noirish's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
5.0
This book by Louise Glück is a collection of poems which loosely cohere to form a narrative. In a way, one could consider the 71 pages of poetry to be a short story rendered in verse. This narrative details the physical and emotional decline of a person who approaches death; because of this, the tone of the book can be quite grim, though never overly hopeless.
Glück, known for drawing on mythological references in her poems, chooses to infuse her verse here with (occasional) Arthurian allusions, a choice which lends both a sense of romantic adventure and foreboding doom to the work.
The tone of the poems may not be to everyone’s liking, but the writing itself is very accessible and effective. Multiple moments in this book moved me deeply, and I cannot recommend it highly enough.
Glück, known for drawing on mythological references in her poems, chooses to infuse her verse here with (occasional) Arthurian allusions, a choice which lends both a sense of romantic adventure and foreboding doom to the work.
The tone of the poems may not be to everyone’s liking, but the writing itself is very accessible and effective. Multiple moments in this book moved me deeply, and I cannot recommend it highly enough.
erinequalspeace's review against another edition
5.0
This collection brought to mind T.S. Eliot's The Four Quartets, Hermann Hesse's Steppenwolf, and Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway in its deeply felt evocations of rose gardens, mortality, airplanes, and childhood, and how a unifying consciousness gathers them all into a sort of linguistic tone poem in which "for a while the hills are alive overwhelms / the cat is dead."
Here are two of my favorite passages:
From "Approach of the Horizon"
My birthday (I remember) is fast approaching,
Perhaps the two great moments will collide
and I will see my selves meet, coming and going--
Of course, much of my original self
is already dead, so a ghost would be forced
to embrace a mutilation.
From "The White Series"
And yet the serene transit of the hour hand
no longer represented my perception of time
which had become a sense of immobility
expressed as movement across vast distances.
Here are two of my favorite passages:
From "Approach of the Horizon"
My birthday (I remember) is fast approaching,
Perhaps the two great moments will collide
and I will see my selves meet, coming and going--
Of course, much of my original self
is already dead, so a ghost would be forced
to embrace a mutilation.
From "The White Series"
And yet the serene transit of the hour hand
no longer represented my perception of time
which had become a sense of immobility
expressed as movement across vast distances.
jbojkov's review against another edition
3.0
This is really dense poetry. I could only read a little at a time. Unfortunately, someone else placed the book on hold. I hope to come back to it later.
anetq's review against another edition
3.0
Not my kind of thing. I know it's won everything, and she won the Nobel Prize, however it seems to me like a poet oddly trying to write a novel or short story. But in poems. Obviously she has a way with words, but they seem to lead nowhere. Maybe that's the point, who knows.
Giving Averno a try - so far I like it better.
Giving Averno a try - so far I like it better.
flowerbunny's review against another edition
4.0
Truly wonderful. My absolute favorites were 'An Adventure' and 'Visitors from Abroad'. Lovely
cstefko's review against another edition
2.0
2.5 stars
This just didn't do much for me--not a stylistic fit for my current reading sensibility, anyway. But there was the occasional nugget here and there. I've read individual poems of Glück's that I really did like, so perhaps I will enjoy one of her other collections more.
This just didn't do much for me--not a stylistic fit for my current reading sensibility, anyway. But there was the occasional nugget here and there. I've read individual poems of Glück's that I really did like, so perhaps I will enjoy one of her other collections more.
flipphonegay's review against another edition
3.0
i dont think ive ever read a poetic style like hers, or of someone who's childhood experiences were so similar to mine
meowtovski's review against another edition
3.0
3.4
"Cred că aici te părăsesc. Se pare că
nu există încheiere perfectă.
Într-adevăr, sunt infinite încheieri.
Sau poate că, odată ce-ai început,
nu mai sunt decât încheieri."
"Cred că aici te părăsesc. Se pare că
nu există încheiere perfectă.
Într-adevăr, sunt infinite încheieri.
Sau poate că, odată ce-ai început,
nu mai sunt decât încheieri."