Patricia Storace

A retelling of Rapunzel in a Caribbean setting. I really enjoyed this one! The illustrations were perfect - colorful, evocative, timeless. The story had a lot more words than I'm used to in a children's picture book which I loved. I also loved that the parents never gave up looking for their daughter after the sorceress took Sugar Cane. I thought it quite clever that Madame Fate, being a conjure-woman, resurrected great teachers and philosophers to educate Sugar Cane in her tower by the show more sea.

Other fun, creative touches: a pet green monkey called Callaloo who has a wicked sweet tooth; Sugar Cane escaped using a hair ladder; Sugar Cane doesn't just sing but plays instruments and basically makes music with anything and everything she can - she lives music.

The young man she falls in love with is called King but he is an ordinary guy who loves music as much as Sugar Cane. Their relationship was discovered because Sugar Cane let slip his name during a conversation with Madame Fate. Like her parents, King never gave up searching for Sugar Cane. And, in the end, she was reunited with her parents at her wedding to King.

5 stars show less

I have always wanted to visit Greece. The landscapes, the weather, the food. Sigh. All of it has me spellbound. But. But! But, the more I read of Storace's Dinner with Persephone, I am not sure about the culture. I definitely do not agree with some of the attitudes towards women and marriage. Women are inferior to men. Sexual condescension is a thing. The accepted violence of smacking a wife or daughter around and how it is glamorized in television and movies is concerning. There is an show more ambivalence towards arson, too which I found odd.
Beyond the confusing side of Greek culture, I enjoyed learning about the icons of the region: a blue eye talisman hanging from an old woman's neck, the juicy red jewels of pomegranates, the fable of Dionysus and the plant. To be sure, there is a lot of religious talk in Dinner with Persephone. The people Storace talk with mention the Virgin Mary as if she is a next-door neighbor they bumped into while going for coffee. Children bring up events dating back to the Ottoman Empire as if it were yesterday. It is only a perception but it seems religion is worked into nearly every conversation.
There is a subtle, almost secretive sultriness to Storace's writing. I can't put my finger on why I think that. The language is tedious at times, but more often sensuous. show less

Really good book! The illustrations and story were amazing. I loved how the writer took the story of Rapunzel and turned it into a version with African American characters. It had a beautiful message of hope, faith and love. Sugar Cane had a positive and resilient attitude while stuck in a tower. Highly recommended!

This is one of the most insightful books that I have read about modern Greece and its conflicted relationship to the past. Storace is sensitive to the complicated gender roles of Greece and the continuing evolution of Orthodoxy as Greece attempts to assert itself in the West. Though Storace lived in Athens in the '90s, her book continues to be relevant and offers some perspective on the current political and economic turmoil in Greece. If you are planning on visiting Greece or are simply show more looking for a beautifully written travelogue of an intriguing place (Storace is a poet and it shows in her prose), then I would definitely recommend this book. show less