Trista Mateer

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.

Aphrodite Made Me Do It

I didn't forget how to fight for myself. I forgot that I could.

The thing about embracing your own chaos is it never becomes clear when you need to stop.

Cici Pearson

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 will make you believe in the possibility of your own healing.

Mai ANDRIEUX

i can't really explain how i feel about this book. like i can't seem to form the words. it resonates really well at most points but it also seems not quite right or enough at others. the collages & art work were incredibly gorgeous & the conversations with aphrodite made me feel some type of way.

Charlie Winchester 

The boundaries of poetry are ever-evolving, and what resonates with one reader might not click with another. While some pieces might feel akin to diary entries, others might see them as raw, unfiltered expressions of truth. Appreciating the diversity of approaches within this new wave could be rewarding, but it's just not for me.

Liana

sophia n

i don't really want to review this because it was so personal for me that it feels weird to *review*. but attempting to put the personal part aside, i really thought this is written and presented in a format that is very powerful and accessible. it felt like i was reading someone's art journal, but also in a way that had beats and progressed essentially a "story" through the poetry collection. anyway i loved it, i want to buy the physical format asap.

Alyssa Pick

** spoiler alert **
           I love Greek mythology and I really liked how the author made me thing about all the myths and legends that I have read about. And how they are always written by men, that women are the reason for all the bad things in the world. 

This book explained how women are often guilted into feeling a certain way but we should never feel guilty for how we feel. Super quick and easy read, I find most poetry books are but I really enjoyed it.

Only thing that threw me were the pictures and the graphics. Kinda gives the vibes that this was made in 2012 or something. Lol.

ava sadlowski

i’m not usually a fan of modern poetry, but i did enjoy this one. the book was beautiful, and the contents explored similar concepts as other collections i’ve read (cough, cough-amanda lovelace) but much more originally and poetically. loved it

Sabrina

It was okay. Most of the art/ pictures in it were extremely cheesy and looked like generic stock photos. As for the poetry, there were a few good poems (less than 10 tho). However, most of it was shallow, unremarkable, and forgettable. It’s nothing you haven’t read a million times on the Instagram stories of heartbroken girls. If you see it in a store, flip through it if you’re curious. Save your money, don’t bother buying this book.

✨sunshine✨

"What brings us together will always be more powerful than what keeps us apart."

While I can recognise themes that have been repeated from other books, I also loved this book! I finished this even though I was in a slumpy place!

If you liked Nikita Gills book Great Goddesses then you’ll like the way this book was done too. It’s not the poetry, but the overall narrative that stays. But on the note of the poetry, I actually loved reading that too and I have more highlights than I’d like to admit to on my kindle. 

Seher Mohsin

While I can recognise themes that have been repeated from other books, I also loved this book! I finished this even though I was in a slumpy place!

If you liked Nikita Gills book Great Goddesses then you’ll like the way this book was done too. It’s not the poetry, but the overall narrative that stays. But on the note of the poetry, I actually loved reading that too and I have more highlights than I’d like to admit to on my kindle. 

illa

'No one can take your story from you if you know how to wield words. Their voices may be many but yours will be honest. You have the power to right wrongs and sing truths. You still have the pen in your hand no matter what you choose to do with it.

I'm???? I'm sobbing right now?????? This is truly a work of art it's so beautiful and well-written. The messages in this book were really powerful and just overall amazing. This won't be a book I'll be forgetting about any time soon.

Autumn

As a fan of Greek mythology and poetry, I was excited to read Aphrodite Made Me Do It . As someone who writes poetry, studies poetry, and has taken part in countless poetry workshops to learn the craft, I was disappointed. Again.

If you love Rupi Kaur and think she’s the definition of modern poetry (woketry) then you’re going to love Trista Mateer. In this published art diary, Mateer gives us another example of modern feminists who redesign ancient Greek writing so much that you have to wonder if it counts as cultural appropriation; see my review of Wake, Siren . Stop saying that Aphrodite made you do it and instead start asking if Aphrodite wanted you to do it.

Then there’s Trista’s definition of poetry. I mean, with poems such as, “I went into it with ink” (27) or, “All of us are survivors until we are not anymore” (112), I’m sure you’re surprised that she isn’t being awarded the Pulitzer Prize. I mean hell, one of her poems is literally a to-do list (77)! How groundbreaking! She’s definitely a talented writer with the way she has zero consistency in her plot and no coherent message past the surface-level “You’ll get through this”. 

Oh, and how could I forget that she writes line after line about how ancient women were framed and treated poorly, but then writes a poem about the male Achilles and his heartfelt mourning for Patroclus (94). Oh, oh! And what about her poem where she states, 

 “Fuck another poem about everything that has hurt me. Fuck another poem that means I have to stand in front of strangers and make a bouquet of my trauma. Fuck another poem that prevents me from forgetting my abusers…” (Mateer 138). 

And then she proceeds to write this entire book. The cognitive dissonance is blaring. 

This book is difficult to read. Most of the poems are untitled and I still don’t know if they are all meant to be individual poems or if the section names are the poem titles and all of the poems are actually just one poem under the section.

I acknowledge that she went through sexual abuse and has conflictions with her identity. But going through trauma does not make you good at writing by default. Mateer’s book is a collection of poorly written ‘poems’ that in reality are half-baked ideas that have the potential to be expanded upon. This isn’t poetry; this is a bunch of journal entries that, now published, will follow and define Mateer for the rest of her life. Does she want to be seen as a talented writer, or does she want to be seen as an eternal victim defined by her trauma? This is no Crush; this is not a beautifully written story about toxic LGBT relationships that has a followable plot and fantastic word usage. Also you should read Crush.

Tldr; people need to stop publishing books that are all about their current emotions, and maybe try to move on from their past experiences in a way that isn’t so public.

Alexa Jade

A new fave! My heart is racing so I’m struggling to put together my thoughts on it right now.

Olivia Camarena

Tegan Anderson

I received this book as an eARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book is a poetry and prose collection about selfcare, retelling Aphrodite’s empowering story through the past and present. I think this is the best poetry collection I’ve ever read. It’s a beautiful story about forgiveness, dealing with past trauma, and accepting yourself just the way you are.

Reading this book felt like a conversation with Aphrodite herself, talking about her strengths and struggles and life and love. I felt such a strong connection to the story and I found a lot of myself in the pages.

I’m not usually a huge fan of poetry, but I loved the format of this book and it suited the story perfectly. It changed perspective between Aphrodite and the author, and featured a lot of illustrations and typography by the author between the poems which I think would be stunning to see in a physical copy of the book.

I don’t think I will ever recommend a book more than I recommend this one, especially if you’re in the place to read it.

There are so many beautiful quotes I loved from this book. Instead of spoiling too much for you, I will leave you with three of them:
I was worshipped on the battlefield once. They brought me blood before they brought me perfume. There were wars started in my name.
When people say you cannot love others until you love yourself, they fundamentally misunderstand love. Nothing thrives in isolation.
Men wrote the stories of my birth as if they were standing on the shore when I was spat up onto it. They picked up their pens and waxed poetic and nobody questioned it. Nobody asked me instead.

Gabriel Noel 

ARC Given by NetGalley for Honest Review

I'd like to start off saying if I could give this book 10 stars I would. Aphrodite Made Me Do It is an incredible collection of empowering feminist poems told through the eyes of the poet and goddess Aphrodite. Poems range from personal matters of Mateer to loud and bold exclamations via Aphrodite for her women comrades. Each poem that I read gave me a sense of comradery and empowerment, coupled with the beautiful artwork, this book created a visceral reaction in my heart that I can only hope for in any poetry collection. I'd recommend this to anyone age 13 and up since it deals with some triggering topics, but it can be compared to the likes of Amanda Lovelace and Rupi Kaur in that she writes for readers in all stages of life! This is definitely a must for any library poetry collection and I personally will be picking up a copy for myself when it's published!

Emily Perkovich

I am always conflicted on books like this. A lot of the micro feel good/self help stuff grates on me and feels inauthentic. I think this book did a good job mixing it in with passion and anger and ferocity in a way that made me feel it was honest.

Jelke Lenaerts

This book has content warnings for body image, sexual assault, rape, eating disorders, queerphobia, emotional abuse, physical abuse, gore, blood, dead and fire (content warnings list included in book).
I RECEIVED A GALLEY OF THIS BOOK THROUGH NETGALLEY.

I didn’t really know what to expect from this poetry collection. The cover just looked stunning and the title intrigued me so I decided to request it from netgalley and I’m glad I made that decision. I don’t know a lot about poetry so I can’t critically look at it as much as someone else might be able to. I do know however that poetry is subjective and you either connect to it or you don’t. Well, I really connected to the poetry in this collection. It just felt like reading someone’s art journal. It felt very personal and even though I haven’t gone through the same stuff the author is actually talking about I still really connected to i tand could relate it to things happening in my life. For the rest I also think this is a very uplifting read. Even though it deals with a lot of maybe sadder topics it does so in a way that’s uplifting and makes you believe that you can get trough it. Besides the poetry there are also some collage like art pieces in this book that added a lot to this collection. It helped visualise the poems through interesting metaphores and were just beautiful to look at. It also added a lot tot hat art journal feeling I had with this whole book. This is definetly I book I recommend you check out

Moon of Pages

I absolutely loved the format in which this was told, I loved all the messages that both broke my heart and healed it at the same time. 

While still being a ‘modern’ poetry collection, it definitely was unique and I loved how Aphrodites’ story was explored in this as well. 

The art was also really pretty and made some of the poems stand out even more.

Lena

I received an arc of this title from NetGalley for review.

This got me in all the right places. Each piece stands alone as incredible to me but as a whole this moves me more than any poetry collection has before. The way Mateer used Aphrodite to tell their own story was beautiful. I would highly recommend!

Ariel Himboi

I was very hesitant to go into this but I am incredibly happy that I did. I felt this was amazing. I resonated with the poems written and as a mythology nut I nearly cried out of happiness when the author started including a variation on Aphrodite's point of view mixed with the author's own words and feelings. 

Every poem struck a chord with me and left something deep. The pictures got distracting once in a while and after a short amount of time I started to look at them quickly and move on and I can only hope the physical copy will look different. 

I enjoyed this series of poems immensely. It was beautiful and charming and reminded me of Rupi Kaur in the way the raw emotions are presented, and a sense of strong femininity and girl power thats hard to find. 

All in all it was an amazing read and I wish to get my hands on a physical copy as soon as possible.

zee ✨️

A book filled with softness and strength and beauty and pain and anger and war; it takes your breath away and it makes you feel heard and seen and understood - I have been waiting to get my hands on this book for a while, and it was worth the wait.

Aphrodite is a Greek goddess associated with love, beauty, pleasure, passion and sex. The mother of Eros and lover of Adonis, she is a character of mythology that many would say they are familiar with. 

And yet, Mateer presents a different side to the goddess we think we know. 


  "They cat-called me until people couldn't separate me from sex."


If you love the feminine power that Lovelace portrays in her own poetry collections, you will love this gorgeously written collection of poems. The poetry is split between prose from Aphordite's POV, as well as from the author, written to the goddess of love. 

It speaks of love in every sense of the word - for yourself and others; living with or without; yearning for it; having it; losing it.



  "Couldn't either bother trying to comprehend it all together - that I could be bloody and beautiful, that I could be divine and approachable."



It is a collection that is both strong and delicate, powerful yet raw. This is absolutely a new favourite in the world of poetry for me.

Thank you to the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

Note: all quotes are from an advanced copy of the work and may differ in the completed publication.

everlinet

Me, giving chances to modern poetry every single year and failing in loving it. I really liked some of the poems from the perspective of Aphrodite and that’s why I decided to read it in the first place. But overall I just can’t find a modern poetry book I’d like. I just can’t, but I am still trying my best. 
I have nothing against other people’s art and I respect and value them but I just cannot relate to it mostly or it won’t touch my heart even if I do.

Aphrodite Made Me Do It

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