Winner of a "Discovery"/The Nation Award
Winner of the 1999 PEN/Joyce Osterweil Award for Poetry
Some Ether ... read full description
Winner of the 1999 PEN/Joyce Osterweil Award for Poetry
Some Ether ... read full description
reviews
Dec 17, 2009
Nathaniel
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I went out on a limb and bought a book of poetry based on the goodreads star rating of someone I don't know who seemed to have decent taste in obscure literature. Plus, I am trying to make an effort to read living poets who write in English.
Of Flynn's first four poems, three were about suicide, two referenced guns, two referenced painkillers (by brand name) and one mentions cutting himself. It only got worse from there. Blah blah "my father is . . . a bottle wrapped in a paperba More...
Of Flynn's first four poems, three were about suicide, two referenced guns, two referenced painkillers (by brand name) and one mentions cutting himself. It only got worse from there. Blah blah "my father is . . . a bottle wrapped in a paperba More...
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Apr 25, 2008
graham
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This review is incomplete because I need to read Some Ether again. This is not only the first book of poetry, but the first book period that I've ever wanted to re-read as soon as I finished it. Okay: want is slightly misleading. I feel I need to read it again, just to fully understand and appreciate the whole thing.
But, as far as any sort of guiding recommendation, here's what I can offer: not for the faint of heart. Sorry, that's all I've got. More later.
But, as far as any sort of guiding recommendation, here's what I can offer: not for the faint of heart. Sorry, that's all I've got. More later.
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Jan 22, 2010
Colin
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I’m very black and white when it comes to poetry. There’s no critical depth, no analysis of form. Either I like it or I don’t.
I like Nick Flynn’s Some Ether. Divided into four sections, each one focuses (mostly) on a key subject area. Section I: ‘The Visible Woman’ focuses on Flynn’s mother—childhood memories, her various boyfriends, and her suicide. Section III: ‘Devil Theory’ focuses on Flynn’s wayward father—a topic that is far better covered in his first memoir, Another Bullshit More...
I like Nick Flynn’s Some Ether. Divided into four sections, each one focuses (mostly) on a key subject area. Section I: ‘The Visible Woman’ focuses on Flynn’s mother—childhood memories, her various boyfriends, and her suicide. Section III: ‘Devil Theory’ focuses on Flynn’s wayward father—a topic that is far better covered in his first memoir, Another Bullshit More...
Feb 29, 2008
D'Anne
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I wanted to really, really love this book. I really did. It's a good book, don't get me wrong. But it's really front loaded for me. The middle sections just didn't have the same power as the beginning for me. If the book was only the first section and a scattering of the other poems, I would have given it five stars, easy. Who knows, maybe I'll go back to it years from now and think, "How foolish I was then."
Mar 24, 2011
These are very sensitive subjects. It's like watching surgery. There were no surprises here. If you want life and death, it's here. If you want pain and suffering, it's here. Flynn's a fine poet. He writes beautifully, There are some great images. He has this really soft touch that just doesn't prepare me for his cuts - the drugs, the sex. It feels like watching accidents on the tv news. I like my poetry a little more analytical. I found about half these poems to be genuinely memorable images. T
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Aug 16, 2009
Sophie
rated it:
a careful surgery does not indicate the absence of pain. Flynn's collection of poems linger, bruise perhaps - the reader turns to regard their own life & finds some scar tissue thinned, some past pain clarified. The affect is delightful, kalidescopic, a catharsis raw and finely wrought. I've read this collection many times since discovering Flynn in 2001, with his memoir(?) Another Bullshit Night in Suck City. I was not surprised to find that he had published a fine book of poetry - he is the so
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Nov 15, 2011
Tai
rated it:
Some Ether by Nick Flynn. Graywolf Press. May 2000.
“Some Ether” written by Nick Flynn is a collection of dark poems that seeks to revisit the tragedies of his childhood. The speaker in each poem seeks deliverance as he is desperate to find love, understanding and closure to surpass the demons that haunt him. It is evident that Flynn has grown from these life-changing experiences, never allowing to be submerged into self destruction.
He uses words as a force to work thou More...
“Some Ether” written by Nick Flynn is a collection of dark poems that seeks to revisit the tragedies of his childhood. The speaker in each poem seeks deliverance as he is desperate to find love, understanding and closure to surpass the demons that haunt him. It is evident that Flynn has grown from these life-changing experiences, never allowing to be submerged into self destruction.
He uses words as a force to work thou More...
Jul 14, 2011
Valerie
rated it:
I loved Flynn's poetry book about bees: Blind Huber. It was gorgeous, and didn't exhaust the subject, which often happens with poetry books that have just one topic.
Some Ether is also fantastic. I read some of the poems from this book when it first came out because some of them were on Poetry Daily. I don't think they featured the best poems. I think the best poems in this book are the darker ones.
Most of the poems in this book are about life with his mother, who committe More...
Some Ether is also fantastic. I read some of the poems from this book when it first came out because some of them were on Poetry Daily. I don't think they featured the best poems. I think the best poems in this book are the darker ones.
Most of the poems in this book are about life with his mother, who committe More...
Sep 09, 2008
Jennn
rated it:
It was good, but wasn't astounding. There weren't many that shook me to the core. That's not to say that it wasn't good, nor to deter other people. But it wasn't what I wasn't looking for.
The ones I really liked were: bag of mice, radio thin air, sudden, emptying town, salt, residence, fugue, and some ether. It was hard finding individual lines since most of the poems had a style where the ending would echo the beginning and make more sense at that time, but the lines I took away wer More...
The ones I really liked were: bag of mice, radio thin air, sudden, emptying town, salt, residence, fugue, and some ether. It was hard finding individual lines since most of the poems had a style where the ending would echo the beginning and make more sense at that time, but the lines I took away wer More...
Sep 12, 2009
Leanna
rated it: 
In the confessional mode, about the author's mother's suicide, scenes from childhood, scenes from relationships.
Flynn picks great epigrams ("It is a joy to be hidden / but disaster not to be found"). However, I'm not a huge fan of the confessional style, in general, and this book, although it had some moving lines, is really just not my type.
On a random note--why do so many poets nowadays choose "&" instead of "and"? It's a stylistic choice I More...
Flynn picks great epigrams ("It is a joy to be hidden / but disaster not to be found"). However, I'm not a huge fan of the confessional style, in general, and this book, although it had some moving lines, is really just not my type.
On a random note--why do so many poets nowadays choose "&" instead of "and"? It's a stylistic choice I More...
Jun 21, 2009
Curtis
rated it:
Some Ether is Nick Flynn's debut collection of poetry, winner of the PEN/Joyce Osterweil Award (1999), and an astounding work of beauty wrapped in a ball of pain.
Flynn takes us on a journey through his childhood- divorce parents, a troubled mother, strange men, and his mother's suicide. Pretty dark stuff, but written with a sense of enlightenment. The way he recalls these memories is so poetic and honest, it's what I hope to achieve every time I write but I'm nowhere near as graceful More...
Flynn takes us on a journey through his childhood- divorce parents, a troubled mother, strange men, and his mother's suicide. Pretty dark stuff, but written with a sense of enlightenment. The way he recalls these memories is so poetic and honest, it's what I hope to achieve every time I write but I'm nowhere near as graceful More...
Dec 16, 2009
kc
rated it:
this book gets better with second and third readings, and it succeeds because he's restrained as he's writing about these two people who have failed him as parents. he never has to bemoan the fact that they're bad parents, only has to show the way their behavior has shaped his emotional experience and there you have it.
poems in the first section cluster around living with his depressed and erratic mother before her suicide, and the following section shows him constructing a life in h More...
poems in the first section cluster around living with his depressed and erratic mother before her suicide, and the following section shows him constructing a life in h More...
Jan 05, 2012
Christina Marie
rated it:
Some Ether delves into a speaker's relationship and view of his mother, who committed suicide, and father, who seems mentally imbalanced. I never assume that poetry is autobiographical, but in this case, it seemed that way. Not confessional in the way of Plath and Sexton, but deeply personal and moving. He makes me go wow. Then he makes me swoon.
Nov 22, 2010
Nicholas
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The only poem within this book worth reading was the first. The rest were a continuous stream of mommy/daddy issue dribble that the least of crybaby poets could create. The only reason I give this book two stars is because that first poem is really very good.
Jan 25, 2008
Courtney
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A book I pick up and read over and over. He's such an incredible poet. I think I love this book as much as I love Richard Siken's Crush. I had Nick Flynn sign my copy at a reading he did with Mary Karr last March...we got to talking about teaching, and he told me he too had been a Special Educator in the South Bronx. "The kids are rad, but the system is awful," I said, and his prompt reply was, "The kids are always rad." He signed my copy 'To Courtney, who is fighting the goo
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Feb 18, 2009
Maggie
rated it:
A dark, beautiful debut collection in which Flynn comes to face many of the ghosts of his past--his dead mother, his homeless father, a wayward version of himself trying desperately to love but seeming to screw up along the way. While he never quite reaches redemption, by the end the speaker in many of these poems at least can imagine the possibility of it, which is a huge step.
Prior to reading this, I read Flynn's memoir Another Bullshit Night In Suck City. While I preferred this bo More...
Prior to reading this, I read Flynn's memoir Another Bullshit Night In Suck City. While I preferred this bo More...
Aug 25, 2009
Drew
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Gorgeous, luscious poems which are great to read after having read his memoir. However, forced to choose between the two, I'd still choose "Another Bullshit Night in Suck City" hands down.
Apr 15, 2009
Fragment #2
one doctor asks if I hear things
other people don't
one said frostbite said
all your toes said amputate
but I walked
one doctor asks if I hear things
other people don't
one said frostbite said
all your toes said amputate
but I walked
Apr 09, 2010
Kicked me in the heart a few times. So much power in these poems. I love it.
Sep 19, 2011
Michael
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Not a tremendous fan of Flynn's poetry; I hear his non-fiction is the place to go.
Sep 17, 2008
Allison
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Nick Flynn's first published book. It's just incredible, refreshing, heartbreaking, and inspiring. I've probably read it dozens of times and never get bored. His voice is just the right combo of intense and reflective. He also achieves this remarkable balance between commmenting on a rather insane childhood without letting it totally define who is his, or allow it to become a pity party. It's like if Sharon Olds could let go of her bitterness and just take it all in from a different vantage poin
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Sep 22, 2008
Sarah
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Some Ether was Nick Flynn's first book of poetry. It was published in 2000 by Graywolf Press. His current collection is called Blind Huber.
The poems in Some Ether were his way of working through his mother's suicide when he was 22. Although none of the poems are especially graphic, they are all breath taking and emotionally raw.
Many of the poems draw on pop culture from Flynn's childhood and early adulthood. These oddly upbeat phrases counterpoint the heart break of the s More...
The poems in Some Ether were his way of working through his mother's suicide when he was 22. Although none of the poems are especially graphic, they are all breath taking and emotionally raw.
Many of the poems draw on pop culture from Flynn's childhood and early adulthood. These oddly upbeat phrases counterpoint the heart break of the s More...
Jul 08, 2010
Jessica
rated it:
Thanks to Erin for recommending this book to me. Startling imagery. Unflinching vision.
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Dec 16, 2009
Olivia
rated it:
I first encountered Nick Flynn's work at a reading I attended for extra credit. I left speechless - I wanted to tell everyone how exquisite, thoughtful, deliberate, melodical Flynn's words were, but I felt there was no way I could do his poems justice. Instead, I bought two copies of "Some Ether" - one for me to keep, the other to thrust into the hands of anyone and everyone who would accept.
Mar 09, 2008
Farren
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Probably soured by reading his memoir, Another Bullshit Night in Suck City, first. Confessional and transcendent, but all I can think of the whole way through is -- wait, so this is his mom's second husband Kevin, right? Wonder why he's named John in the poem. Blind Huber, his second volume, was an altogether different endeavor. This is a book ripped directly from the poet's guts.
Mar 03, 2011
Danielle
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Despite so many positive things said by people I trust, I couldn't get into this collection.
Jul 06, 2008
De
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pain and the power of beautiful writing is what i learned from this book. the author writes about his beautiful doomed mother in a way that invokes not pity but love and longing. the unusual poetic narrative shows us an almost hard to look at picture of what a mother can mean to a little boy and the man he becomes.. read this book even if you don`t usually read poetry.
Mar 26, 2008
christopher
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Nick Flynn’s book really moved me. Growing up in a seriously dysfunction home with a depressive mother, I was able to relate to the subject matter of this collections of poems. Flynn is excellent at expressing the horrors of his mother’s suicide very dramatically without ever being maudlin or melodramatic
Mar 21, 2008
Abraham
rated it:
Deeply moving and harrowing. Absolutely beautiful. Darkness, suicide, trauma — this is the stuff of cliché. Somehow, amazingly, he avoids every false note and cheap excuse. A reviewer described it as, "lyrics of ringing clarity and strange precision." I'd also call it craft and profound talent.
Jan 22, 2011
Megan
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sad, sad poems. the majority are about his mom's suicide. so many ringing lines.
i found this book by accident in the library while looking for something else. so glad i did.
the first bit of the book, the part most openly about his mother, is my favorite.
i found this book by accident in the library while looking for something else. so glad i did.
the first bit of the book, the part most openly about his mother, is my favorite.
