Medusa.... Story behind the monster

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Before we go into this review, lets have some background information about yours truly…

I’m a practising Hindu. I’m raised in a household that sprouts stories of Gods and Goddesses as easily as we breathe. Mythology and history are so mixed up in my world that sometimes it is hard for me to separate them. So, my curiosity to read and learn about other mythologies was a natural progression. And as any fiction reader can attest… Greek myths are the most easily accessible ones.

In recent years, the trend of retelling old myths has become a very successful trope in the literary fiction. Some great work has come out of that trend…. Like … Mythos by Stephen Fry, Lore by Alexandra Bracken, Ithaca by Claire North and Circe by Madeline Miller. Stories of heros, and their victories are easier to read and enjoy. My interest usually sticks to retelling of stories where you hear the story of the non-hero. Somehow the non-heroes… I don’t like calling them monsters… their stories are more close to my heart. Of course, if you notice, most of these so-called non-hero figures are females in Greek myths. The heroes are always the virtuous, brave and fearless. But I always find it unfair. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I don’t think heroes had it easy or simple… but I still think the stories we have for the heroic deeds… are … one sided. And when you decide to start finding stories on how the monsters of the Greek myth became monsters… you usually end up finding a perspective that you never knew existed. Like that saying on the internet… We are all villains in someone else’s story… The stories of monsters and villains and evil doers … might teach us not to be too harsh in judging them.

When I saw Stone Blind by Natalie Hayes on one of my FB groups, I was instantly attracted to the cover. I’m a little moth to a flame kind of a person with covers. I used to buy books just coz their covers were pretty. I still do that, but these days most my purchases are ebooks or audiobooks, so it isn’t the same… Coming back to Stone Blind. The cover art for the book, is this sketch of a side profile, of Medusa’s head. Swirling green snakes on her head, with blank dead eyes. Medusa is a very interesting character from Greek Myths. One way or the other, most of us know her, know of her. We’ve seen or heard or read the legend of Perseus. The great hero who slayed the dreaded Monster… the Gorgon with snakes for her head, whose stare turned people to stone. Natalie Hayes in her novel, StoneBlind brings us the story of the woman behind the monster. A story like that of many many others from Greek Myths. It’s always the women who get cursed or punished in them.

Be it Calypso who was punished by Zeus for standing with her father, Atlas against the Gods in the war between Titans and Olympian Gods. Cursed to be forever broken hearted, falling in love with heroes who washed up to her shores.

Or Daphne, who turned herself into a tree to avoid unwanted attention from Apollo.

Or the innumerable lovers of Zeus that Hera tortured… Io whom she turned into a Cow, after Zeus seduced her… or Callisto whom she turned into a Bear and got Artemis to hunt her down, again… after Zeus slept with her.

Greek myths are filled with mortals being punished for indiscretions of the Gods. Same is the story of Medusa. She’s a mortal who is born into a family of immortals, Sea-god Phorcys and Ceto. She’s left ashore by her parents, to be raised by her other two sisters… who love and care of her immensely. She’s so lovely that Poseidon decides to seduce her. And he chooses to force himself on her, in Athena’s temple. Which infuriates Athena, obviously… she being a maiden goddess and all. And since Athena can’t do anything to Poseidon, she decides to take her anger out on the poor little mortal girl.

Natalie Hayes, weaves this narrative with such wonderful prose and backstories, that if you never had any sympathy for Medusa before you read this tale…. You are most likely to feel it now.

Story of Medusa is in a way story of a modern day woman. She is born into a difficult situation, but is making the best of her situation. She has all she wants in her life, but is persuaded by a man she does not want or need. And instead of taking a No as a No, this man decides to hurt her, ruin her … cause things in her life that would make her life a misery. The man, goes scott-free. And the woman pays the price for her … independence.

There’s a conversation in the book… between the Gorgon sisters, that I think resonated with me…

To mortal men, we are monsters. Because of our teeth, our flight, our strength. They fear us, so they call us monsters.

Men call you monsters because they don’t understand you.

If this is not a feminist view, I don’t know what is. The fact that ancient Greeks thought powerful women were monsters. In current times… powerful independent women, still get called similar names. People call them names because they don’t understand them.

If you don’t read Stone Blind for it’s mythological mysteries, read it for its feminist voice. If you like your heroes to be smart, brave and brilliant, don’t expect to like Perseus. But if you like to read about wonderful sisterhood, strong characters and ready to listen to a different perspective on old tales, do give Stone Blind a try.