Stone Blind: Medusa's Story

I love retellings of and new takes on fairy tales, myths, etc., so Stone Blind was an easy choice for me. I was especially excited to read this one because although I’m somewhat familiar with greek mythology, I’ve never read much about Medusa beyond the standard stuff.

The description of Stone Blind is extremely Medusa-heavy, so I went into it thinking most of it was going to be all about Medusa. Her origins, life, how she was cursed, and Perseus and his quest. And that story was there, but it also kind of felt like Medusa was just in the background for a lot of the book. There wasn’t as much of a “Medusa is the Main Character” feeling as I expected and I do feel disappointed about that.

The story of Medusa and Perseus is there, but the book is also about all of these women and maybe more I can’t remember because I already returned the book to the library:

Metis, ex-wife of Zeus

Hera, wife of Zeus

Athene, daughter of Zeus

Amphitrite, wife of Poseidon

Stheno, one of Medusa’s sisters

Euryale, the other of Medusa’s sisters

Phorcys, mother of the three gorgons

Danae, mother of Perseus

Cassiope, queen of Ethiopia

Andromeda, princess of Ethiopia

Natalie Haynes tells their stories just as much as she tells the story of Medusa and Perseus if not more.

Because of that, Stone Blind feels a little all over the place. Each chapter follows a different character and there are <i>a lot</i> of characters. But for all jumping around, everything ended up coming together and making sense in the end.

Speaking of all these characters, it’s a little difficult to keep track of everyone at first. I think partly because it jumps around so much but also because there are so many people that Haynes had to include a list of some (not all) of them with descriptions of who they are in the front of the book. But surprisingly, it wasn’t actually as bad as I thought it would be, and each character is brought to life perfectly. Medusa and her sisters are instantly lovable, Athene is amazing, Zeus is a cranky mofo which is exactly how I always imagined he’d be, Perseus is… Perseus.

There are a lot of powerful women in Stone Blind and we get to see a lot of the sometimes inspiring, sometimes frustrating ways each one of them used that power. A blurb on the back of the book from Glamour (UK) says that it is “A fierce feminist exploration of female rage…” and, yes. This exploration is not subtle or gentle. It’s funny, it’s witty, it’s in-your-face, and I like that.

PS great ending A+