DINNER WITH PERSEPHONE

Poet Patricia Storace presents a delicious vision of modern Greece--full of vitality, vulgarity, tradition and passion. Storace weaves myths and metaphors with the gritty realism that comes from having lived in Greece. Using the myth of Persephone, who spent six months in the underworld and six months on earth each year, as a unifying metaphor, Storace explores stories of cultural traditions in modern guise. Jill Eikenberry delivers a narration perfectly in tune with the author. She relates with the detached yet passionate tone the author conveys. Eikenberry allows the beautifully written prose to do most of the work, but her finesse with timing and emphasis adds tremendously to the audio rendition. Her voice at times smooth and ethereal then changes to convey Storace’s wit and irony. One hears her delight in the contrasts and complexities of ancient symbols and myths woven into the brash chaos of modern Greece. The sojourn with Storace and Eikenberry is all too brief and at the end, like Persephone, we long to return to the light. R.F.W. ©AudioFile, Portland, Maine [Published: SEPT 97]