Stone Blind By Natalie Haynes (Review by Stacie Kitchen)

Rating: 4.5/5

I have loved Greek/Roman mythology since I was in high school and read Edith Hamilton’s book Mythology. This love has only grown with age, and I am super on board the new modern retellings of mythological stories and characters. In Stone Blind, Natalie Haynes gives us a new perspective on Medusa and her Gorgon sisters. Maybe the characters we once thought were monsters really weren’t monsters at all…

Like a lot of the mythology I have read, the story goes back and forth from numerous characters and gods. Stone Blind is essentially a story about Medusa, but also covers the events that led up to her (spoiler alert if you have not read a lot of mythology) decapitation. Each chapter is in a different perspective, so as the storyline progresses you also get to see all sides of the story as it goes. The Gorgon sisters tell us of Medusa’s arrival, the gods intervene in a lot of people’s lives, and Perseus goes on a quest. There are many small myths interwoven into this book that help complete the story. At first, I found myself a little confused by some of the perspectives and stories, but they all came together in the end to make the book complete.

My absolute favorite thing about Haynes’ retelling is the humor of the gods. I straight up laughed in parts because they are hilarious wise asses and portrayed as such. I think this was such a modern approach, because you could also evaluate whether the “hero” was really a hero of the story at all. Clearly some of the behavior of the gods that was acceptable previously (ahem Zeus and Poseidon who just liked to rape everyone) is no longer acceptable in our culture. However, Haynes did a great job of acknowledging these behaviors as part of the Greek myths, while also showing us the negative reactions and ire to the problematic behaviors by the females in the book.

Stone Blind is a very approachable mythological retelling. While there are a lot of characters, the storyline is easy to follow, and the book reads very quickly like an action adventure. Great read!