Stone Blind: Medusa's Story by Natalie Haynes

Longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2023 "Haynes is master of her trade . . . She succeeds in breathing warm life into some of our oldest stories.”—Telegraph (UK) The national bestselling author of A Thousand Ships and Pandora's Jar returns with a fresh and stunningly perceptive take on the story of Medusa, the original monstered woman. They will fear you and flee you and call you a monster. The only mortal in a family of gods, Medusa is the youngest of the Gorgon sisters. Unlike her siblings, Medusa grows older, experiences change, feels weakness. Her mortal lifespan gives her an urgency that her family will never know. When the sea god Poseidon assaults Medusa in Athene’s temple, the goddess is enraged. Furious by the violation of her sacred space, Athene takes revenge—on the young woman. Punished for Poseidon’s actions, Medusa is forever transformed. Writhing snakes replace her hair and her gaze will turn any living creature to stone. Cursed with the power to destroy all she loves with one look, Medusa condemns herself to a life of solitude. Until Perseus embarks upon a fateful quest to fetch the head of a Gorgon . . . In Stone Blind, classicist and comedian Natalie Haynes turns our understanding of this legendary myth on its head, bringing empathy and nuance to one of the earliest stories in which a woman—injured by a powerful man—is blamed, punished, and monstered for the assault. Delving into the origins of this mythic tale, Haynes revitalizes and reconstructs Medusa’s story with her passion and fierce wit, offering a timely retelling of this classic myth that speaks to us today.

I've absolutely adored the author's A Thousand Ships and Pandora's Jar, especially her audiobook narration, so there was no doubt I was gonna read this book. But even when I got the ebook, I waited till I got the audio because I knew I had to listen to it. And I'm glad I waited.

This book is also very much told in the author's signature style - while it may be Medusa's story, we get many many POVs of gods and demigods and immortals and mortals and more, along with the author's ever present sarcastic humor which masks her anger at some of the proceedings. It makes for very entertaining reading, especially because I was also simultaneously listening to the audiobook and she is as always a very engaging narrator.

I really sympathized with Medusa and loved her relationship with her sisters but would have loved to see more of her POV, so that I could understand her feelings better. The disdain the gods feel for anyone who is not them is just hard to fathom and I can't say I liked any of them. Perseus and Athene are especially two I just couldn't stand because they could see nothing beyond themselves most of the time. And the author is again successful at highlighting how whoever the fault may lie with, it's ultimately the women who suffer, and they have no recourse. It's anger inducing and while the sufferings and conclusions of these women don't change in these retellings, it's still nice to put some blame on the actual people responsible and not the ones who didn't have any choice in the matter.

I'm conclusion, I'll definitely recommend this book if you enjoy Greek mythology retellings, but don't go in expecting only Medusa's story despite what it says on the cover. Audiobook will definitely make you appreciate it more because the author is a master at narration. And I'm already eager to see whose story the author will decide to tackle next.

This was excellent! Sooo funny and well-written.

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. I'll admit that I was a little disappointed at first, but I quickly got over it because I loved every character in Stone Blind, and they all felt important.

The book is about Medusa and Perseus, yes. But it's 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.

Because of that, Stone Blind feels a little all over the place. Each chapter follows a different character and there are a lot 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 one of the reasons I enjoyed it as much as I did is because I got to see 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+