• Winner of the 1981 Poetry Center Book Award In Satan Says, Sharon Olds convincingly, and with astonishing vigor, presents a world which, if ...
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Jul 14, 2011
Kathleen
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I've liked Sharon Olds for years, and poets and poetry readers have recommended this, her first book, as 1) her best and 2) one not to be missed. I'm right there with them on the "not to be missed" but maybe The Dead and the Living is still my favorite, just because it was the first book of hers that I read.
I very much appreciate the final poem, "Prayer," asking to "be faithful to the central meanings" of all the poems in this book, and there follows a li More...
I very much appreciate the final poem, "Prayer," asking to "be faithful to the central meanings" of all the poems in this book, and there follows a li More...
Feb 07, 2011
Leanna
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I've been meaning to try Sharon Olds for awhile--she has such a reputation as the queen of confessionalism. This is her first book, published in 1980.
I found this book to be very uneven. There were some poems that absolutely stunned me (the title poem is, in my opinion, far and away the best poem in the book, totally on a different level). These poems were raw and damning and surprising and full of unique metaphors. There were other poems that I sort of liked--perhaps the poem had on More...
I found this book to be very uneven. There were some poems that absolutely stunned me (the title poem is, in my opinion, far and away the best poem in the book, totally on a different level). These poems were raw and damning and surprising and full of unique metaphors. There were other poems that I sort of liked--perhaps the poem had on More...
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Apr 19, 2009
Marion
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I was introduced to Sharon Olds' poetry via her awesome poem about birth, "The Language of the Brag". After reading her magnficent retort in the last verse to Whitman and Ginsberg, "I have done what you wanted to do Walt Whitman, Allen Ginsberg, I have done this thing, I and the other women this exceptional act with the exceptional heroic body, this giving birth, this glistening verb, and I am putting my proud American boast right here with the others," I was a true fan of he
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May 02, 2010
Zoë
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"Once you lose someone it is never exactly
the same person who comes back"
-Feared Drowned
It is a bit odd to be writing a review of a book I have already written an exam on, but I realized that even though I had covered this book in my English course "Modern American Poetry" it was the one book of poetry, because it was the last we covered during a feverish rush of end of the semester, that I hadn't properly read. So because Olds is talented and deservin More...
the same person who comes back"
-Feared Drowned
It is a bit odd to be writing a review of a book I have already written an exam on, but I realized that even though I had covered this book in my English course "Modern American Poetry" it was the one book of poetry, because it was the last we covered during a feverish rush of end of the semester, that I hadn't properly read. So because Olds is talented and deservin More...
Dec 20, 2008
mr. fantasy
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-Satan Says (1980)- by Sharon Olds is a landmark book of modern and confessional poetry. It is important as an incredibly well-designed poetic, chronological narrative of a woman's experience. As expressed on the back cover of the book, "Few first books have had the power or the vigor of design of Sharon Olds's -Satan Says-." I completely agree with statement. This is unforgettable, powerful, of high value---poetry of the human experience. The book (and wonderful metaphor) is set up i
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Feb 11, 2011
Michael
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If'n ya dig poetry this is a good one, but it suffers from the same problem a lot of poetry books suffer from. Far too many bleeding heart why don't you love me poems. Hey I digg em just like the rest of the world, but they get a little old after a while. With that being said, there is some sick prose written in this book. Pictures are painted with words. Things are read that cannot be unread and a few of these will make you utter the word "whoa" out loud after your done reading it. Th
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Mar 11, 2008
Steven
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After finally reading this inaugural collection that introduced the poetry world to Sharon Olds’ voice, I wish I could have been around to experience each of her collections as they came out. The lyric punch that she achieves in each poem is much like a real punch: the initial shock is numbing, then pain surfaces and finally, the place where you were hit begins a dull throb that pulses and reminds you of the impact every so often. A few even break the skin, leaving a scar to worry over fo
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Dec 11, 2011
Bobby
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This book of poetry is over thirty years old. I wish people would evolve.
A favorite passage, from the poem "Time Travel":
I see my face. She looks through me
up at the house. This is the one I have
come for. I gaze in her eyes, the waves,
thick as the air in hell, curling in
over and over. She does not know
any of this will ever stop.
She does not know she is the one
survivor.
A favorite passage, from the poem "Time Travel":
I see my face. She looks through me
up at the house. This is the one I have
come for. I gaze in her eyes, the waves,
thick as the air in hell, curling in
over and over. She does not know
any of this will ever stop.
She does not know she is the one
survivor.
Dec 03, 2008
Kendall
rated it:
absolutely amazing.
olds' poetry could probably be seen as grotesque by some, but i think she just has an genuine sense of, and connection to, her own body and self as a woman. the title poem is so haunting, and leads beautifully into stark meditations on being a daughter, woman, mother and pilgrim.
favorite poems: "quake theory", "feared drowned", "the language of the brag", "fish story", "the unborn", and "prayer."
olds' poetry could probably be seen as grotesque by some, but i think she just has an genuine sense of, and connection to, her own body and self as a woman. the title poem is so haunting, and leads beautifully into stark meditations on being a daughter, woman, mother and pilgrim.
favorite poems: "quake theory", "feared drowned", "the language of the brag", "fish story", "the unborn", and "prayer."
Jul 06, 2007
Theresa
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I don't read much poetry, but this is the only modern poet's book that I own.
A preview:
The Sisters of Sexual Treasure
As soon as my sister and I got out of our
mother's house, all we wanted to
do was fuck, obliterate
her tiny sparrow body and narrow
grasshopper legs. The men's bodies
were like our father's body! The massive
hocks, flanks, thighs, elegant
knees, long tapered calves-
we could have him there, the steep forbi More...
A preview:
The Sisters of Sexual Treasure
As soon as my sister and I got out of our
mother's house, all we wanted to
do was fuck, obliterate
her tiny sparrow body and narrow
grasshopper legs. The men's bodies
were like our father's body! The massive
hocks, flanks, thighs, elegant
knees, long tapered calves-
we could have him there, the steep forbi More...
Aug 31, 2011
Rose
rated it:
Sharon Old's first book. Uneven (like much of her work). There are definitely some in here that do not stand up 30 years later. But some still make you gasp with their brilliance ("The Language of the Brag," "Prayer" etc). Quick read.
May 22, 2008
Michael
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"Satan Says" is the first collection of Olds' poetry which I have read (although I've come across her poems once or twice in anthologies). I found the poems in "Satan Says" to be not only startling and brutally honest, but beautifully crafted as well. Her work reminded me greatly of Marie Howe, another female poet writing on (among other things) the body's oft-ignored sensuality even in the face of an abusive world (or family). Her poems seem to fuse the simple craftsmanship
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Feb 14, 2010
Read in my current Creative Writing class.
Chalk full of explicit sexual themes and disturbing images. Despite this, there is an underlying theme of love. Very twisted, and I did not enjoy it.
Chalk full of explicit sexual themes and disturbing images. Despite this, there is an underlying theme of love. Very twisted, and I did not enjoy it.
Nov 19, 2011
Deirdre
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The intensity of Sharon Olds' verse is a punch to the gut--but that's my preferred reaction to poetry. Some of the images were difficult for me, but her language is beautiful.
Jan 16, 2008
Adam
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This volume created Olds's reputation and deservedly so. (The Dead and the Living may have clinched it, but this is what made people perk up and take notice.) It's funny, her ways of writing are almost rote these days, but at the time she really shook up the status quo in her own way. The individual poems are famous enough--I needn't talk about them. What I can say is that Olds knows how to string them along so the final collection has even more impact than the individual parts--once you read al
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Jun 13, 2007
Erin
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It's been a long time since I actively sought out new poetry to read, but Sharon Olds changed that in a flash. Published the year I was born, "Satan Says" finally convinced me that there is such a thing as Women's Lit, unique from the male canon. This book is a painstaking detail of woman--both particular and generalized in one of the best executions of craft I've ever read. If you've never had the pleasure of Mrs. Olds' company, this is a great place to start.
Still not sure? Li More...
Still not sure? Li More...
Jun 15, 2008
I do not really read poetry, but I never get tired of Sharon Old's poetry. I love all her books, but I think this one is my favorite. These poems really make you feel like you've been punched in the stomach... but in a kind of good way. She writes poems about transitions of life for women - birth, adolescence, first love, reaching adulthood, marriage, childbirth, etc. I would never have thought I would be interested in poems about such topics, but her writing is so strong, so completely brut
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May 27, 2008
Keith
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It seems Sharon Olds' first published book of poetry is one of her best. Published in 1980 I think the context is significant in terms of how we can appreciate and digest the poems themselves. Sure, I was born three years after it hit the shelves but Olds' reflections, particularly in the subsections Woman and Mother, are entirely generational and it's probably my own raging feminisms that enjoy the images of Olds as a young wife who almost subversively uses crisp, organic, and at times fatal im
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Dec 17, 2009
Kara
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don't judge me for it, but i'm not usually big on reading poetry, its such a convoluded personal medium. But this writer is really saying something...her poems are intensly personal but not with the intention of keeping readers out, a small fault i think most other poets are guilty of. sharon olds invites right into her tragedies and triumphs.
Dec 16, 2009
Tom
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Sharon Olds scares me a little bit. Her imagery is rich, dark, sensual and organic. She holds her pain out for you to see and touch as it oozes through her fingers. Yet it's not all 'creepy', she seems to transcend much of the adversity in her life and even comes to appreciate even the worst of her experiences.
Feb 10, 2008
Matthew
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Olds is new to me. Sorry. Actually, it's a book I bought for my Creative Writing class in school, so a lot of them have read from it as well. I guess you could say there are a lot people "Sharon" it. Not sorry for that one, not with all that setup. A a wicked impressive first collection.
Feb 25, 2008
Amy
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While the title to this book may be offensive to some, I found that the poetry inside is very intense and beautiful. Not offensive at all but the work of a young poet who is finding her voice, albeit a bit angry at times. I recommend it to any poetry lover.
Dec 11, 2008
Brian
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Not quite as profoundly amazing as The Dead and the Living, but pretty stunning, especially for a debut collection. These poems stay with the reader long after you've put the book down. They're still with me.
Nov 05, 2008
Jen
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I was instantly shaken by the first poem. I read each one several times before the full imagery set in for me. Rich, and quite unsettling. I loved ths book.
Mar 11, 2008
Alexandra
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Sharon Olds is raw, honest, and hilarious. This is a great selection to renew an interest in poetry because it is an example of what is great about modern poets.
Mar 04, 2008
Another of my fave unapologetic, unrelenting female poets! Sharon Olds is really good. She is clearly feminist, and very human. Her images are fantastic.
Feb 15, 2008
Madison
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This is her first book, and the first book I've read of her. She is really really intense. Highly recommended.
Oct 29, 2007
Allen
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This book got me hooked on poetry. Fabulous verses, great risk taking, and poetry that speaks to the heart.
Oct 21, 2008
Amy
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unbelievable first book...amazing...this woman is simpy amazing...I wish I could give it more stars.
