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jenna_birdy's review against another edition
1.0
An exercise in mental masturbation. A stream of consciousness ramble full of opinion and wild conjecture masquerading as a biography. I’m sure the author thinks himself very clever, but his “literary” tricks with his prose quickly go from quirky to irritating to unbearable. I feel like this should have been a long article at best. Repetitive and full of long tangents barely related to Dickinson or her life. I knew little about her when I picked it up, and I think I know even less now. PASS.
bennought's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
funny
informative
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
4.0
favoritetinysad's review against another edition
3.0
I enjoyed this biography, but I think I enjoyed arguing with it more. I couldn’t put it down, and at times I couldn’t get it out of my head. But it was also infuriating, exasperating, intoxicating in the way that most unhealthy things are. The excerpts about Carlo and Emily Norcross were quite worth the read. The rest I took with the many grains of salt required to digest opinions presented as fact without much in the way of convincing argument or significant supporting evidence. The book’s strengths are in its sharp prose and its curious approach to biography—which is rambling and thematic, rather than strictly chronological, and which I actually found to be an engaging narrative to trace. (Even if the rather lengthy aside on Joseph Cornell felt wholly unnecessary.) But, while the author’s clear passion(s) for the subject make for a galloping pace, this also gives the biography an almost obsessive (possessive?) quality. I wonder if Charyn might have been attempting to create an Emily RepliLuxe of his own from the pages of his research.
(Edited with more to say on January 7, 2023)
(Edited with more to say on January 7, 2023)
michaeljmccann's review against another edition
5.0
Jerome Charyn is an innovative writer whose passion for his subject matter--whether it be his native Bronx, Abraham Lincoln, or Emily Dickinson--is expressed in a style inimitably his own. In A LOADED GUN, as in I AM ABRAHAM, Charyn has conducted extensive archival research to provide his own sense of the inner life of a gifted individual. Rather than accepting what has been the conventional view of Emily Dickinson as an isolated woman crippled by agoraphobia and manipulated by a dominating father, Charyn sees her as a woman of passion and imagination who was very much in control of her own life. He describes her variously as "an alchemist," "an enchantress," and "a mistress of her own interior time and space".
A LOADED GUN and Charyn's previous work, THE SECRET LIFE OF EMILY DICKINSON, are not only fascinating in their own right, but provide an opportunity for a new generation of readers to discover the poet and her impressive work.
A LOADED GUN will appeal not only to readers of poetry, biography, and literary criticism, but also to all those seeking a refreshing read on a "conventional" life.
A LOADED GUN and Charyn's previous work, THE SECRET LIFE OF EMILY DICKINSON, are not only fascinating in their own right, but provide an opportunity for a new generation of readers to discover the poet and her impressive work.
A LOADED GUN will appeal not only to readers of poetry, biography, and literary criticism, but also to all those seeking a refreshing read on a "conventional" life.
jerihurd's review against another edition
2.0
Well that was disappointing. Pure speculation, much based on conflating her biography with her poetry, which is reductionist at best. The one big "find" that supposedly shoots down past biographies is a phantom photo of Dickinson and Kate, the ostensible love of her life. A photo rumored to exist, but not replicated in the book. I find it hard to believe anyone in the book's intended audience still gives credence to the virginal recluse myth--you can't read her poetry and still find her so passionless and isolated--so basically there's nothing new or substantial here except one person's musings.
UPDATE: I stand corrected on the photo. Not sure how I missed that! Still, having looked at it, I think my point is even more valid: the author makes one photo carry a very heavy load in his analysis.
UPDATE: I stand corrected on the photo. Not sure how I missed that! Still, having looked at it, I think my point is even more valid: the author makes one photo carry a very heavy load in his analysis.
kwurtzel3's review against another edition
1.0
I can't for the life of me figure out how I hadn't reviewed this earlier -- I'm half-convinced I did and it somehow got deleted -- but here it is:
This is not a biography of Emily Dickinson. This is literary criticism masquerading as a biography, walking a thin tightrope between the two and falling quite frequently. And it's pretty terrible literary criticism, at that.
My main problem with it? There is no cohesion. The book as terrible organization; it skips from topic to topic with no transition. The author goes off on strange tangents that have only the most tenuous connections to Dickinson. When it does present any sort of biography, there is scant chronology. And it needed a decent copy editor to take a stab at this before publication, because it was riddled with grammatical errors (two I took note of: "a 150 pounds" [p. 69] and "St. John River's" [p. 73]). The writing was hideous and confusing. I'm still not sure what the author intended with this book, but I'm fairly sure it shouldn't have gone out to the wider world.
Overall: 1/10.
This is not a biography of Emily Dickinson. This is literary criticism masquerading as a biography, walking a thin tightrope between the two and falling quite frequently. And it's pretty terrible literary criticism, at that.
My main problem with it? There is no cohesion. The book as terrible organization; it skips from topic to topic with no transition. The author goes off on strange tangents that have only the most tenuous connections to Dickinson. When it does present any sort of biography, there is scant chronology. And it needed a decent copy editor to take a stab at this before publication, because it was riddled with grammatical errors (two I took note of: "a 150 pounds" [p. 69] and "St. John River's" [p. 73]). The writing was hideous and confusing. I'm still not sure what the author intended with this book, but I'm fairly sure it shouldn't have gone out to the wider world.
Overall: 1/10.
cancermoononhigh's review against another edition
2.0
This book was a tough one for me to read. It seemed that the author was all over the place in his details of Emily Dickinson. However, I was still able to learn from it despite my challenges with it.
Emily Dickinson was often mocked as the half cracked village muse in her hometown. She was seen as the "most dangerous type of alien - a poet." Emily had two such companions that were constant in her life as an adult, a dog named Carlos and her maid, an irishwoman named Margaret.
Perhaps her mother, named Emily as well, helped teach her daughter her little way with words. Emily very much used silence as a strategy against her husband. Emily also most likely passed along her melancholy ways as well to her daughter.
----quotes and poems I enjoyed----
"language is first made in the mothers body."
She dealt her pretty words like Blades-
How glittering they shone-
And every one unbared a Nerve
Or wantoned with a Bone-
I can dance opon my toes-
No man instructed me-
But oftentimes, among my mind
A Glee posseth me,
That had I ballet knowledge-
Would put itself abroad
In Piroutte to blanch a Troupe-
Or lay a Prima....Mad
Emily Dickinson was often mocked as the half cracked village muse in her hometown. She was seen as the "most dangerous type of alien - a poet." Emily had two such companions that were constant in her life as an adult, a dog named Carlos and her maid, an irishwoman named Margaret.
Perhaps her mother, named Emily as well, helped teach her daughter her little way with words. Emily very much used silence as a strategy against her husband. Emily also most likely passed along her melancholy ways as well to her daughter.
----quotes and poems I enjoyed----
"language is first made in the mothers body."
She dealt her pretty words like Blades-
How glittering they shone-
And every one unbared a Nerve
Or wantoned with a Bone-
I can dance opon my toes-
No man instructed me-
But oftentimes, among my mind
A Glee posseth me,
That had I ballet knowledge-
Would put itself abroad
In Piroutte to blanch a Troupe-
Or lay a Prima....Mad