Title: Psyche in a DressAuthor: Francesca Lia Block
Publish Date: September 5, 2006
Publisher: HarperTeen
Pages: 128pp
ISBN: 0060763760
Classification: Fiction
Genre: Fantasy/Mythology
Age Range: 12 and up
Amazon: $8.99
Annotation: A modern retelling of the classical love story about Psyche and Eros. Modern day Psyche is a teenage girl who stars in the films her father makes. When her love Eros leaves her, she ventures out on an odyssey of self discovery.
Summary: Psyche is a teenage girl under the abusive thumb of her film producer father, Zeus. Missing her mother, who left when she was younger, Psyche connects with her spirit by wearing the dresses she left behind. She has a brief affair with a mysterious stranger, Eros, whom she experiences love with. When Eros leaves, Psyche's life spirals downhill in which sets her on a journey to achieve happiness—the same happiness she felt when she was with Eros. Psyche takes full form in her metaphoric namesake: the soul. She goes on an odyssey of self discovery and traveling through other mythological heroines--Eurydice, Echo, Persephone--as she meets new lovers, who, inevitably, cannot replace her one and only love, Eros. She ends up returning home and working for her father’s girlfriend, Aphrodite, who happens to be Eros’s mother, which reunites Psyche to Eros. She gives birth to Joy and learns
Evaluation: Psyche in a Dress is an emotionally raw novella written in verse using classical Greek mythology against the backdrop of Hollywood. This story explores eroticism and teenage sexuality. It studies a young girl as she struggles with her identity and relationships. It helps to have some prior knowledge in Greek mythology before reading this book, otherwise it can be quite confusing.
Bibliotherapeutic Usefulness:
- Self discovery
- First love can leave a heart fluttered with confusion.
Reason this book was chosen: I love Greek Mythology and was interested in Francesca Lia Block's retelling of the classic story of Pysche and Eros.
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