Rachel > Recent Status Updates

Philomel Cottage messed with my brain, and continues to do so.

This is only incidentally about Medusa. It mostly seems a story about how loathsome the Greek gods/immortals were, with the single exceptions of the Gorgon Sisters.

And Haynes didn't want me to feel empathy for Perseus, for Danae, or for anyone but Medusa, but I did.

I've loved Greek mythology since early adolescence, but: the immortals were appalling examples of the worst habits and indulgences of humanity

12% in and I'm struggling. This isn't my favorite fairy tale, I have deeply mixed feelings about the "romance" between a human woman and an anthrpomorphic beast (albeit a transformed human), and Belle apparently being a fan of Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Condorcet is not going to predispose me to agree with her.

So far, not feeling this one.

Off to a really rough start! Charlotte is not a very sympathetic character - she's wildly unlikable: selfish and rude and cruel. It's like I'm reading Cinderella from the step-sister POV.

Key concepts:

Default to Truth: we generally assume that people and situations are innocent and harmless, until there is enough evidence that our doubt outweighs our belief, and sometimes that threshold is mighty high.

Transparency: we believe that certain facial expressions accompany certain situations and emotions (happy, sad, angry, etc).

Coupling: certain actions may be tied to situation and location.