Stone Blind by Natalie Haynes | Review

 

“I’m wondering if you still think of her as a monster. I suppose it depends on what you think that word means. Monsters are, what? Ugly? Terrifying? Gorgons are both these things, certainly, although Medusa wasn’t always. Can a monster be beautiful if it is still terrifying? Perhaps it depends on how you experience fear and judge beauty.”

    Stone Blind by Natalie Haynes is the latest Greek Mythology retelling, this time about Medusa and the characters surrounding her. Perhaps one of the most recognizable myths from ancient times, Medusa's life is as follows: born from sea gods Ceto and Phorcys, the Gorgon Medusa was raped by Poseidon at the foot of a temple dedicated to Athena. Because gods cannot attack one another directly, Athena instead turned her rage on Medusa, turning her hair into a nest of writhing snakes and giving her a deadly stare - any living creature that meets her eye is immediately turned to stone. Medusa lives the remainder of her life in a stone cave with her sisters, the other two Gorgons Stheno and Euryale. 

    Medusa herself isn't the star of any one myth, but instead the villain in a hero's story. Perseus, a son of Zeus, is sent to fetch the head of a Gorgon for a king, who wishes to marry his mother Danae. With the help of Athena and Hermes (god of travelers), Perseus acquires winged sandals to carry him to the Gorgon's cave, Hades' helm of darkness to shield him from sight, a sword, and a golden rucksack to carry Medusa's head inside. And so Perseus sneaks into the cave while the Gorgons are sleeping, and beheads Medusa without looking to keep from turning to stone. He then takes the head back to the king, where he turns him and all his entourage into statues. He also saves an Ethiopian princess and marries her along the way, but that's pretty irrelevant to Medusa's overall story. After he accomplishes his mission, he gifts the Gorgon's head to Athena, who turns it into her shield, the Aegis. 

    And voila, Medusa's life in one paragraph. Unfortunately, that's pretty much all there is about her from primary sources. You can find her story in Hesiod's work, who is the oldest known source of Greek myth that still survives untouched today. (I say untouched because it's accepted in academia that Homer wasn't one single person, but just whom the Iliad and Odyssey were attributed to, as they were traditionally told orally and in pieces.)

    This is why authors like Natalie Haynes are so important. Stone Blind takes the myth of Perseus and Medusa and creates an entirely new narrative, with Medusa as the focal point. After thousands of years, she finally gets to tell her side of the story. 

"'Who decides what is a monster?'

'I don’t know,' said Medusa. ‘Men, I suppose.’

‘So to mortal men, we are monsters. Because of our teeth, our flight, our strength. They fear us, so they call us monsters.’"

    Natalie Haynes is absolutely brilliant. I already held her in very high regard - I've read most of her backlist, as well as her academic essays, and I listen to her podcast in my free time. She's witty and unapologetic, and she also takes such immense pride in her work. But now, seeing how she handled Medusa (one of my personal favorite characters from Greek myth) I'm now convinced she can do no wrong with retellings. She breathes life into mythology. 

    Under her tutelage, Medusa became so much more than a monster in another man's adventure. She bloomed into a strong, well-developed character, with hopes and dreams and fears. As the only mortal in a family of gods, she held a sense of urgency and trepidation in her that her immortal sisters could never quite figure out. But seeing Stheno and Euryale - who, by the way, never speak in the original story, and were never even mentioned in Homer (it was Hesiod who later added and named them) - learn how to care for a mortal baby was so heartwarming and fascinating. It reminded me of Disney's Sleeping Beauty, when the three fairies take baby Aurora and raise her as their own. They flub every step, but still manage to bring her up kind and regal. 

    Medusa behaves more like Pandora in this book. I hate to bore you with more mythology, but here me out real quick. Pandora was the first woman, created by the gods specifically to unleash the seven sins onto the men of the world. Her main trait was her curiosity, which ultimately was her downfall. When I say that Medusa behaved like her, I mean that she was too curious for her own good. We all know the saying "curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back," but unfortunately for Medusa, her curiosity wasn't satiated in the way she hoped. 

    I recommend Stone Blind to any and all Greek mythology nerds, and to those who are tired of seeing the ancient heroes as the good guys. 

    I gave this book a CAWPILE score of 7.14, which comes out to four out of five stars. 

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    I know I've said it before, but I am absolutely living for this renaissance of Greek myth retellings that happening in publishing right now. I've got so many books still on my TBR, I don't think I'll ever get through them, even if I dedicate an entire year to just reading retellings! 

    (Alright, that's a bit of an exaggeration. But the sentiment is there!)

    Medusa's story is very personal to me. I relate to her a lot. She's primarily defined by and punished for something she was the victim of, and yet she's vilified and demonized in every story she is mentioned in. It's something I think a lot of women can empathize with. 

    I have two more Medusa retellings on my TBR: Medusa by Jessie Burton, which is a graphic novel that came out a few years ago, and The Shadow of Perseus by Claire Heywood, which is coming out later this year. 

    Have you read Stone Blind yet? Let me know your thoughts on it in the comments below, or DM me on Instagram! 

    Until next time, friends!