laineyc93's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
mayareads4fun's review against another edition
emotional
sad
tense
slow-paced
3.0
he doesn’t seem like he’s all that. better off without him.
h1914's review
3.0
"Remember that although this initial intoxication disappears, yet these things in that hour moved you to tears, and made of an outward gaze through the dining car window a plenitude not to be borne."
notasilkycat's review against another edition
3.0
This book has the most exquisite title ever. There are some sentences here which just perfect. I can understand why this tiny book touches some people so deeply. I wish it would touch me too. But it just failed to do so.
emmap2023's review against another edition
DNF'D sadly the writing style was too floral and poetic for me.
veelaughtland's review against another edition
4.0
By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept is a prose poem that details the narrator's affair with a married man, and her emotions relating to her situation. And it is beautiful, that much I can say. Elizabeth Smart's prose poetry is full of lush imagery and beautiful turns of phrase, and if I wasn't so weird about writing in my books, I would have underlined most of this book.
This review will only be short, as there's not much else I can say about this, but at times I did find the prose a litle difficult to follow - this is a book that does require full concentration, and demands to be read in one sitting, not multiple ones like I did. However, even if I didn't understand everything I was reading, I was happy enough to be fully immersed in the language. This is a book I will definitely read again.
This review will only be short, as there's not much else I can say about this, but at times I did find the prose a litle difficult to follow - this is a book that does require full concentration, and demands to be read in one sitting, not multiple ones like I did. However, even if I didn't understand everything I was reading, I was happy enough to be fully immersed in the language. This is a book I will definitely read again.
ethanpickett's review
5.0
The tenth and final part of this book begins as such:
"By Grand Central Station I sat down and wept:
I will not be placated by the mechanical motions of existence, nor find consolation in the solicitude of waiters who notice my devastated face. Sleep tries to seduce me by promising a more reasonable tomorrow. But I will not be betrayed by such a Judas of fallacy: it betrays everyone: it leads them into death. Everyone acquiesces: everyone compromises.
They say, As we grow older we embrace resignation.
But O, they totter into it blind and unprotecting. And from their sin, the sin of accepting such a pimp to death, there is no redemption. It is the sin of damnation."
There's nothing I can really add. This is a book that gives you permission to feel the pain you need to feel. To provide reason and unreason to your devastation. To just sit with you.
Truly one of the most clear-eyed and brave confessionals I have ever read. A warm hug and a slap in the face. The Truth.
"By Grand Central Station I sat down and wept:
I will not be placated by the mechanical motions of existence, nor find consolation in the solicitude of waiters who notice my devastated face. Sleep tries to seduce me by promising a more reasonable tomorrow. But I will not be betrayed by such a Judas of fallacy: it betrays everyone: it leads them into death. Everyone acquiesces: everyone compromises.
They say, As we grow older we embrace resignation.
But O, they totter into it blind and unprotecting. And from their sin, the sin of accepting such a pimp to death, there is no redemption. It is the sin of damnation."
There's nothing I can really add. This is a book that gives you permission to feel the pain you need to feel. To provide reason and unreason to your devastation. To just sit with you.
Truly one of the most clear-eyed and brave confessionals I have ever read. A warm hug and a slap in the face. The Truth.