James Merrill--winner of the Pulitzer and National Book Award--is one of America's most celebrated poets. This acclaimed memoir--nominated for the ...
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reviews
Apr 08, 2010
Emily
rated it: 
the first few pages were dazzling -- the tone, mesmerizing. Scott has always seemed giddy about The Changing Light at Sandover -- which I have never read. I hope it's not one of those books where he worked really hard on the opening passages and scribbled the rest. Fingers crossed.
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Jul 23, 2010
Bryna
rated it: 
Quirkily written and sometimes hard to follow, but generally a compelling, thoughtful and unique perspective on gay life, Europe and personal struggles in the 1950s. Merrill's story is inherently interesting, as the son of the creator of Merrill-Lynch and a privileged, brilliant poet. The book initially struck me as egotistical and pretentious, but won me over with Merrill's ultimate sense of compassion, objectivity and unwavering confidence about who he is and what he's about.
May 29, 2009
Selby
rated it: 
I wanted to like this book; I liked Sterne's absurd account of traveling Italy, I liked the Greek poet Kavafy, I liked the friend who gave me the book as a going-away present when I moved to Rome. Sadly, it was much like listening to a transcript of someone's therapy session--and not even someone you know, or like, or agree with about opera, or want to date... Merrill's furtive loves, petulant break-ups, and long musings on repression are not punctuated often enough by any of those moments tha
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Dec 23, 2010
Martin
rated it:
James Merrill, the poet, was the son of one of the co-founders of Merrill Lynch, and as such lived a cosseted and privileged life. This tells of his youthful life in Europe in the early 1950s, and he has a poet's skill for rendering the sights and exotic people he encountered.
Aug 05, 2008
Jean
rated it:
Poet James Merrill's "young gay man from privileged background" memoir. Good descriptions of European touring and literary life in the 1950s.
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