Thank you to Maria Zoccola, Scribner, and Netgalley for an advanced reader copy of "Helen of Troy, 1993: Poems" for an honest review.

As a fan of feminist reclaiming and retelling of mythic figures, I have to say I did expect more of this book going into it than I got out. I was expecting something more holy and interwoven/interconnected/intersectional, like Nikita Gill's "Great Goddesses," while this was more rural country backroads and trailer parks. I found it amusing in places. The easter eggs for mythic buffs will be fun for readers to find. I did like that these pieces center the swans, Helen, and the other Women while only giving titles to Helen's Husband (The Big Cheese) and The Man Who Stole Her (The Stranger). Those were really good touches.

Thanks very much to the publisher and NetGalley for this eARC of a brilliant poetry collection. I'm still somewhat a poetry newbie, but I absolutely adored Maria Zoccola's fresh take on Helen of Troy, reimagining her as a woman in Tennessee in the 1990s. (A particular favorite was the Jurassic Park poem.)

Thanks to NetGalley and Scribner for the ARC!

Maria Zoccola’s "Helen of Troy, 1993" is a self-assured and sparkling debut collection—a book that rewards all readers, regardless of their familiarity with poetry or mythology.

I’m pretty clueless when it comes to Helen of Troy. At first, I wondered if that would make this book inaccessible, but I was pleasantly surprised by how thoughtfully Zoccola crafts the collection into a modern myth. For me, the reading experience became an exciting act of recursion—I’d dive into a poem and then spend time on wikipedia learning more about its context before reading it again. It felt like a fitting way to approach a book so preoccupied with the way families build their own personal mythologies. I found myself reading certain lines as history before re-reading them as something deeper—fact stepping out of the way to make room for truth.

On paper, "Helen of Troy, 1993" might sound like a diet version of Anne Carson’s "Autobiography of Red," but the pop sensibilities in Zoccola’s work don’t diminish its depth. If anything, they add to it, ensuring that each poem feels exciting and substantial on its own terms, even before one considers the poet’s themes or intent.

And this is a book with themes!

Throughout the collection, Helen articulates her discontent with the vision of womanhood foisted upon her. We read about a trip to Piggly Wiggly that exhaustedly moves through two-for-one yogurt sales before reflecting on apples that “tremble / but hold their shape, forgetting they were once more than they are.” It’s easy to see how the speaker maps her existential anxieties onto the mundanities of a grocery trip, but that doesn’t make it any less fulfilling to read. Each poem feels narratively essential, and readers never get the sense that the premise is wearing thin.

It’s rare for a debut collection to be so successful in its ambitions, but the voice of Zoccola’s speaker is immediately striking and memorable—the book is shaded by a rich dialect and lyrical regionalisms, and every poem feels so comfortable with what it’s doing. I encourage readers to buy the audiobook and listen to how Zoccola inhabits her speaker’s voice and develops her character. For poems where it’s at its height, check out either of the following:

“helen of troy tells her mother it’s a graduation girls’ trip and drives alone to the clinic in nashville”

“helen of troy’s new whirlpool washing machine”

To put it plainly, this is an excellent collection, made all the more impressive by the fact it’s a debut. It's a book I look forward to revisiting often. Read it now!

Found the book fascinating, I'm always interested in Greek Mythology and loved the development as well as the explanation at the end, really helped broaden my understanding of the narrative. The longer I read, the more I liked it, since I was a bit iffy towards the beginning of the collection.

As someone who can get impatient with poetry collections, this collection's cohesive and familiar retelling of the Iliad was a delight. The lyricism of the language was resonant of best translations of the actual epic, with standout lines like:

"and bright sand, booze-dark sea stretching out into a song we can't sing but have been humming our whole lives."

I wish there had been more of Cly—so I'll begin my search for more of Zoccola's poetry.

Highly recommend this to folks who love the unique retellings of the classics (what if Zoccola's Helen could hang out with Gwen E. Kirby's Cassandra?).

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.

Beautiful adaptation of the myth from a Southern perspective. I love when people can retell mythology through a realistic lens. After all, aren't the emotions behind them universal? Zoccola's poetry weaves a familiar tale with specific details that you could find yourself in. The universal feelings of angst, mixed with the hormonal cravings of a pregnant young woman, to trying to search for a way to *escape* her fate. One of the final poems, 'helen of troy explains to the gods' simplifies and succintly sums up the entire collection. I think it's the piece that ties the entire collection together, though of course, the collection is built off this idea of a Helen of Troy retelling. I enjoyed the poem for its specific language and the way it was laid out, but I do think, to those who do not understand the concept, it could be confusing. For those unfamiliar with the pop culture references, this could also be confusing. However, excellent work and I want to read more of Zoccola's work!

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the DRC

"gods of difficult things, i’m out there still, foraging in the threads of the world for a story i like better than the one i’ve been telling."

Thanks, netgalley and scribner, for this ARC.

A face that launched a thousand dirt bikes. A thousand piggly wiggly trips. A thousand regrets. This collection of poetry reimagines the story of helen as a young wife and mother, quietly desperate in Tennessee, in 1993, complete with a greek chorus and swan narrator.

Stay with me.
I swear, if you open this book, you won't regret it.

This collection was so beautiful, and i loved looking at one of those famous beauties of history through a fresh lens. The intro to the collection put it pretty perfectly- even if you were new to troy or poetry, this is approachable enough to enjoy, if youre a seasoned poetry consumer, there are lines in here that will absolutely punch you in the gut. Highly recommend this book for all the helens in your own life, the illiad obsessed, and really...anyone

I really enjoyed this collection of poetry as someone who is from the south and enjoys mythology retellings. This is one of few collections I've read that tells poetry stemming from a central character's point of view and I liked how that created a cohesive narrative arc.

Thanks to NetGalley and Scribner for the ARC and opportunity to read this prior to release.

I’m not a poetry person, but this book has absolutely captured me. Zoccola’s snapshots of Helen are as relatable as they are riveting, and the rendering of big events in Helen’s legend is fantastic. If you’re familiar with all of the permutations of Helen’s story, you might recognize them (I got a few, but there were more that I missed). Be sure to read the Afterword.

For those averse to poetry, it reads a bit more like prose so don’t let the challenge scare you away. The payoff is well worth it and I’ll be buying a physical copy as it’s one I want to annotate and return to over and over.

As someone who doesn't gravitate towards poetry often, I enjoyed Helen of Troy, 1993. I think the entire premise is incredible—reimagining Helen + her family as living in Tennessee in the 90's? Inspired work by Maria Zoccola.

At just over 100 pages, Helen of Troy, 1993 is a quick read—but not one to ignore. I loved the nods to classic mythology without hitting the reader over the head too hard or being too obvious. The entire Swan motif and interludes were brilliant—they were the highlights to me. I also thought the last few poems (especially the longer last one) were breathtaking.

There were some poems that didn't quite flow for me or felt a little heavy-handed. I also felt like it wasn't until I read Zoccola's note at the end about some of the decisions, choices, and connections she made did they register. And while they were brilliant additions, I do wish either she didn't feel like she had to spell it out at the end or they were a bit more obvious (without being too obvious, if that makes sense). I'll be honest—I am not the most versed in poetry so it may have been that, but I don't know if I would have realized certain things (like the golden shovel poem format) without that.

Overall, I would definitely reread and purchase to go over and catch more of those little details I missed my first time.

True rating: 3.5 stars but rounded up.

Helen of Troy 1993 by Marie zoccola was an excellent read. I was obsessed with it the second it crossed my dash and I knew I had to read it, no part of me is dissapointed.

This collection of poems is easily one of my favorites. Growing up in TN in the 90s (and not far from Sparta!), I could easily place Helen and the other characters within my own scope of the world. It's easy to see the gossip-y women at church, remember the way the tile looked within the Piggly Wiggly. It brought up so many memories that I had forgotten about.

The story itself is a beautiful one, and Zoccola's way with words and how she describes things had me laughing and excited to dive in further and read more. Helen's voice was so strong and because of that the afterword had me floored. Honestly, I cannot recommend this enough. I will be obnoxious about this I fear.

In Helen of Troy, 1993, Maria Zoccola transplants Helen to small town Tennessee and utterly humanizes her. This book doesn’t stick strictly to the Greek myths and is the better for it. They are its inspiration but Tennessee’s Helen takes on a life, and an attitude, of her own. Likewise, the incarnations of the supporting characters belong solely to their contemporary environment. What results is a book that can be enjoyed without much knowledge of Greek mythology.

This book starts with Helen boldly defying any judgement of her unless they have been through the same gritty experiences she has endured. Through the course of the book we see her born, her married life, her affair and her return. We see the world through the eyes of the town women and swans are a theme throughout. The great battles are with wasps and kudzu. Epiphanies occur in movie theaters.

The poetic range is from lyrical to rank to plainspoken revealing that Zoccola is capable of a variety of voices. The language reflects the vagaries of life, from intense to routine. The person Zoccola creates as the Helen of 1993 isn’t necessarily likable but she’s recognizable as one of us, sallying forth with our flaws, navigating the life we’ve been born into, wrestling with the choices we’ve made and what they’ve come to.

I read this book–all the way to the end, which includes the poet giving us her history with the Greek myths–and went right back to the start and read it again. I enjoyed it at least as much the second time and can see this book being read and reread and studied for its various nuances and for where it leans into and where it departs from the myths.

One point that didn’t resolve itself with the second read is the decision not to present the poems in a chronological order. We go from Helen being born to one early childhood experience to her married and pregnant. Later poems provide us with some background on her youth and meeting her husband. They are amidst poems in the present. There is a storyline here (the affair comes and goes, her relationship with her daughter develops) and I wish the poems would have been presented in a more linear fashion. During the first reading, the time-switching was confusing. The fact that each individual poem is engaging kept me going. For the second reading, it was still jarring and I found myself wondering why it was decided to disrupt the timeline. Part of the reason I regret the abandonment of a more linear narrative was that this book would have been a wonderful gateway into poetry for those who are usually fiction readers. I think that’s less true the way the poems are currently arranged.

Even with that one hitch, I highly recommend anyone give this book a read. Zoccola provides a refresher on the myth in the back (and a family tree in the front) if that historical/literary background matters to you but it’s by no means necessary. Helen of Troy, 1993, is embedded in her own time and place, breaking and mending her life in recognizable ways.

Maria Zoccola has done an incredible job reimagining one of the most famous figures from Greek Myth into a 1990s Southern housewife. Helen of Troy, 1993 is a beautiful collection of narrative poetry which is a retelling of Helen from Greek antiquity. I will forever be drawn to new takes on these tales. Each piece has such a distinct and powerful voice and the volume holds a lot of wit. I didn't love them all, but the whole work stands out.

This works so well as a story in itself but those that know the myths will definitely get more out of it. Maria does explain Helen's story (from Greek Mythology) in her afterward for those that need more context. Along with that, her notes section lists some of her poems and the myths they are derived from.

I highly recommend this collection to Greek myth and poetry fans in general. I will pick up anything Maria writes after this. What a great debut.

As part of my effort to diversify my reading, I’ve been exploring poetry collections, and Helen of Troy, 1993 immediately caught my eye—first because of its title, and then because of its evocative cover. The concept of the legendary Helen living through the mundanity of a small town in 1993 was both fascinating and unique.

One of the most important aspects of the collection is the afterword, which I highly recommend reading. Maria Zoccola provides invaluable insight into the collection, offering a deeper understanding of the poems and their themes. Several poems in particular stood out to me, including “helen of troy feuds with the neighborhood,” “helen of troy watches jurassic park in theaters,” “helen of troy’s turn to judge,” “helen of troy reigns over chuck e. cheese,” and “helen of troy explains to the gods.” Each of these poems offers a fresh perspective on the ancient myth and womanhood, juxtaposing the grandeur of Helen’s legendary life with the banality of modern existence.

What I found especially compelling was the way Zoccola reimagines Helen of Troy, larger-than-life and yet somehow grounded in the ordinary. The idea that someone as iconic as Helen could experience the same mundane, everyday moments as a mortal woman resonated with me deeply. Zoccola masterfully explores how Helen’s mythic elopement with Paris—once a dramatic and world-altering event—can be reinterpreted as a relatable, almost commonplace affair. The collection touches on how, even in a small town, Helen’s overwhelming sense of self can burst forth. It’s a look at how a woman running away from her husband and child, supposedly burning her life to the ground, could result in her living the same life in the end.

I see myself returning to this poetry collection again. I feel like there is a lot here that I could find in subsequent reads.

Thank you to Maria Zoccola and Scribner via NetGalley for providing an eARC of this book in exchange for my honest feedback.

This wasn't the right fit for me, which is fine. I feel a bit over retellings of, and honestly at this point even references to, Greek mythology. The writing is nice. I give it a neutral 3 stars.

My thanks to NetGalley and Scribners for an e-ARC of this slim collection of related poems, to be published in January 2025. A good idea by Scribners to do it only in ebook and paperback formats.
In the last decade, and even more so on the last 3 or 4 years, there have been many modern rewrites of Ancient Classical texts. This particular volume resets part of The Iliad in Sparta, TN, circa early '90's.
It works really well.
Zoccola, this is her first published book, combines a Homeric cadence with contemporary to 1993 detail in the life of the beautiful "Helen". Married and pregnant by age 21, her husband not The Big Cheese any longer, she runs off for an affair, only to come home a few months later. Proud in this small town, but knows it is all a dead end.
My only complaint is with the title, as this is really "Helen of Sparta" rather than Troy.
Brilliant idea, done well.
4 out of 5. A nice addition to the burgeoning genre of Classics Rewritten for Modern Times. Think Anne Carson, but less scholarly (but that is OK, and it fits 1990's TN much better).

Really smart, intelligent poems. Vibrant and doesn't hold back. Fantastic social commentary--and very interesting. Unlike anything else I've read this year--so very intellectually fun. Reminds me of Stein's WHAT TO MISS WHEN--if you enjoyed that collection, I think you would enjoy this one. Highly recommended.

I probably should have brushed up on my Greek poems prior to reading this as my memory of Helen of Troy is scant. I loved the afterword and notes from the author as it really helped flesh out the story for me and see the connection between this retelling and the original stories of Helen.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for an eARC.

Author used an interesting way to write this book, I really enjoyed reading it, nicely done.