I won this book in a goodreads giveaway, and I was excited to read it, until I read it. The Exhibition of Persephone Q by Jessi Jezewska Stephens sounded promising. A young woman, Percy (not my real name), finds herself pregnant, married, and unable to sleep because she keeps holding her husbands nose closed when he sleeps. Her husband, Misha, has no reaction, and this scares her even more than the fact that she keeps doing it. She does worry that if it keeps going she will end up suffocation him, and she keeps letting us (the readers) know that she loves him and she has no idea why she is doing it. She then finds that her picture is in an exhibition of photography put on by her ex-fiance, who she keeps referring to as her fiance. The book seems to meander back and forth through many things that happen or conversations that Percy has. With so little action I found that it felt like it wasn't going anywhere, and at the end I felt that this was true. The actions she takes against Misha aren't resolved, and we never really find out why she has been holding his nose closed. The reader going through this with her, and her hanging out with her ex-fiance (who is annoyingly referred to as the fiance throughout the entire book, which makes it become tedious), and her pregnancy, and her inability to sleep, and nothing seems to really come together.
This book seems to desire to be about the alienation of Percy, but all of this she brought on herself. She is the one who no longer sleeps with her husband because she keeps pinching his nose closed. She is the one walking around New York in the middle of the night. She is the one who chases her ex-fiance to get answers as to why her picture is in his exhibit. And, even though this takes place in post 9-11 New York, the setting doesn't seem important, and besides some conversation, this could take place at any time, anywhere. It doesn't seem to pick up on the paranoia and trauma that followed the 9-11 attacks. Although, maybe this is represented in how paranoid and disturbed Percy seems to be.
Either way, I felt this book tried to hard. The language used didn't seem realistic to me, and I didn't find Percy to be an interesting or relatable character. The language and prose was overdrawn and at times I felt the author was trying too hard to make it sound smart. Of course, if you know anything about the original Persephone, some of the story will make sense, but that is only if you know the story.
This book will be released in February of 2020, and I am glad I won a copy because now I won't have to buy one. I can't say I'd recommend this one.
This book seems to desire to be about the alienation of Percy, but all of this she brought on herself. She is the one who no longer sleeps with her husband because she keeps pinching his nose closed. She is the one walking around New York in the middle of the night. She is the one who chases her ex-fiance to get answers as to why her picture is in his exhibit. And, even though this takes place in post 9-11 New York, the setting doesn't seem important, and besides some conversation, this could take place at any time, anywhere. It doesn't seem to pick up on the paranoia and trauma that followed the 9-11 attacks. Although, maybe this is represented in how paranoid and disturbed Percy seems to be.
Either way, I felt this book tried to hard. The language used didn't seem realistic to me, and I didn't find Percy to be an interesting or relatable character. The language and prose was overdrawn and at times I felt the author was trying too hard to make it sound smart. Of course, if you know anything about the original Persephone, some of the story will make sense, but that is only if you know the story.
This book will be released in February of 2020, and I am glad I won a copy because now I won't have to buy one. I can't say I'd recommend this one.
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