one of many instances when promotional blurbs mislead you. i still liked the book (with some asterisks), but that’s not what i was sold. this not a retelling of myths done by a modern feminist, but more of analysis of how original works were interpreted by later writers and artists. “pandora’s jar”. another nitpick – word “funny” was mentioned too many times. why would you promote a book as funny, if it goes over stories of clytemnestra, ariadna, and medea?
on the book itself – natalie haynes probably forgot that her book could be read outside of england. every first cultural reference (and there were so many of them) meant nothing to me, despite my relatively good (for a foreigner) knowledge of it. therefore, i’m sure i missed quite a lot of humour (see my question in the paragraph above).
despite these annoyances, i liked the book for its informational value. the premise – greek myths are almost always retold and interpreted by men, who are too happy to ignore women in them – stands strong and i hope more authors will dedicate their time to this – it’s a rich field.
opinions about books 