5/5⭐️

Persephone Made Me Do It has to be my favourite of the three poem collections Mateer has written about Greek Goddesses so far!

As a fan of poetry, Greek mythology and powerful women, I LOVE this series and Persephone is probably my favourite culmination of the three. Persephone is not a victim or a passive participant in her own life but a survivor and a powerful God, and I loved reading her story through beautiful poetry.

This book is a story of duality between light and dark, who you were and who you’ve become, trauma, survival, the relationship between mothers and daughters, a woman’s rage, and growing into one’s own power.

Trista’s poetry collections are a must read for any and all poetry and Greek mythology readers!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for sending me an ARC of this book in exchange for an open and honest review! All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Oh the moment I saw there was another installment in Trista Mateer's greek mythology series I knew I needed the arc. The interior graphics combined with Mateer's words were very much resonating with "give me back my girlhood it was mine first". the overarching theme of wanting to be nothing like your mother but exactly like her and the resentment but also unending love was so refreshing to see. so many depictions of persephone have her and her mother's relationship completely strained but this had those ties of love. anyway, i highly enjoyed this.

thank you to netgalley for an arc in exchange for an honest review

This is the third poetry collection in Trista Mateer's Greek Mythology series and most definitely my favourite.

I love this series, they are so beautiful but also so heartbreaking. I love the mixed media used and the alternating perspectives between the poet and Persephone.

Honestly, I really recommend this collection and the others in the series because the poetry in them is just raw, vulnerable and so incredibly powerful!

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Central Avenue Publishing for me providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I read Artemis Made Me Do It in this series last year adored that so I knew I had to read this when I saw it and it didn't disappoint at all. I loved it more than I did Artemis if that's possible, the artwork in between the chapters are again the best part and I loved the design and the feel if them. The poems themselves are absolutely heartbreaking and thought provoking. I loved how the poems talk about how Persephone was kidnapped by Hades as often in Greek retellings that is ignored and sometimes romanticised. The poems about Mothers and daughters were my favourite and I think they spoke for all mothers and daughters.

If you love poetry especially feminist poetry this is one you have to add to your tbr

A sharp, biting collection which confronts the reality for women both past and present. With stunning artwork accompanying.

I had been anxiously waiting to read this new installment in Trista Matter’s incredible poetry series for months, and it did not disappoint.

Once again the poet is in conversation with the goddess, drawing from her experiences to try and make sense of her own relationships. The mother-daughter relationship depicted hit me especially hard, the duality of wanting to be nothing like your mother but realizing that you’re so much like her anyway is something that will find an echo in a lot of girls’ and women’s lives.

The discourse on sexual violences was both empowered and vulnerable. A lot of modern prose or poetry about Persephone choose to make hers and Hades’s relationship into a love story, and although I love those, I deeply appreciated that Mateer focused only on Persephone, never giving any power to him and refusing to even name him.

The dialogue between modernity and tales as old as time was emphasized once again by her artistic collages. Mateer’s poetry is powerful and raw, vulnerable and self-caring and it speaks to my soul to levels I can’t even put into words. Witnessing Persephone overcome her trauma, watching the tenderness with which both the poet and the goddess look upon their younger selves, seeing the unfolding contradiction of accepting who you had to become while still mourning who you were and could have been, is something that will move any reader who has ever experienced the same kind of trauma.