A Book Review: Medusa by Jessie Burton - SPOILER FREE

Overall rating: ⭐⭐⭐/5

Would I Recommend this book: I'd say this is more suited towards teenagers but I would recommend it because it's really short and does have a powerful message. Not my most favourite book but it's decent :))

Whilst this was a somewhat enjoyable read, I couldn’t help but feel like there was something lacking in the book. It’s short, only 170 pages long and I finished it in no more than an hour or so. At times it felt like a sophisticated bit of prose but other times it was a bit meh and not sophisticated at all. The book constantly switched between the two.

I am a sucker for retellings of Ancient Greek myths, so I had been wanting to read this book for quite some time, but I can’t help but feel a little letdown. It definitely wasn’t bad though don’t get me wrong. It just wasn’t as good as I hoped it would be. There are a lot of mixed feelings about this book.

The book does have an excellent commentary on how women are viewed in society though. Being beautiful is a burden, not being beautiful is a burden. How all men want to do in the book is own a woman’s beauty and take possession of it. And, how sometimes a woman’s only crime is existing, but she gets punished for it, nonetheless.

And the re-telling of Medusa’s origin was one that I had heard before, but I enjoyed it still. The emotions were raw and real and the author did an exceptional job portraying the anger and frustration of a girl who just wants to be herself and left alone. I do like how Medusa wasn’t a ‘villain’ and just a girl who had been a victim. But I feel like this book didn’t do her enough justice, the way Miller did Circe in her retelling.

I think this book might be aimed at teenagers more than adults. It’s supposedly set in Ancient Greece, but Medusa talks as though she’s from modern times and uses modern phrases that felt out of place. This goes back to what I was saying, sometimes Medusa would say the most beautiful and poetic things, but then end it with something modern and it felt off-putting.

I really liked the characterisation of Medusa’s sister Stheno, as a warm and motherly figure. I do wish that the sisters were maybe touched on a little more because they’re very interesting and unique characters with the way they protect and care for Medusa, but the book's too short for it. I think Stheno might’ve been my favourite thing about the book honestly.

Overall it's a decent book and if you want a short book to help get out of a slump, this may be the one. Not the worst but also not the best!

Thank you all for reading,

Peace and love,

Aziza (a.k.a little miss spent a whole day doing the statistical analysis for her lab report only to realise her lecturer had actually already posted the answers in a word document, I want to cry and die, preferably in that order ;-; )