Aphrodite Made Me Do It by Trista Mateer

Genre: Poetry, Mythology

Publishing Info: October 2019 by Central Avenue Publishing

Pages: 224

Star Rating: 4/5

Back Cover Summary:

Bestselling and award-winning author Trista Mateer takes an imaginative approach to self-care in this new poetry and prose collection, Aphrodite Made Me Do It. In this empowering retelling, she uses the mythology of the goddess to weave a common thread through the past and present. By the end of this book, Aphrodite make you believe in the possibility of your own healing.

Thank you so much to Central Avenue Publishing and NetGalley for the eARC of this book.

I wasn’t sure what to expect from this book, or how much I would enjoy it, as I don’t often read poetry. In fact, I didn’t enjoy much poetry when I did my English Literature degree, but I’ve come to realise that I don’t hate poetry, it’s just a matter of finding the words that sing to you.

This book has a varied style, with some written in more poetic form and other sections written in more of a prose style. The mixture makes it more accessible, and although I personally would have enjoyed more of the fragmented poetry sections, I think this does give it appeal to a wider audience. You don’t have to like poetry to like this book.

The topics covered are very relatable, put in simple terms that everyone can understand, but those words are put together in a beautifully lyrical way. Subject matter such as body image, assault, love, coming out, abuse and family are all explored in a very honest way. Using mythology as a way to tell the story and explore the themes of the book was an interesting and effective choice. It does help that I’ve always had an interest in mythology. Aphrodite is given a voice and the book gives an interesting perspective on how the love goddess is represented in literature and culture.

It was a very quick read, and I almost wished there had been more (which I guess is a good thing), but at the same time it is nice to read something compact for a change. There is certainly an encouragement for self-care and healing, and I did feel uplifted having finished it.  

The experience of this book would be even better in paperback, and I would urge you to get a hard copy of this book rather than an ebook. There are illustrations interspersed through the poetry, and I would have loved to be able to see them in colour and the words all laid out on the page as intended.

Even if you think poetry isn’t your thing, I would encourage you to give this book a go!