The Sound of Paint Drying

by John Hegley

Genres: Poetry

102 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 2003

Reviews

[Roger Boyle · Rating 3 out of 5]

I bought this from Ystwyth Books (a signed copy!) as part of a piece of literary archaeology. i was seeking a particular poem that is not in this book, but Hegley reproduced it for me as a favour and I promised I'd buy one of his books in return.

If you're familiar with him, it going to be a familiar text. his poems are pithy and funny, but not all of them strike terribly deeply. the stories I found rather better with some good imagination. Everything is short and to the point.

The highlight was actually the cover story: he went to nice to recreate a painting his father had done decades ago, and this was real and worked very well. 5 stars if it had all been this good!

[Ian Russell · Rating 2 out of 5]

A mixture of poems, prose, and illustrations.

Several of the poems were good though they're best delivered in the style of John Hegley. In simple print, they suffer somewhat; it's his performance which gives them life.

The prose was dreadful, I don't know what on earth he was playing at, and the painting and illustrations made me feel like Brian Sewell.

Thankfully, it was a thin book. It was oh-kay.