Reviews

O the Chimneys: Selected Poems, Including the Verse Play, Eli by Nelly Sachs, Michael Hamburger

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sarah_dietrich's review against another edition

3.0

I really enjoyed the first section of poems, starting with "O the Chimneys". The rest of the poems are more abstract and seem to have no "correct" interpretation, instead aiming to convey interrelated themes. I lost interest in these & skimmed over most of them. I did enjoy the final section of the book, the play "Eli".

serendipitysbooks's review against another edition

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emotional reflective slow-paced

Strong character development? N/A
Loveable characters? N/A
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

3.0

Nelly Sachs was awarded her Nobel Prize in 1966 “for her outstanding lyrical and dramatic writing, which interprets Israel’s destiny with touching strength.” I choose to read O, The Chimneys, a collection of poetry which also includes a verse play. The opening poem from which this collection takes its name speaks to the Holocaust and included some really powerful imagery. I was impressed by this and most of the other poems which related to the Jewish experience during World War II. Those that dealt more directly with matters of religion appealed less. That’s very much a me issue. Many poems advocated for the state of Israel. While I understood the sentiment, I felt uncomfortable reading them given many of the subsequent actions of the Israeli government. An interesting feature of this collection is that the poems were printed in their original German, followed by the English translation. This provides a wonderful opportunity for bilingual readers to compare the two.

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