judeisanicon's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
sad
tense
medium-paced
3.75
lokster71's review against another edition
4.0
This is Ella Frears debut poetry collection and it is rather marvellous.
There. What more do you need to know?
"maybe there is always someone watching
maybe there is always someone to tell you
that your heart is broken
no matter how whole you feel
beside the bins
and under the stars."
(from Passivity, Electricity, Acclivity)
This is an intimate collection. There's a real feeling that Frears is opening herself up for us the readers, but maybe I'm reading too much into it. Maybe it is nothing but a complicated word game.
There are some genuinely funny things in here too, 'You a St. Ives Modernist' being a particularly good example. Plus any poetry collection featuring a poem called 'Fucking in Cornwall' is going to get my vote. Perhaps I am easily pleased by simple swearing?
Anyway, you should read it. I'd like to think you'll thank me for it one day.
There. What more do you need to know?
"maybe there is always someone watching
maybe there is always someone to tell you
that your heart is broken
no matter how whole you feel
beside the bins
and under the stars."
(from Passivity, Electricity, Acclivity)
This is an intimate collection. There's a real feeling that Frears is opening herself up for us the readers, but maybe I'm reading too much into it. Maybe it is nothing but a complicated word game.
There are some genuinely funny things in here too, 'You a St. Ives Modernist' being a particularly good example. Plus any poetry collection featuring a poem called 'Fucking in Cornwall' is going to get my vote. Perhaps I am easily pleased by simple swearing?
Anyway, you should read it. I'd like to think you'll thank me for it one day.
alycia's review against another edition
4.0
I found the beginning of this collection so absorbing -- the language, the tone. I can only really describe it as a kind of smoothness, each line cascading nicely into the next, moving between meditative statement and imagery. That was probably my favourite thing about it, when the author's (speaker's) stated desire/thoughts unfolded amidst a sprawling illustration of laces or moonlight or Cornwall. The long sequence in the middle was captivating: the build of it, the scenery, the fear and relief, the narrative. Love. I think the last third of the collection felt most displaced to me. I liked the cento a lot, and I think the poems were individually wonderful, but they felt so much more ... exterior? in comparison to the rest of the collection. Overall though, I really enjoyed this read and it inspired my own writing.
harryedmundson's review
5.0
never have my niches been more seen with service stations (exe and fleet), greenwich park, cornwall and specifically modernism in st ives. what a joy!!!