Rebel Town Reviews [OPEN]

Persephone (Chapters 321 - 523) - @ESHurricane

Persephone (Chapters 321 - 523) by ESHurricane 

Reviewed by Dark_Writes

----------------------

Overview

Persephone feels like a dangerous book, full of dynamite and matches. Author Emily S. Hurricane lets you know right from the start that she's holding no punches. Within a few paragraphs, you know nothing is sacred, nothing is off limits. As a warning, Persephone isn't a gentle read, but it's subversive in all the best ways – cynical, funny, a little drunk and a little lewd.

Well, okay, a lot lewd.

I'm reviewing chapters 321 through 523 (yes, you read that right) on a time hop through the narrator's early years.

Cover/Title

The cover drew me in long before I was formally asked to review the book, with a design that stands out because it is so different from the covers I'm used to seeing on Wattpad. It has simple graphic elements that do a neat job in setting the tone for the book by literally flipping you off with one pink, cartoony finger. No need to question what kind of story you're going to find inside.

Summary

Persephone starts on chapter 321 with a twelve-year-old girl on her knees trying to force herself to throw up her last meal. And then it just keeps on punching as the narrator takes readers through her self-prescribed mission to make her mother wish she'd had an abortion.

Persephone rejects her celebrity mother's attempts to model and literally shape her, and instead embraces a jaded hedonism that borders on interpersonal vandalism.

Grammar/Structure

Emily is obviously an experienced and sophisticated writer who has proofed and revised her work. I found few grammatical issues, though there are two issues worth noting here because they persist throughout the book.

The first is hyphenation. I'll note that anytime two adjectives modify the same noun, you should put a hyphen between them. You don't need to do that with adverbs, which modify adjectives, so you don't need a hyphen in brightly lit room even though you would in red-hot fire.

The second rule to keep in mind is this: Things are that. People are who. Ex: The men who ran late. The cars that sat in the lot.

Characters

Persephone feels fully fleshed out and alive. She is well defined, with a clear worldview and rich history. Emily has created a believable protagonist who will tell readers the unvarnished – if one-sided – truth.

In the portion of the book I read, the supporting characters aren't as well defined. However, given Persephone's narrative voice, I didn't feel they needed to be. Persephone is obviously a transgressive satire, and the narrator's interactions serve their purpose just fine.

Her mother is a delicious specter that haunts the pages but remains mostly heard and not seen. As a catalyst for Persephone's actions, she is great, but doesn't have much of a dynamic part. Other than that, Persephone's interactions take place mainly to advance her self-waged war on her mother, revolving around a string of failed relationships and empty if purposeful hookups.

Dexter, a jailed thrash metal singer, is shaping up to be an interesting character – and, crazily, the only positive influence on her life. As the book progresses, I do believe either Dexter or some other characters will need to be rounded out further to help ground the story.

Narrative

The pace and voice are spot-on. Persephone speaks with a terse, edgy tone, and refuses to take herself seriously. She likes to provoke, and Emily plays the humor perfectly. It's sharp and sweetly perverse. There's dark material at play, but Emily handles it deftly, infusing it with just enough of a wink to keep it from getting distasteful. It isn't for the faint, but it also avoids being gratuitous or grotesque.

Plot/Pacing

Let's address the elephant in the room – the chapter structure. The offbeat numbering system Emily employs is probably enough to shed readers who just want a light airplane read. But those with the patience to persevere are rewarded by a rich story line that bounces from flashbacks to a straightforward present-day narrative. The present-day chapters follow a standard numbering system starting with one and continuing from there. Every other chapter, however, provides a glimpse of Persephone's past, and is numbered in the hundreds based on her age at the time events took place. Emily uses the structure well to flesh out Persephone while also telling a more standard (if twisted) romance story. This helps keep the pace fast and tight, with little dead space even as she builds out pages of backstory.

There's one big thing missing for me at this point, however: I don't get a sense for what Persephone wants, other than to antagonize her mother. Kurt Vonnegut once said every character should want something, even if it's just a glass of water. I don't get a sense that Persephone wants something. She comes across as confident and self-possessed enough that Dexter seems more like a curiosity than something she actively wants. I'm not worried at this point because I feel the relationship is still developing, but eventually Persephone is going to need to have some vulnerability if she wants to keep readers rooting for her.

Closing comments

Emily is a bold writer who is obviously having a blast writing this book. Persephone is a lot of fun for readers who enjoy black humor. I'm curious to see how the relationship between Dexter and Persephone develops, and whether her jailbird rock god can polish the chip off her shoulder from behind bars. I personally hope not, but there's no telling how things will go – and that's what keeps me turning pages!