Title: Medusa
Author: Jessie Burton
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Published Date: 2nd February 2023
Page Count: 208
ISBN: 978-1526662408
Price: £8.99
Reviewer: Gwendoline SK Terry (4 February 2024)

Blurb

If I told you that I’d killed a man with a glance, would you wait to hear the rest? The why, the how, what happened next?

Monster. Man-hater. Murderess. Forget everything you’ve been told about Medusa.
Internationally bestselling author Jessie Burton flips the script in this astonishing retelling of Greek myth, illuminating the woman behind the legend at last.

Exiled to a far-flung island after being abused by powerful Gods, Medusa has little company other than the snakes that adorn her head instead of hair. Haunted by the memories of a life before everything was stolen from her, she has no choice but to make peace with her present: Medusa the Monster. But when the charmed and beautiful Perseus arrives on the island, her lonely existence is blown apart, unleashing desire, love… and betrayal.

Adapted from the hardback illustrated by Olivia Lomenech-Gill, this paperback edition is perfect for readers who loved Circe and Ariadne, as Medusa comes alive in a new version of the story that history set in stone long ago.

Review – may contain spoilers!

This is a wonderful retelling of the Greek myth. Casual tone to the writing, it feels as though you’re having a conversation with Medusa, though this is juxtaposed with luscious prose peppered throughout. This story is filled with poignant phrases like:

• “She was a woman who’d done nothing wrong except exist.”
• “When you’re a girl, people think your beauty is their possession. As if it’s there for their pleasure, as though they’ve got something invested in it. They think you owe them for their admiration.”
• “When beauty is assigned to you as a girl, it somehow becomes the essence of your being. It takes over everything else you might be. When you’re a boy, it never dominates who you can be.”
• “I worried … that love only worked when you couldn’t truly see the other. Was love only perfect when one of you was hiding behind a shield or a rock, or when one of you was dead, unable to answer back.”

This story is an undeniably feminist narration, pointing out a lot of hard truths about the unfairness in life and the trials and tribulations of womanhood without being overly preachy. Medusa is portrayed as a flesh and blood person, a woman with substance and struggle, a mind and a heart, feelings and personality. She is not just a flat monster in Perseus’s tale.

Medusa’s story is heart-wrenching and this story honours that, however, it doesn’t maintain the tragic ending that occurs in the most common retellings of the myth. I found the ending unsatisfactory due to this. Medusa’s story IS a tragedy and the ending of this book felt out of place. It was bittersweet, borderline happy. Sure, she was sad to turn Perseus to stone, but she lived, escaped the island and travelled with her sisters, her mentality changed, lessons learned, a more positive outlook on life, working on herself, her self-worth, and self-discovery. It was a truly nice message, but it wasn’t the ending I expected. Regardless, a great story. Very quick read, but very good.