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3.56 AVERAGE
3.56 AVERAGE
Victoria Chang's book [b:Circle|403460|Circle (Crab Orchard Series in Poetry)|Victoria Chang|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1174452553s/403460.jpg|392839] is separated into three different sections: "on quitting," "five year plan," and "limits." All the sections were good, but I really liked the section on quitting, which were about the dark side of love/relationships. I felt like those poems were more emotionally charged. I especially loved when The Man in the White Truck, a man that the speaker was having an affair with, shows up in some of the poems. He has a poem about him with "The Man in the White Truck" as the title, and then he appears in a few other poems. It was like seeing a recurring character in a tv show. It was fun to see him, and get more information about their relationship in other poems.
Chang had a lot of historical women in her poems, and I liked seeing how women dealt with thier lives in other time periods.
Some of the other poems in the book, while well-constructed, and beautiful, were a little disconnected, emotionally.
I read a lot of Chang's poetry online, and really loved just about all of it. I picked up her second book [b:Salvinia Molesta: Poems|3381724|Salvinia Molesta Poems (The Vqr Poetry Series)|Victoria Chang|http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/515fzjxFwWL._SL75_.jpg|3421384]. I am looking forward to reading it because I suspect those poems will be closer to the ones I've been reading online than to the ones in her first book.
My favorite poems in the book:
The Man in the White Truck
Holiday Parties
Seven Changs
Seven Reasons for Divorce
Chang had a lot of historical women in her poems, and I liked seeing how women dealt with thier lives in other time periods.
Some of the other poems in the book, while well-constructed, and beautiful, were a little disconnected, emotionally.
I read a lot of Chang's poetry online, and really loved just about all of it. I picked up her second book [b:Salvinia Molesta: Poems|3381724|Salvinia Molesta Poems (The Vqr Poetry Series)|Victoria Chang|http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/515fzjxFwWL._SL75_.jpg|3421384]. I am looking forward to reading it because I suspect those poems will be closer to the ones I've been reading online than to the ones in her first book.
My favorite poems in the book:
The Man in the White Truck
Holiday Parties
Seven Changs
Seven Reasons for Divorce
On first reading, many of these poems elude me but I am fascinated. Many of them are about particular women - Eva Braun or a woman who fought in the Civil War. Chang is not afraid to bring in traditional feminine concerns like items of adornment or cooking.
There are some wonderful lines - "This year I decided to be a bombshell./I played bottle cap table hockey/with strangers and trained/ my brain to say yes to martinis/ carried by men with small biographies."
This book reminds me a lot of Kim Addonzio What is this Thing Called Love. Lots of similar material, similar use of the vernacular, similar short lines. But Chang is more intellectual, her knowledge of math and science an unusual subject in some of these poems.
There are some wonderful lines - "This year I decided to be a bombshell./I played bottle cap table hockey/with strangers and trained/ my brain to say yes to martinis/ carried by men with small biographies."
This book reminds me a lot of Kim Addonzio What is this Thing Called Love. Lots of similar material, similar use of the vernacular, similar short lines. But Chang is more intellectual, her knowledge of math and science an unusual subject in some of these poems.