I consider myself a big fan of Persephone so I was immediately drawn to this collection. There were a few poems I enjoyed but most I found to be okay or overdone. I don't like giving poetry a low review because I think it's a very personal process but this collection just wasn't for me.

**I received an eARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Big thanks to NetGalley and the publisher!

I have mixed feeling about this poetry collection. I was initially drawn in by the cover and after reading the description thought it would be something that I really enjoyed. I liked quite a few of the poems in this collection but there were definitely a few I didn't enjoy. I liked the concept of reading the myth of Hades and Persephone differently, but these poems didn't always work for me. I think in my case, its a personal reading preference, as I know that people I've recommended the book to have really enjoyed it.

Not really a hot take on Persephone, but interesting nonetheless. The use of alliterations was a bit excessive, and I'm not very fond of expletives used for shock value when they're in fact ubiquitously used expressions in every-day speech. I had a hard time following most poems, as they weren't written to achieve readability, it seems, and needed to go back and concentrate for the fifth consecutive time to catch the entire phrase. Hmm.

Greek mythology is an interest of mine and I’m always excited to read new books about it. Unfortunately, this one didn’t work for me. I found the formatting awkward and without structure, nothing felt like a continuous flow and was rather standstill and choppy. I also found a lot of the word choices were quite over the top and didn’t entirely make sense, but I know poetry doesn’t always need to. Overall it’s an interesting concept but the execution didn’t work for me.

This was a very interesting concept. I am a sucker for all things greek mythology, especially involving Hades and Persphone. I really liked the writing in this, and the only reason I'm not giving it 5 stars is that at some points it was a little dense. I like poetry that is soft and detailed, but easy to read, and at times this was a little harder to unerstand. Overall, I did thoroughly enjoy it.

If you love Greek Mythology, this book of poems may be for you. Here we follow a take on the tale of Persephone. There seems to be a recent uptick in retelling her story but most concentrate on those around her and her rather passive nature. Persephone’s story here is told through her eyes and her thoughts on what is going on around her.

Our only hesitation is that while we learn more about Persephone, we do so while reading poetry that increasingly uses modern vocabulary and idioms. This has the potential of taking the reader out of the setting and thinking more about the two-thousand year old character speaking in such a modern voice.

The poetry begins in an interesting format where it’s noticeable that we will be experiencing Persephone through her eyes, but quickly loses us and makes us feel as if the author is trying too hard to be hip. The story should stand on its own. That is why it has lasted for several thousand years. There is no need to shock and awe.

This book just wasn’t for me, which is a shame because on paper it absolutely should be. I’ve previously enjoyed similar poetry collections and I love anything related to Greek mythology and the Hades and Persephone story is one with a lot of potential.

It has a great premise and offers something original. However, the narrative didn’t flow well and seems to lack structure. The writing also seemed needlessly flowery with some word choices I found odd.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read this book.

I was intrigued by the beautiful cover and I'm usually a fan of greek mythology retellings, so I was really onboard with the premise and ready to love this book. Unfortunately, the poems did not resonate with me. Poetry is very personal and it might be a wonderful experience for others, but to me the word choice seemed a bit overly complex and it got in the way of getting an emotional impact. There wasn't anything particularly new on Persephone's perspective and also I wasn't a fan of how modern elements were integrated. Overall, it was a very lackluster reading experience.

This book is a collection of Greek mythology poems that paints Persephone in a light I have never seen her before. The choice of language and words throughout the poems was very interesting and surprising. It also touches on the Soviet Union.

I really loved this refreshing interpretation of Greek Myths and the lyrical nature of the poems. My personal favourite poem of the collection was "'Camera' Means "Chamber," a Footnote", as it combined modern sensibilities to mythology in such a way that you can see Hades as a dark and brooding male. His fixation on young Persephone is shown as he tries to capture her essence permanently as stated by words of mausoleum, palimpsest, and camera, all means of capturing and preserving someone even after death.

I wanted this to be good so badly but... it just wasn't. Pretentious retellings of Persephone and Hades - the thing is, is this is a particular aspect of greek mythology that has been retold so many times, if you're going to join the pool, I feel you need to do something new and clever, which I just don't think this does. this feels like the product of a beginners poetry workshop

Thank you NetGalley for the chance to read and review this book!

It's no secret that I love Greek mythology! So a retelling of the myth of Persephone, but in verse., seems absolutely perfect for me!

I liked the poems at the start, but you do need to read them out loud to yourself to like them, but found it hard ton understand the story towards the end; I'll definitely read this book again and probably change my rating. For now, this was a great idea and well executed.

A wonderful collection of poems that really stands out. Not only is the author choosing a very current topic but the erotic spin on some of the classic stories are told in a compelling and entirely different way from other "trendy" Persephone and Hades retellings. Any lover of poetry and Greek mythology should read this compilation!

Isaac Stackhouse Wheeler is part of a literary translation team with Reilly Costigan-Humes. They work with both Ukrainian and Russian and are best known for their renderings of novels by great contemporary Ukrainian author Serhiy Zhadan, including Voroshilovgrad, published by Deep Vellum, and Mesopotamia, published by Yale University Press. Wheeler is also a poet whose work has appeared in journals including The Big Windows Review, The Peacock Journal, and Post(blank). His newest collection of poetry is The Eleusinian Mysteries, a series of narrative poems based on the Greek story of Persephone.

The Eleusinian Mysteries were secret religious initiations held every year for the cult of Demeter and Persephone based at the Panhellenic Sanctuary of Eleusis in ancient Greece. Wheeler has clearly studied writings about these rites, as well as classical Greek poetry itself, and it shows in his writing. The poems have a very rhythmic undertone, and the language, while occasionally adjective heavy, alludes back to some of the more famous epics of ancient Greece. For example, the poem “Persephone Feasting” has lines like:
Pointlessly post-coital Persephone
with her pointedly barefoot stride,
flies laughing from the bedchamber,
rambunctious and craving breakfast.

The black tiles in the foyer
were meant to overawe
distinguished visitors, shuffling
slow and quiet so as not to wake

the dead draped over the rafters
and intricately peopling the chandeliers.
Wheeler certainly has an ear for sound, and while the alliteration in these poems can get a bit dense, they are often sonically stunning and resonant.

The narrative of the poems is quite clever, too. While the tale of Hades stealing Persephone and her mother, Demeter, going to war to gain her back is nothing new, Wheeler adds a modern edge to the tale, invoking things like Chernobyl and TNT amongst the classical Greek allusions. As the story progresses, things get darker, and even dip into grisly body horror that, while literarily and historically accurate, are still shocking and graphic.

Isaac Stackhouse Wheeler has taken a classical myth and created a series of narrative poems from it. While this alone is not unique, Wheeler’s lush language and rhythmic stylings make for a sensuous read that catches readers off guard, especially when they dip into the corpses that litter the second half of the text. Overall, this is a really solid collection of mythic horror that will engage any fans of horror poetry.

The Eleusinian Mysteries is a poetry collection which offers a new twist on the Greek myths about Persephone, a traditionally passive character with very little autonomy. Recent popular romantic retellings of Persephone's story focus on her relationship with Hades, which made The Eleusinian Mysteries a refreshing read because the poems cover interactions with a range of characters and the focus is more on Persephone as an individual and her personal growth as a character.

In ‘The Abduction’, the collection begins on familiar ground: “Pebble-bruised” and laughing, Persephone is an innocent and unsuspecting victim enjoying the serene setting of a still, sunny creek. Stackhouse Wheeler’s first poem is tightly-written with some interesting imagery:

[…] then every string
of her is startled by the radiant fissuring
of the surface and the exposure of the fish.

In the second poem, ‘Orpheus Defends Persephone’, the poet’s intention to modernise the stories he is telling begins to show, through idioms such as ‘beyond the pale’, and twentieth century turns of phrase: Hades ‘just sics his assassins on the boy’. These instances were noteworthy because of their incongruity with the rest of the poem, however in later poems, such as ‘Hardcore Movie’, Stackhouse Wheeler fully commits to his characters’ modernisation. The poem is a monologue in which Hades reflects on his sexual encounters with Persephone and compares her attitudes and appetites to those of a porn star:

even when her master’s brutality rattles the bedposts,
Persephone talks dirty in immaculate sentences:
“I want you to cut me up. . .”

The choice to include pop culture references and technology such as smartphones in poetry about characters that have existed for over two thousand years is a risk – there is a fine line between a modern retelling and a retelling with some modern language thrown in – but Stackhouse Wheeler has written something that is worth a second read.

Many retellings are forgettable because they bring nothing new to the story. Often in Hades and Persephone retellings, Persephone is stagnant and secondary despite being an immortal with unlimited potential to evolve. Throughout The Eleusinian Mysteries, Persephone is presented in a variety of new ways: from the damsel in distress, to warrior in ‘Parricide Persephone’: “Styx-wet Persephone struts / across the battlefield like an incision”. Later, Persephone is a bored ruler in ‘Persephone Enthroned’:

So Persephone adroitly arranges
her newly hewn hemispheres,
finding her cosmic task absorbing
as cleaning beneath her nails

As a work of poetry it might have been nice to see the poet experiment with form a bit more but overall the collection still keeps the reader’s interest through the ideas explored in each poem. The ideal audience for this book would be those who are interested in the Greek myths (lots of characters appear in the poems) and anyone looking to see a favourite character presented in different ways. It is a collection with mature content of a sexual and violent nature which will be inappropriate for some readers.

I really enjoyed reading this book. As someone who is fond of both Greek mythology and poetry, to read an amalgamation of the two was a real treat! Wheeler's writing is so evocative and descriptive that I can imagine myself standing there, watching Persephone navigate Hades' palace or witnessing Demeter sending her daughter care packages. Very few Greek retellings are focused on women, and Wheeler has, in such an eloquent way, set women in the forefront of this novel. A must-read for everyone.

Pros: The cover art and title of this book caught my attention as soon as I saw the book. I am interested in Greek mythology—especially Persephone’s story—and was interested to read this modern, poetic take on her myth. I can see how this book could be incorporated into studies of the classics and be a comparison to epic poems of Greek myths.

Cons: While in theory I thought I would enjoy this poetry collection, it ended up not being for me. I think that is because of my personal taste and not because of anything the book does wrong.

Thank you to NetGalley and Aubade Publishing, IBPA for the opportunity to read this book.

My latest in poetry reading experiments and what an interesting one. While modern poetry normally doesn’t do much for me and often does nothing for me, I did appreciate that this collection had a theme, it told a semi-cohesive continuous story and a famous one at that, albeit laden with asides.
I love Greek mythology, and this take on the tale of Persephone is certainly original.
There’s also no denying the author’s gift for verbal gymnastics and linguistic cleverness. Even if the poems didn’t sing to me as a sum total, their individual lines were, at times, positively striking in that ‘whoa, you can do that with words? awesome’ sort of way.
So for that and for how quick of a read it was at only 86 pages and for the fact that it actually told a story, albeit a familiar one, kudos. I know I’m not the target audience, but it was interesting enough of a read. Thanks Netgalley.

This was alright. The idea interested me enough to pick it up.
I enjoy most of the poems in this to a point but I felt like this could have been better. I didn't feel like they all flowed well.
There were no stand outs either like you get normally. Still it wasn't a bad read. And it's a cool idea to write it this way.

The Eleusinian Mysteries initially drew me in because of the title- I have a keen interest in Ancient Greek religion/cults so was curious as to what this would be about. To further learn that these poems focus on Persephone had me requesting the book.

However, most of these poems were just not for me. I couldn’t always get into the flow or fully understand the meaning of the poems (my fault as I do not usually read poems for this reason). The author also uses a lot of “fancy” words which did put me off this (again as I’m not a literature student/read lots of high brow books, these words drew me out of the poems and I had to hunt to find definitions).

This book was sadly not for me.