Scan barcode
paul_viaf's review against another edition
5.0
Consummate. The book spans some thirty years & in that span, there is much to be appreciated about the variety he chose to include in his maturation of works. What appealed to me about this collection of works was the historical aspect of incorporating literary works from many great minds. He meshes & blends these motifs well with modern day occurrences. His natural psychoanalytical perspective breathes vivid life into his anecdotal visitations to his past. The people, places, emotions, descriptions really come to life. He possesses the uncanny ability to sum up the profound while integrating a wide array of subject matter. The personal dedications, which he sprinkles throughout, are wonderfully endearing & sincere in their sentimentality, that you, the reader, feel a real friendship flourishing just by merely allowing his voice into your heart & mind. It sounds cliché, but he is truly a national treasure. His work is authentically American & beyond that, authentically human. His religious pieces are quite original as far as I've read from many other poets incorporating spirituality, religious doctrine, folklore & the ritualistic. He seems to follows suit with the likes of T.S. Eliot & Ezra Pound with regards to drawing from a varying pool of literary voices yet does not overtly abscond with the very words of those minds. He proposes a very original view & take upon that which has demanded great scrutiny from scholars of literature. In this persona, he reads like a professor prophesying his masterly work to his pupils but not in a pontificating manner, rather in a homely comforting manner, as if inviting you into his home to become enchanted with the professor’s wife, children & family album. I loved this book & highly recommend him as a mind that must not be ignored.
dilan11's review
4.0
I came back to this book after reading Gulf Music. My appreciation for Pinsky continues to grow. He is a master of language and image. Truly one of our great living poets. He is the exact opposite of "sensational," yet he does not shy away from dark material.
More...