Block, Francesca Lia. Psyche in a dress.BLOCK, Francesca Lia. Psyche in a dress. HarperCollins. 128p. c2006. 0-06-076372-8. $15.99. (Lib. bdg: 0-06-076373-6. $16.89.) SA Block, author of Weezie Bat and many other YA novels, turns to free verse free verse, term loosely used for rhymed or unrhymed verse made free of conventional and traditional limitations and restrictions in regard to metrical structure. Cadence, especially that of common speech, is often substituted for regular metrical pattern. to recount a modern version of Greek myths. A young woman named Psyche is an actress in her exploitive father's movies. In the night a lover comes to her and tells her the myths--"my beautiful, brutal bedtime stories bedtime story n. A story that is read or told to a child just before bedtime. "--but she is insecure, doubts his love for her, and sends him away. She then tries on the identities of other mythical myth·i·cal also myth·ic adj. 1. Of or existing in myth: the mythical unicorn. 2. Imaginary; fictitious. 3. characters, such as Echo, Eurydice and Persephone, goes to work in Aphrodite's dress shop, and visits her mother Demeter in an idyllic i·dyl·lic adj. 1. Of or having the nature of an idyll. 2. Simple and carefree: an idyllic vacation in a seashore cottage. cottage above the sea. She takes other lovers, Orpheus and the cruel Hades Hades (hā`dēz), in Greek and Roman religion and mythology. 1 The ruler of the underworld: see Pluto. 2 The world of the dead, ruled by Pluto and Persephone, located either underground or in the far west beyond the , but misses her lost lover, Eros. When they finally meet up again, they have a daughter, Joy. All this is related in a sort of fevered dream, in Block's unique, darkly evocative e·voc·a·tive adj. Tending or having the power to evoke. e·voc  a·tive·ly adv. style: think of a sad but beautiful Goth girl wearing velvet, or, as in this book, "my mother's green satin cocktail dress ... and dusty black cowboy boots," to envision her heroine and audience. Background knowledge of the Greek myths will help readers understand Block's classical allusions. Some adult language. Paula Rohrlick, KLIATT S--Recommended for senior high school students. A--Recommended for advanced students and adults. This code will help librarians and teachers working in high schools where there are honors and advanced placement students. This also will extend KLIATT's usefulness in public libraries. |
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