Book Review: Hera

 By Jennifer Saint

• Pub Date: 2024

• Genre: Retold mythologies

• Where I bought this book: Roebling Books & Coffee, Covington, Ky. 

• Why I bought this book: I wanted to hear Hera's perspective 

• Bookmark used: Ordinary Equality / No new world order until woman are a part of it

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    Hera always has been a goddess who's hard to pin down. In the pantheon, she seems to serve little purpose -- although she is the queen of the gods and the goddess of marriage, she maintains little control over her own. Her cheating husband -- and brother -- never treated her as an equal partner, despite their history of taking down the Titans together.

    Thus, Hera is always portrayed as unhappy, unliked, and unwanted. Like many of the gods, she is vain and vindictive, haughty and deceitful. Her role on Mount Olympus is ill-defined.

    And while this book sets out to define Hera, we can't help but see her as the same -- morose, vengeful, and superfluous. Near the end of the book, one of the immortals, Ekhidna, a primordial dragon, tells Hera she has let her husband and brother define her. 

 All you want is to outwit Zeus. With his nymphs, his girls, his bastard step children.

     I had hoped this book would help redefine Hera, but it didn't. Instead, it told familiar stories about Zeus' deceptions and cruelty, and Hera's envious and equally cruel reactions. Instead of helping us relate to Hera, it showed her as just another god who has little time for others.

Book Review: The Weaver and the Witch Queen

 By Genevieve Gornichec

• Pub Date: 2023

• Genre: Magical Fiction, Historical Fantasy, Historical Fiction

• Where I bought this book: Barnes & Noble, Florence, Ky. 

• Why I bought this book: I enjoyed her debut novel

 *****

  

    Gornichec's second novel is not so much re-written mythology, but re-written -- or perhaps invented -- history. She calls it historical fantasy, inspired by medieval Icelandic sagas.

    And it's a decent book about those tribal times, when life was hard and bloody, cold and violent, and ruled by vicious and power hungry illusory kings.

    It's a decent read about Gunnhild, a young girl who doesn't admire the Viking lifestyle and who  dreams not of marriage and family, but adventure. She and two friends, sisters Oddny and Signy, take an oath to become blood sisters, intertwining their lives and futures.

    Gunnhild gets her early wish when a seeress/witch called Heid bids her to follow, and becomes her teacher and mentor. A decade later, Gunnhild strikes out on her own, a witch who still has a lot to learn.

    We don't see her training, but her life as she emerges and seeks to catch up with her blood sisters. The story is quite violent. The job and lifestyle of the Vikings and their leaders are to raid farmers and villagers, taking what they can, killing whoever tries to stops them. Gunnhild isn't sure how she fits in.

    Those Viking leaders -- from families of wealth from raiding -- hire more raiders, called the hird. They demand payoffs and loyalty from those who don't want to be raided and killed or enslaved, thus rising in the royal hierarchy to become  hersirs, jarls, princes, and kings. Sounds like a protection racket, but it happened all over Europe during these times.

    Gunnhild steps into this life, with her own wants and desires, friends and enemies. There's a lot of drama, backstabbing, and witchery. There's some romance, which comes with its own drama.

    So it's a nasty story, although it has some high points. It abounds with strong women and others who seek an alterative life. They guide and help each other, yet bicker and betray when it suits them. They pray to the gods and goddesses, who rarely play a major role in their story. 

    Bonuses include an Author's Note that explains her background and the foundations of Norse history. It includes a list of characters and terms, which are helpful in keeping track of who is who and what is what, and how people are related. I appreciated all those touches, and a map would have been nice.

    Overall, it's a well told tale. The writing is consistently strong. The action mostly moves along, although it tends to get bogged down in the drama and the romance.

    I suspect we haven't seen the last of Gornichec or her characters. Perhaps this will become a multi-part series, with more drama and romance and intrigue. Although I would prefer she go back to writing about the ancient gods and goddesses.

Book Review: Lilith

 By Nikki Marmery

• Pub Date: 2023

• Where I bought this book: Athena Books, Greenwich, Conn. 

• Why I bought this book: I am fascinated by the story of Lilith

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    This is a forceful and furious retelling of the Hebrew myth of Lilith, the first woman of creation, who was banished for refusing to be subservient to Adam. She was tossed out of the Garden of Eden, removed from the Bible, and erased in history. But this evocative novel brings her back, in all her glory, anger, and wisdom.

    She spends her long life -- she has attained a humble immortality -- seeking to avenge the submission of women and trying to erase the monotheistic, patriarchal society set up by the male writers in the pages of the Torah and the Christian Bible.

    It's a majestic undertaking, rich in Biblical literature and the religious history of the Middle East. It features many of the characters we know from those Bible stories, including Noah and his ark, Jezebel and Simon Peter, and Mary Magdalene and Jesus; the latter two are called by their Aramaic names, Maryam and Yehuda. It re-introduces us to Asherah, the Hebrew goddess of Heaven and the wife of Yahweh, the god of the Jewish, Christian, and Muslim faiths.

    In addition to an imaginative and convincing novel, Marmery shows a comprehensive scholarship for the Biblical era. Her sourcing range is spectacular, from the study of Hebrew and Mesopotamian myths, to Syrian and Egyptian legends, to the Gnostic Gospels, to the history of the Middle East. The languages she studies and uses include Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek.

    Whenever I read one of these retold legends, I often wonder if the writer got things right. Of course, that's a silly thought, because all myths, even the originals, are essentially made up tales and the work of more than one person. But what I want to know is how closely does the retelling adhere to the original literature, and to the perceptions of the gods and goddesses.   

Collection of Metropolitan Museum of Art

A modern (1867) painting of Lady Lilith by Dante Gabriel  

Rossetti, who portrays her as a vain seductress and a 

demonic killer of children,

    Marmery gets it right. Remember: It's not the story, but she who tells it. Marmery tells this one well, and it's as accurate a version as any out there.

    The original has Lilith present at the creation in the Garden of Eden. She was created along with Adam, the first man. But Lilith refused to lie under Adam -- and had already eaten from the Tree of Knowledge -- and was banished. God then created Eve from a rib of Adam, making her his child and wife. Thus, Adam becomes the father of all mankind, turning biology on its head, and ushering in an era of patriarchy that erases the power of women. All children come from Adam -- the mothers, if they are even mentioned, are often unnamed.

    So in this tale, Lilith sets out to retore Asherah to her rightful place as the Queen of Heaven. As Lilith seeks to find her prophet, she lives through the flood, descends into Sheol (the Hebrew underworld) to claim her lost son, walks with Jezebel and Mary Magdalene,  and learns about Jesus. In all cases, the story is a wee bit different from what we now accept.   

    Lilith is a thoughtful, knowledgeable woman, not the evil harpy often depicted. (Indeed, she sometimes is portrayed as the banshee in Irish myth, who cries out at death, and is seen as a harbinger of doom.) 

    Yes, she does question and fight, and ultimately rejects Yahweh as a conniving, vindictive, and vain god. She defends women and their rights to seek pleasure in mind and body. She does so in an effort to seek wisdom, balance, harmony, and the divinity of women. 

Book Review: Pandora's Jar

 By Natalie Haynes

• Pub Date: 2020 

• Where I bought this book: Midtown Scholar, Harrisburg, Pa. 

• Why I bought this book: The author knows it's a jar, not a box

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      In the early 16th Century,  a Dutch fellow by the name Erasmus of Rotterdam took it upon himself to translate some ancient Greek and Roman texts into Latin. A philosopher and Catholic priest, he was influential in the Protestant Revolution and had experience in Biblical themes, so it was natural that one of the works he chose was the story of Pandora. Like the tale of Eve in Genesis, Pandora was an origin story in which all the troubles of the world are blamed on a single woman.

    But in his writings, Erasmus made a critical error, mistranslating the Greek word for what she opened to pyxis instead of pithos. Thus Pandora's Box, instead of Pandora's Jar, entered the vernacular.

    Popular culture, including its literature, often reflects the times in which it was made. In ancient Greece, women had no voice -- remember, even the female characters in theater were played by men -- so its literature and myths reflected that. Even the goddesses mostly had traits that men pinned on women -- vain, jealous, vengeful, deceitful.  

    Haynes, a scholar, author, and comedian, makes this eminently clear, and she does by examining 10 female figures who are prominent in Greek mythology, but whom she insists have been wrongly portrayed. The title character, for instance, is blamed for all the troubles that have beset the world, and the Greeks claim the world was right and just before women came along.

    Most of the women in this study are similarly slighted. Indeed, Haynes said, of all the Greek writers, only Euripides gave women a fair shake, writing them with rare insight and giving them a voice. She says Euripides stands out amongst Greek playwrights, and he remains one of the best male writers to portray women. 

    Pandora is among the better known figures Haynes explores, which include Helen of Troy, Medusa, and the Amazons. She also includes lesser known mortals: Penelope , who waited 10 years for Odysseus to return home after the Trojan Way; Eurydice, who was rescued from the afterworld by her husband Orpheus -- until he looked back to make sure she was following him; and Jocasta, the unfortunate mother of Oedipus.    

    She compares the ancient sagas to the modern interpretations, and recently published Stone Blind, a new tale of Medusa. And she enjoys some of the pop culture retellings, saying that of all the tales of the Amazons, Buffy the Vampire Slayer did her right: By showing that Amazons trained and fought together, Sarah Michell Gellar portrayed the ultimate Amazon.

Book Review: Stone Blind

   By Natalie Haynes

• Pub Date: 2022

• Where I bought this book: Barnes & Noble, Florence, Ky. 

• Why I bought this book: Retold mythologies are quickly becoming my favorite stories

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    Mythological stories destroy the maxim: It is the tale, not she who tells it.

    In one corner, we have Ovid (First Century BCE and CE, Rome), who describes Medusa as a monster, and Hesiod (Eighth Century BCE, Greece), who tells how Perseus bravely slew her to protect the people of Greece from her wanton ways.

    Decently told tales they are.

     Now, along comes Natalie Haynes (present day, England), to present a different version: Medusa was a kind and loving sister of the Gorgons, Sthenno and Euryale. Perseus, meanwhile, was a silly, scared, and spineless boy who needed help from several gods to carry out his bloody deed.

    Haynes is a witty and sarcastic writer. She breathes new life into these tales with a caustic eye and a feminist perspective. She tells them tale in many voices, from Athene to Euryale to Andromeda. We even hear from Zeus and Poseidon.*

   Oh, and about those gods and goddesses? Haynes doesn't portray them much better than the original writers from back in the day. Zeus, the king of gods? He's pompous, spoiled, and moody.  His wife, Hera, is petulant, angry, and vindictive. Athene? She's easily bored, always wanting, but never satisfied. The rest of the pantheon? A venal and petty group who are dismissive of the mortals who worship them.

    But perhaps the best narrator is the wickedly funny, unapologetic, and brutally honest Gorgonian -- the voice of the slain head of Medusa. She heaps scorn on Perseus (and, in doing so, on the readers for any sympathy they may show him) beginning with the underhanded way he tricked the  Graiai to give him their shared eye and tooth.. 

I suppose you thought he was clever. Clever Perseus using his wits to defeat the disgusting old women? Your own eyes aren't all that, you know. Oh, but at least they're safe inside your head.

    She continues to mock Perseus -- who carries her around in a bag and uses her to kill people to get his way -- for his lack of courage, his cruelty, and his stupidity. She agrees she is the best narrator. "... because I was there for all of it, and because I am not a lying deceitful hateful vicious murderer."

    So there.

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* She also provides us with a glossary of characters at the beginning of the book, which is a handy reference guide throughout.