Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

The Afterlife is a Dry County

by Charmi Keranen (Goodreads Author)

5.0 of 5 stars 5.00 · rating details · 7 ratings · 3 reviews

Published (first published December 14th 2011)

more details... edit details

Get a copy:

More…

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

Lists with This Book

This book is not yet featured on Listopia. Add this book to your favorite list »

Community Reviews

(showing 1-30 of 46)

filter | sort: default (?) | rating details

Jul 06, 2012 Ryan Smith rated it 5 of 5 stars

"I believe--// In extinction", Keranen declares in the poem 'The Great American Interchange', a poem that like so many in this stunning chapbook manages to articulate scenes of complex juxtaposition that would be hilarious and evocative even if incorrectly taken to be mere happenstance. Simulacra, simple blotting-outs, and sincere questions about what is genuine and sacred run through many moments of Keranen's work but the nihilism of the succinct line above is never really on the menu. Keranen...more "I believe--// In extinction", Keranen declares in the poem 'The Great American Interchange', a poem that like so many in this stunning chapbook manages to articulate scenes of complex juxtaposition that would be hilarious and evocative even if incorrectly taken to be mere happenstance. Simulacra, simple blotting-outs, and sincere questions about what is genuine and sacred run through many moments of Keranen's work but the nihilism of the succinct line above is never really on the menu. Keranen effuses wry bits of it, however, like a choice spice drawn from a kind of wise, even warm cynicism.

Keranen's speaker seems always ready to take the world sincerely but, again, what does it mean to be sincere? In the poem 'Late Cretaceous', we see the search: "100,000 years out from the homeland// We're still dreaming// Of a mother tongue or a passport// Something personal// To touch against our skin". Time scales in and out without much quibbling machination, Keranen's speaker seemingly always at peace with how little relative time separates our world of plastic surgery and mundane train-ride conversations with our own struggle away from the savanna.

Keranen's speaker sees and enacts blasphemy--a stolen bike chained to a crucifix, selling her mother's bones in town for nothing--while also bearing witness to quiet, small moments of arresting intimacy that stand out with chillingly elegant language: 'Touch the white of his back, the coldest/ parade."

Spare, surgically-steeled poems move alongside more voice-driven, narrative pieces with an accomplished, comfortable momentum. There's definite flair throughout these poems for texture and stand-alone images that invites a kind of coy symbolism while also brushing it away. We seem privy to a speaker as ready to forget the totems and callings to God that are familiar as she is to find new ones in the architecture of the unconscious--the five clutched pennies of a man uttering forlorn, broken Italian, a shaker full of hail found in a torn-open wall. Keranen has invited us into the erratic, ornate folklore of a mysterious yet familiar landscape.(less)

like · see review

Feb 29, 2012 Lori rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: books-read-in-2012

I had the privilege of listening to Charmi Keranen read her poems at IU. Native America(n) is my favorite poem in this series.

2 likes · like · see review

Dec 09, 2011 Shelly rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: close-personal-relationship

I fell in love with this wonderfully weird collection the first time I set eyes on it.

1 like · like · see review

Jan 28, 2013 David Lee rated it 5 of 5 stars

Oct 24, 2012 Azra Kayani marked it as to-read

Feb 25, 2012 Denise De Jesus marked it as to-read

Feb 24, 2012 Laura Hall marked it as to-read

Feb 13, 2012 Jennie marked it as to-read

Feb 11, 2012 Sarah marked it as to-read

Jan 31, 2012 Emma Gould marked it as to-read

Jan 28, 2012 Zara marked it as to-read

Jan 27, 2012 Baritu rated it 5 of 5 stars

Jan 25, 2012 Alix marked it as to-read

Apr 01, 2012 McKenzie Lynn rated it 5 of 5 stars

Jan 21, 2012 Elena marked it as to-read

Jan 20, 2012 Kat marked it as to-read

Jan 18, 2012 aaaaaa bbbbbbbb marked it as to-read

Jan 18, 2012 Reggie marked it as to-read

Jan 10, 2012 Chelapalooza marked it as to-read

Jan 10, 2012 Nishank Arora marked it as to-read

Jan 06, 2012 Rachel marked it as to-read

Jan 05, 2012 Noha marked it as to-read

Jan 04, 2012 Becky marked it as to-read

Jan 03, 2012 Karen added it

Jan 03, 2012 Cherise marked it as to-read

Jan 02, 2012 Amanda marked it as to-read

Dec 16, 2011 Samantha marked it as to-read

Dec 11, 2011 Sammy Keyes marked it as to-read

Dec 10, 2011 Alexis marked it as to-read

Dec 10, 2011 Gabrielle marked it as to-read

« previous 1 2 next »

new topic
Discuss This Book

There are no discussion topics on this book yet. Be the first to start one »

Recommend it | Stats | Recent status updates

Genres

Poetry

2 users

See top shelves...

About Charmi Keranen

Charmi Keranen is the author of The Afterlife is a Dry County (Big Wonderful Press, 2011.) Her work has appeared in Passages North, Inter|rupture, JMWW, blossombones, The Salt River River, Stirring, elimae, The Dirty Napkin, Ouroborous Review, Sugar House Review, and Hot Metal Bridge. She lives in Northern Indiana with her husband.

More about Charmi Keranen...

Books by Charmi Keranen

The Dirty Napkin (Volume 2.3, Summer 2009)

More…

Share This Book

Facebook Twitter Your website

Trivia About The Afterlife is ...

No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »

title link	preview: The Afterlife is a Dry County
avg rating	preview: The Afterlife is a Dry County Goodreads rating: 5.00 (7 ratings)
small image	preview: click here [close]
med image	preview: click here [close]
BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13125674-the-afterlife-is-a-dry-county?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1327600769l/13125674.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13125674-the-afterlife-is-a-dry-county?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]The Afterlife is a Dry County by Charmi Keranen[/url]