Stone Blind

The myth of Medusa as told by her and her two Gorgon sisters. I’ve read many versions of Medusa’s story but I particularly like this one.

She’s typically treated just as an obstacle for the hero Perseus but in this book, she’s a given a voice—as an assault survivor, as the unjust victim of a god’s anger, as the baby sister of two immortal “monsters.”

The Gorgons completely rearrange their lives to accommodate the needs of their mortal sister who they love more than anything in the world. And Medusa, though she’s called a monster, makes the conscious decision to… show more.

I love to read fantasy in which a far-off historical place inspires world-building, and there's mythology interwoven into the story. So, it's not surprising my favorite recent read is Stone Blind, Natalie Hayne's novel about Medusa.

People usually remember Medusa from Greek myth as a monstrous woman with snakes for hair. In Haynes' brilliant telling, we deeply care about this "monster," and we see this woman's story for the engaging, fully human tragedy it is. As Haynes says in the opening regarding the "hero" who cuts off Medusa's head: "Enough to know that the hero isn't the one who's… show more.

I picked this book up because it was a modern retelling of the myth of Medusa, told from the point of view of Medusa. For some reason, there were three books this summer that told the myth from the Gorgon’s point of view, all by young women who are classical scholars (the other two are The Shadow of Perseus by Claire Heywood and Medusa’s Sisters by Lauren J. A. Bear). I wanted to see how Haynes (and the others) would handle the characterizations and would re-interpret the nominal hero, Perseus, as the villain of the story.

Some thirty years ago,… show more.