Stone Blind: Medusa's Story

I was looking forward to this and I'm genuinely quite disappointed. I liked Haynes' ‘The Children of Jocasta' (though I had issues) and I really liked ‘A Thousand Ships'. I also enjoyed her Pandora's Jar collection of essays.

‘Stone Blind' was just so... dull.

For a book about Medusa, there was remarkably little Medusa. Multiple points of view worked in ‘A Thousand Ships', a novel discussing at length the experiences of women during the events of the Iliad. Here, it rings hollow, though some are somewhat creative with the Medusa's snakes' chapter being particularly memorable (though even this one ends on an eye-roll provoking unsubtle final exchange). There is Perseus, there is Poseidon, there is Andromeda and Athene, all featured here in cartoonishly one-dimensional roles. Yes, they all feature significantly in Perseus' story and so their actions impact her. But this is said to specifically be Medusa's story. Due to the unfocused nature of the narrative I never felt any kind of urgency to get back to her. To her, or anyone else for that matter. Perhaps an approach not dissimilar to Madeleine Miller's ‘Circe' would have been more fulfilling in that sense?

Yet even as it stands, as a more traditional re-telling, it feels stilted. There is very little introspection and the narrator often interjects and tells you exactly how to feel. Beats you over the head with it, in fact. While I like the concept of a very opinionated and completely unreliable narrator, I don't feel it is executed well here. The abundance of attempted witticisms didn't work for me either.

There are some good moments of tension and atmosphere built well: Poseidon and Medusa in Athene's temple, for example, or the previously mentioned Medusa's snakes chapter. Those from the perspective of an Olive branch and a crow were also quite unique. Unfortunately, these were few and far between, and not enough to make the book compelling. Overall, it falls flat.

2/5 stars.