BOOK BITES | Natalie Haynes, Pamela Anderson, Kevin Jared Hosein

Stone Blind 

Natalie Haynes, Mantle

***** (5 stars)

Unlike many modern retellings, Haynes leaves the traditional key events of the Medusa myth intact. Instead, she changes the point of view. Thus, the bulk of the narration is by the Gorgon sisters who raised and loved Medusa. The tale could be a devastatingly depressing read in another author's hands, but in those of Haynes, it feels like justice, as her pen relentlessly rips off the masks of so-called heroes to reveal the true monsters in the Greek myth. The story is gripping, piercing and breathes personality into the Gorgon sisters. Yet humour slithers in, especially in the banter between the gods. I didn’t want to put it down and wish it didn’t have to end. — Tiah Beautement 

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Love, Pamela

Pamela Anderson, Headline

***** (5 stars)

Sex symbol. Sex tape. Big boobs. There’s more to the blonde actress than you could have ever imagined. In her memoir, she sets the record straight. From her troubled childhood in Canada to becoming a global sex symbol, Anderson speaks about her journey to stardom with a rawness that, frankly, most didn’t think she had. She takes the reader inside her world, giving us a look into her fragile mental state when she faced tabloid headline after tabloid headline. She’s a natural storyteller and the real version of Anderson emerges. It is this Anderson that will steal your heart and create a sense of respect for the hardworking actress who fought to make it to the big time despite her circumstances. — Jessica Levitt

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Hungry Ghosts

Kevin Jared Hosein, Bloomsbury

**** (4 stars)

It's the 1940s in rural Trinidad and society is fractured — not just along class lines, but because of the invasion of the US Navy and Army. Hansraj Saroop is a devoted husband, father and community member who takes care of those he shares a barrack with. But when Dalton Changoor, the rich man he works for, goes missing, his wife Marlee enlists his help, setting in motion a dynamic that will soon cause further fractures: in his family, among those he shares a ramshackle building with and between them and the city dwellers. Written with great insight and energy, Hungry Ghosts is lyrically beautiful and jarring at times. It paints a snapshot of a world in which women are second-class citizens, where love and violence vie with shifting loyalties and ingrained societal injustices. — Sanet Oberholzer

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