought-provoking read. as someone who never grew out of their middle school greek mythology phase, i appreciated what natalie haynes chose to do with this book. it’s an educational, in-depth look at the women featured in many famous greek myths—and perhaps more importantly, the women who have consistently been dehumanized and overlooked in said myths.

it’s clear that the author is an expert in her field—she really knows her stuff. and i liked the way that she included little quips and moments of levity between paragraphs of analysis. it helped to break up some of the denser parts of the text.

however, i was hoping to get a bit more out of this book. haynes went into great detail about the depiction of various women in ancient plays, stories, paintings and sculptures. and though i see the value in including this information, i do think that it vastly overshadowed the actual analysis of these females characters. i understand referencing the plays and stories in order to establish a foundation of knowledge, but the sections concentrating heavily on artwork could have been shortened. haynes could have instead used this time and effort to prompt a stronger focus on analyzing women through a feminist lens.

with that being said, though, i did find this to be a very interesting read. i particularly enjoyed the chapters covering clytemnestra, medusa, medea, and penelope. it’s fascinating to see how these complex women were reduced to nothing more than one-dimensional archetypes, and it’s even more rewarding to unwind that tape, pull them apart, and restore them to their former—albeit messy—glory.