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Beautiful book, definitely to be read as a whole. My minor criticism, which is probably more me than York, is that from time to time I felt the urge to *hear* the south, rather than read about it. For instance, reading "The Crowd He Becomes," I wanted someone, like the mayor maybe, to look right at me and speak to me .
The subject matter, of course, did speak to me... very challenging to write an entire book of poems about the Civil Rights. Honoring and disturbing, but not didactic. I love and admire the intention and heart in this. ]]>
bookshelves: to-read
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Loved reading this after "A House that Falls"--to see what's been added, what's been re-arranged. The care to order is apparent, holistically and by line. I'd teach this as a lesson in book structure. "Double Hinge Sonnet for the Luna Moths" remains one of my favorites, and the entire fifth section, "Self-Portraits from the Widow House" is just heartwrenchingly beautiful. Gorgeous pacing. ]]>
Hadn't read her before; didn't know what to expect; was blown away. Dense, complex poems that may at first seem deceptively simple. ]]>
At first I was so drawn to this, and wanted to love it, but just couldn't. The first half of the book's short stories; the second's essays, all "about" the environment, small farms, and our relationship with the landscape.
Stylistically, I can't complain about the writing--the language, especially in the fiction, is lovely--it's just that after about the first half, they seemed to all run together.
I was glad to get to the essays, but grew increasingly "eh" about each one. This might be partly because (mostly because of Pollan, I suppose) I already kinda knew the basics. Actually, I think that at this point most folks who are paying any attention whatsoever to the world are at least somewhat aware of the sad state of farming in America, and the distinction between big AgBiz farms and the "clip art" fantasy small farms. One section of the essay, "The Fantasy of the Clip Art Farm," raised my hackles a bit as she strikes me as blaming big AgBiz farmers (not Regan or politicians, not the fast food industry, not consumers). She writes: "You'd think farmers were all Jesus, with the loaves and fishes! Not human beings with self-aggrandizing wishes." I take issue with this sort of attitude--clearly, CAFOs (confined animal feeding operations) are problematic, and the problems of them are complex. Ok, factory farmers receive huge subsudies and the little guys don't. And they should, and that sucks. But this boiled down "blame the farmers who receive the subsudies" approach strikes me as misguided and unproductive.
The essay, "Buried Water," contains a surprisingly fascinating section about the history of "water as a big, flashy business" in the late 1800's (mineral water farmed, bottled and sold as tonics). A couple of times I doubted the organization of the essay section, and this was one case--the essay about water, which contains mentions of "tiles," comes before an essay that explains what a water tiling system is. I'd have it the other way, though that might just be the Strunk & White in me. ]]>
It's difficult to review a short story collection, because not every story in here's a gem, so my rating's splitting the difference. Some just didn't hold my attention (like "Anton's Album"--loved the structure and idea behind it, but the pieces didn't add up to compelling writing for me). I did really enjoy a lot of these, though, especially "Machinery," "Obscene Gestures for Women," and "The Easter we Lived in Detroit" ("The dark, which is like a shelter around each person, is a lovely thing to see, once you see it."). ]]>
by Augusten Burroughs
"But I feel like I never really connected with it, and I wanted to." <-- Me neither, too. And I used to live 3 houses down from the "Santa Lives" house. ]]>
Caroline
read and liked
Matt's
review of Running with Scissors: A Memoir:
"I think I expected more from this, given its pedigree as a failed movie that nonetheless had a dynamite trailer.... In the end, I think I found it too hard to figure out the pitch/ tone of the book. I mean, a lot of the subject matter is very dark, b...more "
"I think I expected more from this, given its pedigree as a failed movie that nonetheless had a dynamite trailer.... In the end, I think I found it too hard to figure out the pitch/ tone of the book. I mean, a lot of the subject matter is very dark, b...more "
Caroline
read and liked
Matthew Hittinger's
review of Kinky:
"I love using this book with intro poetry students in a creative writing class. It helps defeat their preconceived notions of what poetry is or what it should be about. "
"I love using this book with intro poetry students in a creative writing class. It helps defeat their preconceived notions of what poetry is or what it should be about. "