Reviews tagging 'Homophobia'

The Palace of Eros by Caro De Robertis

4 reviews

ahse1dances's review

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challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective relaxing sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I received an Advanced Readers Copy of this book. I really loved it, it was a Greek mythology retelling, but this rendition added so much nuance and depth to Psyche and Eros’s story. I think that this book navigated the concept of being non-binary or genderfluid really well. It felt very intentional and well integrated with Eros as a deity. Psyches slow decent to the climax was done well. The prose is beautiful but not overly flowery, I was engaged the whole time. And everything wrapped up really nicely. The only thing that would have made this better was more of Eros’s perspective throughout the story.
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catsteaandabook's review against another edition

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  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No

1.75

I’ll start with what I liked. The prose was pretty good, though Eros’ dialogue did feel awkwardly modern at times, and it was entertaining. 

With that said, this book kind of felt like a slap in the face to Greek mythology fans. One of my favorite things about Greek mythology and what draws me to it is the fact that queerness is normalized, and I am not alone in this. Greek mythology is incredibly popular, specifically amongst queer people, for this reason. Caro De Robertis just decided to ignore this. 

Psyche says that “Even outside of marriage, two women could not be together, it was unheard of.” This isn’t true. While Ancient Greece was extremely sexist so we don’t have nearly as many accounts of queer women as queer men, they did exist. Obviously there was the famous lesbian poetess Sappho, but also Plato mentioned in his Symposium women who "do not care for men, but have female attachments"

Furthermore, Eros has the ability to change her body so sometimes she’s female, sometimes male, and sometimes in-between, and for some reason Zeus hates this. He says, “She was born female; to defy that is a crime.” And “when she becomes a man, she must be fully male. None of this in-between, blended nonsense.” There are multiple gender/sex-bendy deities in Greek mythology such as Aphroditus and Hermaphroditus and even more stories of witches or gods changing peoples sexes for one reason or another. WHY does anyone care about Eros doing it. Also they act like Eros is the only lesbian goddess when Artemis is literally right there. And if Zeus found Eros and their relationship so appalling, why did he let Psyche become a god? I just feel like if you wanted to include homo/transphobia in your story why choose Ancient Greece and specifically Ancient Greek deities? Normally making a queer retelling comes with the difficulty of the added homophobia but not here, yet it was added anyway and it made the story make less sense. 

I don’t regret reading this, but it was disappointing. 
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megansoetaert's review against another edition

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emotional medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I expected to like this book, but I loved it so, so much! De Robertis’ writing is flowing and emotional. I felt intimately connected to the characters, Psyche in particular, and loved reading their reflections and emotions.

The Palace of Eros is one of the best retellings of Greek mythology I’ve read. De Robertis created a story that expands what women in ancient Greece could be, what forms love can take, and how gender is expansive and wonderful. I can’t wait for this book to be out in the world 🫶🏼

Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for a copy of this eARC in exchange for my honest review.
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unforgivenparrot58's review

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dark emotional inspiring medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

OMG! Queer Psyche and Eros! And Eros is nonbinary! A queer Greek mythology lover's dream!
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