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hidingincorners's review against another edition
5.0
I always, always, always love Trethewey's poetry. She's one of my favorites. A true master of the craft.
reba_reads_books's review against another edition
2.0
I enjoy poetry that's fast-paced with a fresh message. I enjoy slower poetry as long as its message packs a punch. Having said these two things, if we disagree it may just be a matter of taste.
This author is talented but language heavy. The poems pulled me down with them and kept me reading (and at times re-reading) at a slow pace. Therefore, I was only able to get through a few poems every other day.
As far as the message goes, this book seemed to be about only a few things... most of them auto-biographical and, therefore, unrelatable to me as a reader. I've read other Southern poets' autobiographical work that I've enjoyed very much, because I could relate to at least a few overarching themes within it. I couldn't find those kinds of themes within this work, so I simply did not connect to it.
This author is talented but language heavy. The poems pulled me down with them and kept me reading (and at times re-reading) at a slow pace. Therefore, I was only able to get through a few poems every other day.
As far as the message goes, this book seemed to be about only a few things... most of them auto-biographical and, therefore, unrelatable to me as a reader. I've read other Southern poets' autobiographical work that I've enjoyed very much, because I could relate to at least a few overarching themes within it. I couldn't find those kinds of themes within this work, so I simply did not connect to it.
jesshooves's review against another edition
“The Daughters of the Confederacy / has placed a plaque here, at the fort’s entrance— / each Confederate soldier’s name raises hard / in bronze; no names carved for the Native Guards— / 2nd regiment, Union men, black phalanx. / What is monument to their legacy?”
—from poem “Elegy for the Native Guards”
—from poem “Elegy for the Native Guards”
em_harring's review against another edition
5.0
It goes without saying that this is a beautiful, heartbreaking collection. The way Trethewey interweaves her story, her mother's story, and the history behind the Native Guard is so well done and they speak so well to each other. The writing is stunning. The images beautiful and horrifying.
I read the paperback version of this collection in tandem with a beautiful audiobook version that was performed by two different people--it was a full production with music and ambiance. It was so good! The Alliance Theatre produced it. I would highly recommend reading them together if audiobooks work for you!
I read the paperback version of this collection in tandem with a beautiful audiobook version that was performed by two different people--it was a full production with music and ambiance. It was so good! The Alliance Theatre produced it. I would highly recommend reading them together if audiobooks work for you!
kb_the_gm's review against another edition
2.0
it's fine. i've got nothing against the author, i'm just learning that poetry isn't my thing. but i can likely recommend this to someone who will appreciate it a little more than me.
pattydsf's review against another edition
4.0
I found out that Natasha Trethewey was chosen to be our next poet laureate and so I looked to see if our library owned anything by her. I was pleasantly surprised to see that we owned this, the book she won the Pulitzer for.
It was everything I hoped for. Trethewey deserves to be the poet laureate - her poems are both personal and universal; she writes about history and the present - all in all, she is excellent. I especially loved what she wrote about her mother.
I know that trying to get folks to read poetry is difficult, but I do highly recommend this book. If you decide to try some of these poems, be sure to read them out loud. That is how poetry should be experienced.
It was everything I hoped for. Trethewey deserves to be the poet laureate - her poems are both personal and universal; she writes about history and the present - all in all, she is excellent. I especially loved what she wrote about her mother.
I know that trying to get folks to read poetry is difficult, but I do highly recommend this book. If you decide to try some of these poems, be sure to read them out loud. That is how poetry should be experienced.
beccamcostello's review against another edition
4.0
I was most drawn to the personal poems in the collection, rather than the historical ones. That's likely because I discovered Trethewey first through her book Memorial Drive, about her mother's murder.
"Monument" left me speechless.
"At my mother's grave, ants streamed in / and out like arteries, a tiny hill rising // above her untended plot. Bit by bit, / red dirt piled up, spread / like a rash on the grass; I watched a long time / the ants' determined work, // how they brought up soil / of which she will be part, / and piled it before me. Believe me when I say / I've tried not to begrudge them // their industry, this reminder of what / I haven't done. Even now, / the mound is a blister on my heart, / a red and humming swarm."
"Monument" left me speechless.
"At my mother's grave, ants streamed in / and out like arteries, a tiny hill rising // above her untended plot. Bit by bit, / red dirt piled up, spread / like a rash on the grass; I watched a long time / the ants' determined work, // how they brought up soil / of which she will be part, / and piled it before me. Believe me when I say / I've tried not to begrudge them // their industry, this reminder of what / I haven't done. Even now, / the mound is a blister on my heart, / a red and humming swarm."
benplatt's review against another edition
4.0
Despite the slimness of this collection, Trethewey manages to layer so much complexity and meaning into her poems that the topography of the American South and the speaker's familial history feels practically geologically haunted. Morrison's [b:Beloved|6149|Beloved|Toni Morrison|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1632283781l/6149._SY75_.jpg|736076] came to mind as I read through much of this collection as a similar instance of the way the American South is haunted by race in a way that linear time can't contain - the strata and substrata of oppression and violence comprise the history of the landscape in a way that Trethewey manages to evoke in an impressively brief text, and through often strict formal maneuvers like the sonnets that constrain the imagined perspectives of the titular Louisiana Native Guard and the frequent quoted epigraphs that deepen the sense of historical time in the poems. There is a testimonial quality to this collection that braids with the grief and pain of the speaker's life in the present to present a tangled, ghostly history of the American Civil War and the American South and the way that history reaches out to us as individuals in the present every day.
kellkie's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
Native Guard as a whole is layered with structure that is so expertly crafted you might miss it if you weren't looking closely. The individual poems are raw and unforgiving, an exercise in context and memory. Just brilliant.