Scan barcode
theknitgeek's review
5.0
I don't normally read poetry, for any number of reasons. I chose this book for a veteran's book group I'm running at work, though, so I had to read it. It isn't available in our library system so I'm about 99% sure I'm the only one who will read it. So I bought it, I read it, and then I had to put my heart back together. Wow is the only word I can think of to describe it, and wow doesn't come close.
I came of age, so to speak, as a too-young wife and mother in the Navy, and Jehanne Dubrow is the other sort of Navy wife and mother - the one who isn't on active duty. But I remember the first days after the fleet left; eating chocolate pie to try to fill the empty spots, avoiding looks in the commissary, finding signs in everything from the way the toilet paper tears to the shape of a cloud. It's 25 years in my past, and another (MUCH shorter) war, but I remember. Dubrow brought those memories to life with her words. With her beautiful rhythms and unexpected rhymes, she showed me that the life of the one left behind in a deployment has not really changed all that much from one generation to the next.
I cannot wait to share this with the other veterans, most of whom I am assuming will be from a generation or two before me. World War II, Korea, Viet Nam... was it the same for them? Are these feelings universal?
I came of age, so to speak, as a too-young wife and mother in the Navy, and Jehanne Dubrow is the other sort of Navy wife and mother - the one who isn't on active duty. But I remember the first days after the fleet left; eating chocolate pie to try to fill the empty spots, avoiding looks in the commissary, finding signs in everything from the way the toilet paper tears to the shape of a cloud. It's 25 years in my past, and another (MUCH shorter) war, but I remember. Dubrow brought those memories to life with her words. With her beautiful rhythms and unexpected rhymes, she showed me that the life of the one left behind in a deployment has not really changed all that much from one generation to the next.
I cannot wait to share this with the other veterans, most of whom I am assuming will be from a generation or two before me. World War II, Korea, Viet Nam... was it the same for them? Are these feelings universal?
charmainelim's review against another edition
3.5
Full review here - https://charmainelimen.wordpress.com/2018/03/07/review-stateside-by-jehanne-dubrow/
pearseanderson's review
3.0
Mostly good. The rhyming felt lazy/unnecessary at times and the points/descriptions/metaphors seemed clunky and undeveloped in many of the same poems. Generally a good collection, I had a fun time quickly reading the thing, but I'm not going to get too much value out of rereading it or chasing down her other work. 7/10 I guess.
More...