Ecstasy is a dark, lyrical reimagining of Euripides’ The Bacchae, set on the sun-soaked Greek island of Naxos. The story follows Lena—a wealthy widow constrained by her late husband and controlling son, Drew—who travels to the Agape Villa hotel grand opening. There, she becomes drawn to a wild enclave of women whose nightly drums on the beach and dancing awaken an ancient god—and unleash deep, primal female rage. Sounds like a great concept, right? But it's like a crazy dream you just can't wake up from. Almost like a decadent episode of White Lotus with no character development. Lena's trip to her son's hotel after her husband dies awakens in her some hidden rage as she yearns to join the women on the beach and pursue an alternative lifestyle. I was hoping she'd channel this rage and have it out with her son Drew, but then the novel turns into a supernatural tale of hedonism and bacchanalia, which isn't necessarily a bad thing.

I love a good exploration of female rage and the aging of the female body. After all, us middleaged women are invisible and I"m all for self expression, but it could have been more interesting, and I'd have loved more character development.

I was still entertained enough to keep reading.

Literary horror is really having a moment now, and this Greek-mythology inspired novel is an interesting new addition to the genre. I have to confess I'm not usually a horror fan, but I enjoyed this novel's decadent Greek island setting and the clever way it played with ideas of the divine, and how it explored the power various men (whether they're husbands, sons or gods) have over women and how that power can be taken back.

After hotel magnate Stavros mysteriously dies before his luxury hotel on the Greek island of Naxos can open, his wife Lena and son Drew arrive to complete the unveiling. Along for the trip are Lena's buddy Hedy, a very "bad" influence, and Drew's pregnant wife Jordan. With a full on rave that's been going on for days (or weeks?) on the beach below by the squatters Stavros was trying to have evicted, what could go wrong?

Throw in a little Greek mythology, party drugs, female power, and a big fever dream and you have Ecstasy. A little escape, a slip of a book, a vividly told story.

My thanks to NetGalley and Putnam Books for the Advance Reader Copy. (pub date 6/17/2025)

I’ve seen many reviewers calling Ivy Pochoda’s Ecstasy a fever dream, and that feels exactly right. This loose retelling of The Bacchae (which I’ve read about but haven’t read) immerses the reader in a world of entitlement and luxury and oppression, in a battle between masculine and feminine forces, in a power struggle whose fate feels pre-determined. It was a one-sitting read for me.

The book begins with a quartet of travelers (not “vacationers”—they’re too cultured to “vacation”) to the island of Naxos where Lena, her best friend Hedy, Lena’s son Drew, and Drew’s pregnant wife Jordan will stay at the family’s luxe hotel, which is in the last stages before its grand opening.

Some of the dynamics become immediately clear. Lena and Hedy were dancers together until Lena married Stavros, who swept her away from the excitement of that life into an existence driven by an obsession with class and wealth and putting forth the right facade. It’s a world centered on Stavros in which Lena is a type of prop.

Drew has clearly taken it upon himself to continue the dominant role of his father, who recently died on the island’s beach.

When the group arrives, they find that there’s a major hiccup with the preparations: there’s a group of women who are refusing to leave the beach. They assert that it’s a cultural and historical landmark that belongs to the island, not to the hotel. Drew, of course, disagrees and is willing to do whatever it takes to eject them from the property. Legally, though, that’s a more complex proposition than he’s willing to accept.

That’s the setup. What seems a fairly straightforward tale of class and misogyny quickly, however, shifts because of Luz, the leader of the women on the beach. As Lena is drawn into her circle—into drugs and dancing and unfettered self-expression—she begins to push back against the relationship dynamics that have controlled her life for so long.

So much about this book worked for me. I appreciated the shifts in narrative perspective, which allow the reader a glimpse into the group’s slow immersion into surreality, and Pochoda’s writing is undeniably gorgeous. I thought that the changing group dynamics beautifully illuminated the messages of the book: the despicable Drew’s entitled, brought about by his wealth and his gender; the ways that Hedy served as a grounding influence for Lena; Jordan’s attempts to maintain her own agency in the face of Drew’s micromanaging and close-mindedness. I did wish, however, that parts of the book’s message were more subtle, some of the plot elements less predictable. Still, Ecstasy is an absorbing tale that is compelling and thought provoking.

Let me start by saying I had a lot of hope for this book based on the description and the cover. Greek mythology meets real life meets horror? Yes. Please.

Overall I was just let down. The characters were infuriating and their actions?? I see what the author was trying to do. It was purposefully meant to be disorienting, but I just didn’t love it.

Not for me, but perfect for fans of Midsommar.

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC!

This book is a mashup of a midlife crisis and a turf war between an ecstasy dealer and a God. It’s a fever dream of visuals and atmosphere. I’m not sure it’s really horror except for the very last bit, but I enjoyed it.

I am an elder millennial who went to college in Miami in the early aughts. Ecstasy was huge and the club scene was massive. Festivals were small and intimate.

Then, much to Peter Pans chagrin, I grew up and have four kids. A real job.

This book was probably written by someone like me, for someone like me.

It was philosophical, mystical, and fun. However, the characters were impossible to like and not at all relatable. Except maybe Hedy. She was cool.

I’d recommend this to anyone looking to reminisce on their youth who also likes gore.

I did not have the context of what this is based on, and I think that made my enjoyment of this book suffer. For me, the writing style was frustratingly choppy. I did enjoy the different characters’ perspectives.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Rating: 4⭐️/5

Loosely inspired by the Greek myth of The Bacchae with a Dionysus DJ, rage-filled maenads, absolute chaos and a lot of wild dance.

Ecstasy was filled with female rage, debauchery, horror and bitter longing. I was entranced, horrified, and understanding all in one.

Truly unique and one of its kind.

Thank you NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A short and surprising read—definitely not what I was expecting. The cover is beautiful, and the first chapter really grabbed my attention. It’s not a book I’d normally reach for, but I’m glad I gave it a try. While it didn’t completely hook me, it had its moments. I’d give it 3.5 out of 5 stars.

If this is what a bad Trip feels like? I am so happy I never tried drugs lol, because OMG I finished this book thinking to myself, "what did I just read?" There is a ton of Greek mythology going on here, and then there is Luz, who is a very interesting character.

Lena just lost her husband, and her horrible son takes her along to a resort that his dad was building before he died, he brings along his wife Jordan who I feel bad for but later on in the book and towards the end I find her to be so bad ass, and then there is Hedy who is Lena's best friend back when they were dancers traveling Europe, THAT woman is hilarious.

I feel stuck when it comes to this book, a little conflicted, I would call this a win, even though the characters were hard to like.

Having read many of Ivy Pochoda’s previous books, I am very familiar with her particular style of violence meets poetry. Ecstasy doesn’t temper either of those things, if anything it continues the lineage Pochoda has created in her writing of interesting and incorrigible women. The twist here is that Ecstasy is a retelling of sorts of the Greek tragedy, The Bacchae by Euripedes. Halfway through the book I had to put it down to find a few explanations/summaries of The Bacchae to gain a deeper understanding of the story in the form Pochoda had given it. It turned out to not be too necessary as the characters and symbols scattered throughout Ecstasy feel like a tangible part of something bigger.

There are so many elements of Ecstasy that feel extremely timely and potent. A review compared it to the HBO show The White Lotus, seemingly because most of it unfolds at a luxury hotel. Much like the show, most of the characters here are insufferable, irredeemable, and complacent. Where The White Lotus is toothless, Ecstasy digs its heels in and makes you uncomfortable without any comic relief. If you have read The Bacchae then you know how Ecstasy will end, but that doesn’t make the filicide any less intense. Ecstasy is loaded with poetic symbolism throughout from the title to surreal hallucinatory sequences. Pochoda succeeds in creating a violent underworld here on earth. It takes place in Greece but with its vapid, pliant women and greedy men with anti-immigrant, anti-preservationist stances at the forefront, Ecstasy could have been set at any number of luxury AirBnBs right here in the Mojave.

Ecstasy is a novel that tries too much to sound intellectual but fails to hook its readers in the process. Some of its writing is really beautiful but most of it is really convulated. The message and the main theme literally gets lost amongst the too over the top description of some really trivial things. It had a lot of potential but the execution badly needed to improve.

A surprising novel about feminine rage and freedom, told through the lens of a Greek retelling.

Ecstasy follows recently widowed Lena as her son (and new CEO of her husband's family company) unveils a new project in Naxos. There, Lena becomes transfixed with a group of women that live on the beach and dance at night.

I normally don't gravitate towards novels that are retellings but the plot of this one sounded interesting. The themes of motherhood, womanhood, and female rage were handled with such care and precision that I found myself moved. I thought the prose was poetic and beautiful and the story was engaging and tense.

If this one sounds interesting, I highly recommend it! I think this book warrants a lot of discussion, and I can't wait to see some of them when the book officially releases!

Sometimes women just need to be feral. This was a good representation of a mother/wife who is constantly being dismissed by her own family. An enjoyable quick read.

Belittled and overlooked, Lena is the forgotten woman we have all tried to break free of. The woman just shy of the grasp of the life she wants, the feeling she deserves. And now at an age of reflection, being told by a husband “aren’t you glad you didn’t waste your twenties”, and traveling with a judgmental and uptight son, maybe it’s time for Lena to feel like herself again. In her journey, she meets an interesting group of women at the beach representing the freedom of herself she has been missing.

Lena is a great character- the laughed at mom traveling with her son Drew and new CEO of the family company, and his wife Jordan, described as an emotional bureaucrat; it was easy to be on Lena’s side and her wild child friend from her 20s Hedy. Like it’s so easy to grasp onto a character as likeable when everyone around them is not. And letting Drew have his own point of view, slightly racist and just proving the point of his narcissism was just fuel to the fire. The introduction of the fantasy/horror elements and really the Luz character, was not a smooth transition. It felt disjointed, almost like two different stories. The story is strongest when it falls into its metaphors, when it is alluded to rather than being direct. And the little comments and tiny details are what will stick with you.

In reading this, I almost didn’t want the whole fantasy, Bacchus side. The conversations the main characters were having, whether internally or externally, were so in depth that those moments could have been the story. But perhaps that much reflection could have made it too overwhelmingly heavy.

A nice novella, especially if you are entering or enjoy reading stories of women finding second chances. Please don’t belittle this to “midlife crisis”. If you want to throw yourself in a feminism story, some feminine rage, through yourself into this one.

4 stars and my thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for the eARC!

Years of marriage amongst the wealthy elite has whittled Lena's spirit into rope and sinew, smothered by tasteful cocktail dresses and unending small talk. On Naxos she yearns to rediscover her true nature, remember the exuberant dancer and party girl she once was, but Drew tightens his grip, keeping her cloistered inside the hotel, demanding that she fall in line. Lena is intrigued by a group of women living in tents on the beach in front of the Agape. She can feel their drums at night, hear their seductive leader calling her to dance. Soon she'll find that an ancient God stirs on the beach, awakening dark desires of women across the island. The only questions left will be whether Lena will join them, and what it will cost her.

I can see why people didn't care for this one, but I found it intriguing with the themes of motherhood, grief, bodily autonomy, and the pressure of society, particularly the pressure of men. When women are trapped in marriages or families where they're every move is controlled by the men in their lives, the moment they experience some sort of freedom outside of that feels like a drug-fueled dance party where nothing is as it seems. You lose yourself. Drew, Lena's controlling son she had with her equally controlling husband, tries his damndest to continue keeping his mother, his wife Jordan, and family friend Hedy in line while they're on Naxos. He sees these women as "crazy" and "out of control" the moment they step out of line. There were times where I, like Luz, wanted to reach out and grab them and take them away from this man.

I liked that not only did the narrative change POV, but it changed tense as well. Third person for our main characters and first person for some mysterious unknown. It got kind of confusing at times, which is why I knocked the rating down a star.

Otherwise, this was such a quick read, I felt like I read it TOO fast.

A big thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam - G.P. Putnam's Sons for an ARC of this book!

Ecstasy is one of those books that you could describe as 'artsy'. It's very experimental in its prose and some sequences, switching back and forth between Lena, our main character, the nebulous presence of "Before", and an enigmatic character named Luz. It's short and succinct, clocking in at 160 pages, so if you're looking for a novella to break your reading slump, I'd recommend it.

I have mixed feelings about it. I liked this book in places - the beginning hooked me, with the intrigue of Lena's past life and her current life of being a rich widow hounded by her overbearing son, but the ending felt more like a cutoff point for the author rather than a natural conclusion to the story. I'm not entirely familiar with the story it's based off of (The Bacchae), and maybe I would've enjoyed it more had I known the play. I liked how Bacchus was alluded to in the story as a rave DJ -it's a cute little nod.

The 'feminist' aspect of the book is a little flimsy - I saw one review where someone pointed out that despite its nods to patriarchy and male entitlement, the conflicts plaguing the women throughout the book are resolved with karma, outside influence and supernatural circumstances rather than by the women themselves. I think the beige prose also got redundant after a while - it kind of got to the point where pages were just short bursts of '[Pronoun] [Verbed]' sentence structures that were very loosely connected, even with the inner thoughts of the characters. The characters aren't super endearing or sympathetic, but I didn't mind - it's honestly fun to read trashy people do trashy things and mess up their lives.

I haven't read anything else by this author, so I don't know if it's a reoccurring thing in her work. I do want to check out more of her stuff, though, and will be looking for the other books she's written!

Ivy Pochoda is a masterful storyteller, and I loved her retelling of a Greek tragedy in Ecstasy!

Widowed and stifled by her overbearing son, Lena travels to Naxos hoping to reclaim the wild, free spirit she once was. But as she’s drawn toward a mysterious group of women on the beach and the primal force they worship, Lena must choose between obedience and liberation—no matter the cost.

The female rage, the stepping into power and agency, and the strong female bonds in this story were so satisfying for me. I always love a Good for Her story of empowerment, and if you love those too, you will devour this book!

Ivy Pochoda is a must-read for me.

A young man, his pregnant wife, and his widowed mother and her longtime friend stay in the soon-to-be opening luxurious resort on the Isle of Naxos in Greece. Lena and Hedy were party girls decades ago only for Lena to give it all up when she was married. They are both nostalgic for and envious of the young female tourists they see

A parallel thread introduces Lux, a long time party drug dealer whose clients are being beguiled away by a charismatic DJ, Baxxus.

The threads intertwine as a camp of partiers won't leave the beach in front of the resort.

Pochoda dives into the roles of Greek myth and the modern rave scene in this tense, delirious ode to femininity and power, the male gaze, and carpe diem. You won't want to put this down. You may want to start dancing when you're through.

Poetic and mystical, but also a bit self-indulgent, I don't really think I enjoyed this one. It is undeniably beautiful in its prose, and has a lot to say in regards to women's autonomy, but I found all the characters flat, tiresome, and unlikable.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.