Psyche in a Dress by Francesca Lia Block

Psyche belongs to her father. A body for his films, little more. Her mother left long ago. She is alone.

But then, one fair and fateful night, Eros sneaks into her room. She may not look upon him, but she loves him all the same. He tells her beautiful, tragic myths and smells of sea spray and jasmine. They are love and soul, fitting together perfectly, one incomplete without the other. But nothing can last forever, and true to the original myth, she scorches his achingly beautiful skin with candle wax as she gazes at his sleeping, perfect form. She doubts that he--the sheer paragon of physical perfection--could keep on loving her, and is terrified by his magnificence. Thus they are separated from one another.

Torn up by the loss of her love, Psyche journeys out to find him, on the way becoming the women from the myths he once told her, the lovers of men and gods. She is Echo to Narcissus. Eurydice to Orpheus. Persephone to Hades. She bears witness to their personal tragedies, the things that broke these beautiful men. They may be sons of gods, but they have their addictions, their unsavory habits, and their insecurities. In short, they, too, are damaged. Because in the end, a man is just a man.

This book is not epic. Not in the sweeping, battle-ridden way. Quite simply, it is the story of one woman's life, told through a mythical lens. It tells of love, of abuse, of wrongdoings, and of redemption, stripping gods down to men with pretty faces and lots of problems. It asks "Is beauty monstrous?"

Francesca Lia Block delivers with this novel. It's short, only 128 pages (I read it in about an hour), but lovely and real. The verses speak a kind of painful yet important truth that I can't help but love, revealing both the terrifying brutality and striking beauty of Greek myths and everyday lives. What's more, as with her other novels, Block brings magic to neon and pavement like no other. She has this way of transforming seedy clubs and LA skies into a heady and shimmering version of our mundane world.

I loved Psyche in a Dress. Definitely my favourite of Block's books. It does, however, have a lot of mature content, so I wouldn't recommend it to those made uncomfortable by such things. Also, not everybody is a fan of books in verse. So, you know.

I, personally would put it on the top of my own pile (if I were to read it again), and it is my humble opinion that it belongs at the top of yours as well.


Mythically yours...