In this horror reimagining of a Greek tragedy, a hedonistic cult leader teaches a new widow the true price of female freedom. Lena wants her life back. Her wealthy, controlling, humorless husband has just died, and now she contends with her controlling, humorless son, Drew. Lena lands in Athens with her best friend in tow for the unveiling of her son's, pet project-the luxurious Agape Villas. Years of marriage amongst the wealthy have whittled Lena's spirit into rope and sinew, smothered by tasteful cocktail dresses and unending small talk. In Athens she yearns to rediscover her true nature, remember the exuberant dancer and party girl she once was, but Drew tightens his grip, keeping her cloistered inside the cavernous, marble rooms of Agape, demanding that she fall in line. But Lena is intrigued by a group of women living in tents on the beach in front of the hotel. She can their music at night, hear them calling her to dance. Soon she'll find that an ancient God stirs here on the beach, and women are waking up all around the island, driving mother and son toward a monstrous, gory battle, where only one of them will make it out alive.
An ambitious debut ... All of these qualities are on gleeful display in Pochoda’s stiletto-sharp remake ...
What ensues in Ecstasy isn’t exactly a surprise, even if you haven’t read Euripides, though it’s still shocking. Nearly 2,500 years after The Bacchae, Pochoda proves that the old gods never die. They just move on to another party.
A deconstructed Greek tragedy told through a feminist lens and full of relentlessly unsettling moments that will shake even the staunchest reader. This fever dream of a story is short and can be consumed easily in one sitting ... A quick and powerful novel that shows off Ivy Pochoda’s gifts as a writer who knows how to get under readers’ skin.
In tight, ferocious prose, Lena is haunted by memories of her controlling husband and suffocates under the close watch of her son ... Pochoda’s intoxicating feminist retelling of The Bacchae is full of dreamlike prose that flows effortlessly. A great pick for fans of CJ Leede and Cassandra Khaw that begs to be finished in one sitting.
