Medusa: A beautiful and profound retelling of Medusa’s story

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Higgins’s own volume is illustrated by the Turner prize-winning Chris Ofili, whose drawings are charming and airy, suggestive in spirit of Matisse’s pencil sketches. While they undoubtedly beautify an already alluring object, the deeper Higgins leads the reader into her forest of tales, the less necessary they feel. Full of rage and self-loathing, Medusa grows ravenous for connection, ‘a girl on the edge’ Jessie Burton is the author of four novels, The Miniaturist , The Muse , The Confession , and The House of Fortune.

Ovid's Medusa is one of the characters of Greek myth I'm most drawn to. Her story of being cursed to be a monster with snakes for hair and causing people to turn to stone by looking at her as punishment from Athena for being raped in her temple by Poseidon makes me so very angry. And there's so much of her story that is just so relatable, she's a character I feel a great kinship with. Because of this, I've always been on the lookout for a great retelling of her story, and Jessie Burton's Medusa doesn't do a bad job. Rhodes, Emily (5 October 2019). "Jessie Burton's The Confession is, frankly, a bit heavy-handed". The Spectator . Retrieved 3 January 2020. I must give recognition to Olivia Lomenech Gill for the many wondrous, beautiful illustrations. They add so much to the story.

Reviews

They promise to tell each other their story. Medusa, what she now is, and how she became this way, and Perseus why he is truly on the island. It seems he has not just washed up randomly at all. King Polydectes has charged Perseus with the task of cutting of Medusa’s head.

Medusa's story is one that has long captivated me and I implicitly trusted Jessie Burton to deliver her story with the sensitivity and depth of emotion her character deserved, and with an empowering spin and full female autonomy that all women deserve. This is exactly what occurred. Chris Ofili’s The Riddle of the Sphinx, from Charlotte Higgins’s Greek Myths: A New Retelling. Illustration: Chris Ofili A story that is magical yet tragic and beautiful yet disturbing in its evocative themes, and poignant messaging. A book that is brilliantly conceived, vividly depicted, and expertly written and a book for everyone.

About Jessie Burton

I first came across Jessie Burton’s work in her novel The Miniaturist, an imaginative and intricate story of love and betrayal in seventeenth century Amsterdam, inspired by Petronella Oortman’s gorgeous doll’s house, on display to the public in the Rijksmuseum. it was clear from this debut piece, that Burton could handle a complex plot with style and subtlety. It is the reason I opened Medusa with such hopes of a roller coaster read. But it does not live up to her previous work, and even if, as some reviewers have suggested, this is a book aimed at young adults, it simply does not go dark or deep enough, to fulfil the fateful promise – or curse – of its legendary namesake. Fierce and tender and full of heart; the reclamation of self that Medusa is owed, the version of the myth that deserves to be told, passed girl to girl, painted across walls and screamed from rooftops - Melinda Salisbury

Gives the serpent-headed monster of myth a powerful and haunting humanity' - Jennifer Saint, author of Ariadne and Elektra Jessie Burton’s retelling of the Medusa story turns several of the recognised elements about Medusa on its head. This book asserts the tale of a woman as fascinating as anyone in Greek mythology and certainly one of the most tragic. Burton’s interpretation of Medusa is not the stereotypical fixation of a monster deployed as an opponent in a hero’s golden quest. She is a vividly drawn young woman, fearful, lonely, unsure of her future, and searching for answers. The glorious illustrations add to the emotion of the story. They are bold and colourful. I’m sure this format is one that would entice younger readers to read (whether mythology or other stories). And this format is also one which I feel would reignite the wonder of more mature readers to revisit these wonderful tales. an impressive addition to the shelves of feminist retellings, balancing rage with beautiful storytelling' - Irish Times This book is absolutely stunning. A beautiful modern re-telling of a very old tale. It was refreshing to see the point of view of a young Medusa. Not the scary gorgon that she is most commonly known as.Spiegelman, Ian (29 August 2014). "Jessie Burton on the dollhouse that inspired her novel". USA Today . Retrieved 29 January 2015. I wasn’t expecting The Odyssey, but i was expecting some effort to at least pretend like the author was trying to make it authentic to Ancient Greece… Instead, I kept finding turns or phrase or stylistic choices that decidedly didn’t belong in this era - like “girlfriend” and “boyfriend” - and honestly it was distracting - it kept taking me out of the story. But betrayal swoops in the wake of desire, and all-too familiar mechanisms of patriarchy come into play with ferocity. Ultimately, though, and with a magnificent sense of sisterhood, Medusa comes to a new state of being: “Self-awareness is a great banisher of loneliness. And my sisters, the immortals, are with me.” This is terrifically inspiring and empowering in the ways of timeless myths, but also in ways that are very, very real - “you will find me when you need me, when the wind hears a woman’s cry and fills my sails forward. And I will whisper on the water that one must never fear the raised shield, the reflection caught in an office window, or the mirror in a bathroom.” Something that sets Medusa apart from similar books is the stunning illustrations from Olivia Lomenech Gill, who previously worked on J.K. Rowling’s Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. Gill blends the fantastic, legendary elements of Greek myth with raw, ev My first thought on finishing is that I need this in a hard copy, so I would say that if possible, savour this in the flesh rather than ebook. The illustrations are utterly eye-catching, inspired and beautiful.

People think your beauty is their possession. As if it’s there for their pleasure, as if they’ve got something invested in it. They think you owe them for their admiration. Olivia Lomenech Gill's artwork was the perfect match for the subtleness of emotion exhibited throughout the tale and also the melancholy that exuded from it at the end. A muted colour palette consisting of mostly earthy tones was used for each of the gorgeous images and I would happily display every single one of them on my walls. They were harrowing yet alluring, exactly like the story surrounding them. Not only is the writing so wonderfully feminist, it is also beautiful. Jessie Burton writes Medusa in such a heartbreaking and (finally) humanising way so that I wanted to weep for this young girl of 18 who had only ever been treated horrendously and subject to misogynistic thinking. I loved Medusa more than I have loved any character in a book for a long time, I am still in awe of how Burton brought her to life so well and made my heart break for her.

Without giving away too much plot here, Burton decides to radically re-fashion the original legend, resulting in an ending that offers Medusa a satisfying – though unintended – vengeance of her own, both on Perseus, and, by association, on all men who seek to harm or despoil the women they profess to love. It is, truly, a tale for the #MeToo era. “Too tame” Who are you?’ I called down. I spoke in panic, worried that Argentus’ suspicion of this new arrival would drive him to his boat at any moment. And I spoke in hope: it felt of utmost importance that this boy should stay on my island – for a day, a week, a month. Maybe longer.” Jessie Burton's The Miniaturist voted Specsavers Book of the Year". BBC News. 22 December 2014 . Retrieved 23 December 2014. It is a bold undertaking, to take one of the Greek myths and re-tell it for the modern age, but Burton does so with clarity and gusto. She hones in on two characters: that of Perseus, who has been tasked by Zeus to slay the monster Medusa, by cutting off her head, and Medusa herself – condemned to live on a deserted island, in a curse by the vengeful goddess Athena, following Medusa’s seduction by the sea god Poseidon, amidst the hallowed columns of Athena’s virgin temple. As a spiteful addendum, Athena turns Medusa’s beautiful long dark hair into a ring of live snakes, thus issuing a life sentence of isolation and despair. This unflinchingly honest tale of objectification,toxic masculinity, and the meaning of consent is a breathtaking masterpiece that cannot be missed.