Incredibly enjoyable deep dive into Greek mythology, with the overtly stated goal of returning women to the fore. As the Greek myths have passed down to us filtered through the eyes of generations of male Western classicists, female characters like Pandora, Helen, Clytemnestra, and Medea have been reduced to paper thin one-liners: disobedient child, mute beauty, bad wife, bad mother. Meanwhile the men get to be the stars, with the women little more than character development notes in their journeys. Haynes brings an indignantly feminist viewpoint and a wealth of knowledge of the original sources, quoting Euripides as well as other playwrights and poets to mine out meaning and depth for the female characters that had gotten lost (one might even say deliberately papered-over) along the way.
Tag: genre-myth
This Place: 150 Years Retold
This is a collaborative graphic novel anthology, each story highlighting a person or a historical moment in the Indigenous people’s fight to survive in Canada. As the foreword says, each Indigenous story is a post-apocalyptic survival tale, which makes every Indigenous person a hero. Each contribution is prefaced with a timeline of events, unavoidable evidence of the government’s ongoing determination to stamp out Native cultures and Native people, and the stories shine a light on atrocities that the government would prefer to paper over, as well as on heroes that should be more widely celebrated. The book actually reminded me most of Four Hundred Souls, Ibram Kendi and Keisha Blain’s collaborative history of African America; like that book, it draws an unmistakable line from the government’s first racist actions to those of today, and also leaves you awed by the strength of all those who fought and survived.
Son of a Trickster, by Eden Robinson
I got this from the Dominion City book club last summer and finally read it! This book was a pleasure to read, with snappy conversations and low-key show-don’t-tell narration. Jared is a teen Native just trying to make his way through life despite his rough home situation. He’s a good kid with an appealing mixture of toughness, thoughtfulness, and black humor, which sustains the reader through the continual drumbeat of intergenerational trauma that we see all around him. The introduction of the Indigenous mythical elements is a slow burn; it’s not until near the end that Jared figures out that the voices and visions he experiences are not just drug-induced hallucinations. The pacing feels more like a Part 1 than a standalone novel, but the writing is good enough that I’m definitely looking forward to the rest of the trilogy.
Necessity, by Jo Walton
I closed this book and was just smiling at the end, it made me so happy. With the conclusion of the trilogy Jo Walton goes full sci-fi; with the previous two, the sole fantastical elements were the embodied and empowered Greek gods, but with this one, you get aliens, first-contact scenarios, and time travel. Yet the overall theme remains focused on the pursuit of excellence as a worthy life goal, and that’s reflected in the characters, even as they deal with their own issues and emotions. It makes these books uniquely pleasurable to read, because the characters are rarely out for themselves; they are constantly examining their actions and really trying their best. I liked the concept of Necessity, which in this book took the place of that mysterious force that forces logic on time travel: it is necessary that nothing be affected in a past time, that the future time might take place as it’s meant to be; the characters are well aware of Necessity, and (these are philosophers after all) discuss it at length.
The Philosopher Kings, by Jo Walton
When the book started out by killing off my favorite character from the previous book, I almost gave up… but I’m glad I kept going. I really like Apollo’s viewpoint, how he tries to sit back and analyze the emotions of being human while still in the grips of those emotions, and the character of Maia also finally grew the spine that I’d been longing to see from the first book. I also liked the literal deus ex machina ending, nice solid conclusion.
Trail of Lightning, by Rebecca Roanhorse
This is a kind of book I read a lot of back in the 90s: gritty urban fantasy with angsty warrior chicks. Except this urban fantasy takes place on a postapocalyptic Navajo nation, where gods and spirits roam freely; the angsty warrior chick on the front cover is often called in to defend the humans that find themselves caught in the middle of supernatural issues. Loved the action and the interesting take on indigenous mythology; did not love how warrior chick’s issues revolved completely around the men in her life.
The Just City, by Jo Walton
This makes me want to actually read Plato’s Republic. Apollo and Athena decide that they’re going to experimentally create Plato’s hypothetical “just city” by using real people, and they put Platonic philosophers in charge of implementation, which goes about as well as one would expect. I liked the viewpoint characters and the differing life experiences that they brought from their various historical eras, but the novel really takes off when Athena brings in Socrates and under his influence, the residents of the city (mostly children raised, after all, by philosophers) immediately begin questioning everything, including how a city that relies on the purposeful creation of a laboring class can be considered “just”. Such a fun read.
The Bear and the Nightingale, by Katherine Arden
I should have read this book in the winter; the imagery of bone-chilling cold and starving frost is really well done. it’s set in medieval Russia, with familiar characters from Russian fairy tales. There’s just enough of familiar politics and religion to set the scene, all of the characters are beautifully put together, and the pacing of the story is excellent. Also, I liked how heroine Vasilisa’s efforts to save her village were complicated not only by evil spirits, but also by traditional gender roles and family dynamics. Gorgeous writing, wonderful story.