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kidasquared's review
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
3.25
I found this through an excerpt in Lerner’s The Hatred of Poetry. I appreciated its aesthetic and approach—its “mixed media” is engaging and reminds me how boundless literature can be, especially in the poetry world where I see these artistic liberties taken more often.
there are moments where Rankine’s prose didn’t grab me as much as I would’ve liked. the message is strong, but its existential language kept me at a distance
C+/B-
there are moments where Rankine’s prose didn’t grab me as much as I would’ve liked. the message is strong, but its existential language kept me at a distance
C+/B-
tonatyuh's review
4.0
While I didn't automatically love this, it is a poem that will take time to grow into, I think
Rankine's themes of loneliness and sadness and death all hit close to home, but there's still so much that Rankine packs into this short amount of pages that it can take a while to truly appreciate every aspect put into it.
I can't wait to read more of Rankine
Rankine's themes of loneliness and sadness and death all hit close to home, but there's still so much that Rankine packs into this short amount of pages that it can take a while to truly appreciate every aspect put into it.
I can't wait to read more of Rankine
casparb's review against another edition
"claudia rankine" is usually the first part of a sentence, at least with contemporary poets. I've heard the sentence a lot, felt it when I read Citizen. The second half is "singlehandedly revolutionised how we think about lyric poetry".
Don't Let Me Be Lonely sits with a lot of my recent reading, esp. Denise Riley's Time Lived , it's a grief-chronicle in some ways, though less specific in its mourning. Episodic in a way. Also we've the time for medicalisation, the bigpharma world of the US & the atmosphere immediately after 9/11, PLENTY to work with I'm amazed she got so much in here. Her own death follows, a haunting ofc with tweaks and twinges of derrida, a neat invocation of Elizabeth Costello
this makes me want to read her first collection because HOW this voice was developed I am eager to know
Don't Let Me Be Lonely sits with a lot of my recent reading, esp. Denise Riley's Time Lived , it's a grief-chronicle in some ways, though less specific in its mourning. Episodic in a way. Also we've the time for medicalisation, the bigpharma world of the US & the atmosphere immediately after 9/11, PLENTY to work with I'm amazed she got so much in here. Her own death follows, a haunting ofc with tweaks and twinges of derrida, a neat invocation of Elizabeth Costello
this makes me want to read her first collection because HOW this voice was developed I am eager to know
ralowe's review
5.0
i'm borrowing this book and i don't want to give it back. i remember a time when i used to hate any poetry outside of rap music. but poetry is where you can do experimental prose and essay. i have to hang up my anti-poetry chops. you can resist narrative. you can chip away at the numbing opacity until you hit elusive subtleties and then you're talking about something you probably wouldn't be able to get away with talking about in any other format. it's been well established that poetry is the go-to venue for emotions but have you heard about earthshattering political critique of the political? it's a new way to be with politics through the shit of life trapped in america.