Psyche in a Dress

Psyche, seventeen, abandoned by her mother, used only as an actress by her father, has never known Love - until he climbs through her window one night. The two become lovers, even though Psyche has never seen Love's face. But one night she chooses to reveal his true form, and, tormented by self-doubt, Psyche chases Love away forever. She yearns to be transformed as the women in the ancient Greek myths were, and embarks on a journey through Hell and mythology to discover herself and find her true Love once again.

What verse novels lack in details, they more than make up in lyricism. Francesca Lia Block's Psyche in a Dress is no exception. Her writing and the story are unique, creative, dark, insightful, raw, engrossing, heartbreaking - in show more short, the makings of an amazing novel. I started this book thinking it would be just a retelling of the tale of Cupid and Psyche + modern high school drama. What I got was so much more. Psyche in a Dress transcends both of these expectations. It covers multiple dramatic Greek love tales (in fact, a basic understanding of Greek mythology is almost essential to completely understanding the plot) as Psyche morphs from Psyche (of course) to Echo, Eurydice, Persephone, Demeter, and herself. Modern high school drama? There's none. Instead, you get exploitative father-daughter relationships, masochistic dating, slave driving employers, and mothers who just want what's best for their children.

I also started reading Psyche in a Dress thinking that I'd read half of it one night and half of it another. I read it straight through, non-stop, and never even thought of putting it down. The story, in all its simplicity and darkness, is that engrossing - you just completely lose yourself in it. Also, by the ending of the novel I was about to cry, and that's extremely rare for me and books. High emotions and I don't get along well, but we were beginning to here. show less

This is a highly unconventional little book. Using Greek myths and characters, it tells the story of a young woman raised by dysfunctional Hollywood parents. Block uses evocative, poetic language to describe both whimsy and horror. At first I thought it was very pretentious, but that impression didn't last long as I was swept up by the beautiful language and unusual story.

I found this on the sale table in the teen section. I've always considered YA books to be aimed at teens, but in this case I think this book is really is adult. Not just because of the dysfunctional sex, and drug use, but because of all the allusions to Greek myths and also the emotions of motherhood. I wouldn't have a problem with a mature teen reading it, but I just show more don't think they'd appreciate it. Anyway, I liked it.

Recommended for: people who like retellings of myths and fairy tales, people who like urban fantasy, people looking for something interesting and different. show less

When I was in high school, I edited a zine of sorts. It was mostly comprised of teenage confessional poetry, the kind that prominently features rain and heartbreak and slashed wrists. People were always on me about improving the quality, being more selective about the contributions, elevating the tone. I knew full well that the zine mostly sucked, and yet I had no desire to improve it. I felt that these crappy, clichéd, maudlin outpourings of adolescent angst were just as vital, if not more so, than the smaller number of truly talented submissions we printed. I believed that not only did they give the writer a much-needed outlet, but they told other kids that they were not alone.
'Psyche in a Dress' has something of that feel of teenage show more group therapy about it. As poetry, it’s not much of a success, surprising from a writer whose prose is so lyrical. Perhaps the poetry of Weetzie Bat or The Hanged Man succeeds because it is grounded in the narrative, and flows with the characters and the plot, whereas Psyche feels much too abstract to be effective.
That being said, I believe that this, too, is an important book, and can’t be judged strictly in terms of its technical merits. Block is attempting to give a rootless generation a life-saving infusion of mythology, stories to help and to heal. And as such, it has to appear in the form of a poem: mythology delivered as poetry has a ritual force that not even the most poetic prose can approximate.
Where her better-known Weetzie Bat novels paint a picture of a sunny fairyland filled with promise, Psyche delves instead into the dark underside, into a world filled with demons, vengeful goddesses, and self-destructive heroines. It tackles body image, bad relationships, the vacuousness of western culture, poor role models, broken homes, drug use – everything a young woman faces in the world, punk rock diva or not. It’s the work of a woman who has emerged from the other side of despair, sadder but wiser, and as such provides an invaluable story for an entire generation of American girls looking for a path out of the darkness. For all its sorrow, Psyche is Block’s most hopeful, and possibly useful, book yet. show less

In true FLB form, PSYCHE IN A DRESS packs a raw, sexual, emotional punch via vivid, lush prose, set against the backdrop of Hollywood.

Enter Psyche, in the form of a teenage girl. She stars in her father's brutal films, being mutilated and dying, over and over again. She fancies herself her father's muse, taking over where her mother lapsed after she left the family. In the middle of the night, Psyche is visited by a man called Love, who sounds like the ocean and tastes like citrus, makes love to her, and tells her stories of the old Gods. He comes to her ever night, under one condition: she must not turn on a light. But under the advisement of her half-sisters, Psyche lights a candle, and find a beautiful god of a man in her bed. Is show more beauty monstrous? Psyche banishes her lover because of some serious self-esteem issues.

We follow her through the rest of her life as she tries to win him back. Through the course of her journey we meet Persephone, Orpheus, Narcissus, Eurydice, Aphrodite, Hades, and Demeter. Psyche outs herself through physically and emotionally grueling relationships, sometimes to the point of abuse (Hades, in the form of Marilyn Manson.) All of this in the name of Love (Eros.)

The story is written in delicious free verse -- which I believe is Francesca Lia Block's strength. Through sparse words, vivid, luscious, colorful imagery comes to life. The salt spray of the ocean on your lips, the heady scent of the fields of poppies, the crunching of gravel under hooves, your moth wings shredded to dust. It's beautiful.

The ending -- full of self-love, healing, and joy -- is perfect and uplifting. We watch Psyche become Persephone, Eurydice, Demeter. It's a perfect full-circle ending.

PSYCHE IN A DRESS, and 113 pages is a quick, engaging read, and like most FLB books, written beautifully and colorfully. It contains mature themes (it is FLB, though) but nothing to vivid. Definitely a recommended read. show less

In true FLB form, PSYCHE IN A DRESS packs a raw, sexual, emotional punch via vivid, lush prose, set against the backdrop of Hollywood.

Enter Psyche, in the form of a teenage girl. She stars in her father's brutal films, being mutilated and dying, over and over again. She fancies herself her father's muse, taking over where her mother lapsed after she left the family. In the middle of the night, Psyche is visited by a man called Love, who sounds like the ocean and tastes like citrus, makes love to her, and tells her stories of the old Gods. He comes to her ever night, under one condition: she must not turn on a light. But under the advisement of her half-sisters, Psyche lights a candle, and find a beautiful god of a man in her bed. Is show more beauty monstrous? Psyche banishes her lover because of some serious self-esteem issues.

We follow her through the rest of her life as she tries to win him back. Through the course of her journey we meet Persephone, Orpheus, Narcissus, Eurydice, Aphrodite, Hades, and Demeter. Psyche outs herself through physically and emotionally grueling relationships, sometimes to the point of abuse (Hades, in the form of Marilyn Manson.) All of this in the name of Love (Eros.)

The story is written in delicious free verse -- which I believe is Francesca Lia Block's strength. Through sparse words, vivid, luscious, colorful imagery comes to life. The salt spray of the ocean on your lips, the heady scent of the fields of poppies, the crunching of gravel under hooves, your moth wings shredded to dust. It's beautiful.

The ending -- full of self-love, healing, and joy -- is perfect and uplifting. We watch Psyche become Persephone, Eurydice, Demeter. It's a perfect full-circle ending.

PSYCHE IN A DRESS, and 113 pages is a quick, engaging read, and like most FLB books, written beautifully and colorfully. It contains mature themes (it is FLB, though) but nothing to vivid. Definitely a recommended read. show less

An exploration of love and self-discovery using modernized myths set in Los Angeles, CA.

Not being a huge fan of most poetry, an entire novella in free verse kinda made me nervous, but I loved Psyche in a Dress! The pages practically turned themselves, and when I reached the end I wanted to flip back to the beginning and read it all over again. Psyche's story was based on mythology, yet somehow portrayed the very real experiences of first love, heartbreak, finding oneself, and the life-changing power of the parent-child relationship. The ending was...beautiful.

Recommended to mature young adult readers, because there was heavy subject matter, current fans of Block's work, and anyone else looking for a unique retelling of modern myths, show more including Psyche and Eros, Narcissus and Echo, and Persephone, Demeter and Hades.

4.5 stars show less

Psyche in a Dress is a modern retelling of some of the familiar stories from Greek Mythology. It begins very similar to the story of Cupid (Eros) and Psyche - Eros spends every night with Psyche, but never lets her see him. One night, after being urged on by her sisters, Psyche lights a candle to see what Eros looks like, and wakes him by dripping wax on him. Eros flees, and Psyche undertakes a journey to get him back. Block’s story deviates for a while, but eventually returns back to the myth when Psyche is working for Athena, trying to win Athena’s son back. Athena isn’t the nicest of people to work for, and gives Psyche all kinds of tasks to do before she is finally reunited with Eros. (I was impressed that Block even included show more ants helping Psyche with her work!)

As mentioned above, this retelling does deviate from the real myth, in that on Psyche’s journey in Block’s story, Psyche becomes different mythological characters, and has relationships with other characters from mythology (she is Narcissus’ Echo for a while, Orpheus’ Eurydice and Hades’ Persephone) before being reunited with Eros. It was fun to see how Block worked in all those myths into one story.

My friend Sabrina is a big Francesca Lia Block fan, and has mentioned to me a couple of times that I should read something she’s written. Like the majority of recs that I get, it took me a while to actually get one of her books… and I have to say, now, that I really thoroughly regret that it took me this long.

This book was so different than any YA and most mythology that I’ve read, and it was quite refreshing to read something different. While I found the feminism aspect of the writing to be a little bit preachy, I enjoyed the book thoroughly. I loved how the main character started out as Psyche, and by the end of the book she’s refering to herself as Demeter.

I’m not normally one for poetry or free verse or whatever form this book was written in, but it flowed really well; I found that I followed it easily, and my mind didn’t wander off (which is, sadly, often the case when I read stuff similar to this). Maybe part of the reason is that two of my favourite greek myths were worked into this book - the story of Psyche and Eros, and the story of Persephone and Hades. (I’m now wanting to go and reread one of my Greek mythology books.) show less