Joined in 2023 
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Overall I'm so glad I got my hands on this collection and there was so much spirit to it as a collection examining women in all shapes and stages of life (including menopausal and older women in Dragon by Stella Duffy) so I LOVED that aspect of the book. First of all, I am not entirely sure myself why this particular novel captured my imagination the way it did – but it really really did.
Her burgeoning womanhood, the glorious body, a physical shape that enthralled and terrified her, attracting and enticing men and women and those in the many betweens: she revelled in her body, revealed it to herself and sometimes to them.I also had a hard time believing that Alex – merely 25 years old – had been a renowned theater director in London and that she was given the responsibility of challenged kids with no experience. The premise or rather construction of the story is not entirely new, but the way Natalie Haynes tells us the tale is imaginative, captivating and utterly engaging . There was one piece in very poetic form and one that I unfortunately didn’t understand that was a graphic novel (graphic short story? Anyway, I still can't get over how predictable this book was and if it only stuck to just one storyline, it probably would have gotten a better review.
I’m not sure this anthology can harness the power of a Siren or a Spitfire (to give two sample story titles) to stem the tide, but it’s certainly fun. Warrior” by Chibundu Onuzo (5/5) features a Biblical figure whose leadership and wisdom lead her people to victory in battle. I really liked how Haynes depicted her grief - this quote especially struck me: ”If I could go back in time, I wouldn’t do any of it. She and Graeme Gibson are the Joint Honourary Presidents of the Rare Bird Society within BirdLife International.They were important to the other themes and stuff, but when it came to the mystery of the murder, they were hardly present. In intimate character studies of her three subjects, Flock seeks to answer a question she had asked herself: Does fighting back lead to change? She is stuck, buried underneath all her grief and regret, unable and unwilling to try and let go of them.
a powerful piece about a WWII rebellion I couldn’t face and a fascinating one about menopause and ageing, “Dragon” by Stella Duffy. The reader, along with the students, will enjoy reconnecting with the Greek tragedies, which take on new life here.Her most recent non-fiction book, Pandora's Jar: Women in the Greek Myth was published in Oct 2020, and reached number 2 in the New York Times Bestseller chart. Where it didn't quite live up to what I wanted was the darker aspects of the plot, and the crime itself; it was a little underwhelming and I had hoped for her to go a lot deeper into the themes and craft a dark, disturbing experience of literature. She was charged with murder, and planned to invoke a “ stand your ground” defense — a statute that permits the use of lethal force against deadly threats. And in The Furies, Parker finds himself fighting to protect two more women as the city of Portland shuts down in the face of a global pandemic, but it may be that his clients are more capable of taking care of themselves than anyone could have imagined. VIRAGO ~ CN Lester a fascinating approach to the topic of trans histories and gendered identity in history and the patriarchal confines of medical pathologies in history.
The other kids had endings that I felt a bit meh about, cause, in the end, they remained so aloof from the reader compared to Mel, whose diary entries and letters we get to read. Only when it’s too late does she realize what has been unleashed by the volatile mixture of troubled teens and themes of vengeance, justice and fate.
It highlights how, from a cellular level, the most basic minute way, we were indoctrinated to make ourselves occupy as small a space as possible because that is how the world is.
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