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Reviews
View with a Grain of Sand: Selected Poems by Stanisław Barańczak, Wisława Szymborska, Clare Cavanagh
francisabernathysbff's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
4.5 stars
go ! read ! this ! these poems are original (both in form and content, i was pleasantly surprised), thought-provoking and striking: wisława has a very unique and well-defined voice that i personally loved. she deals with life, love, hate, mortality, the past, the dead, the universe and the people that live in it. she’s a genius poet but also very human: her words never feel pretentious or hard to get. on the contrary, i found her work incredibly accessible, enchanting and, i’d dare to say, eternal. i’m so happy i read this, definitely one of my best discoveries in 2021 so far (and to think that i would’ve missed this if my town's library wasn’t literally just about to throw it out !).
go ! read ! this ! these poems are original (both in form and content, i was pleasantly surprised), thought-provoking and striking: wisława has a very unique and well-defined voice that i personally loved. she deals with life, love, hate, mortality, the past, the dead, the universe and the people that live in it. she’s a genius poet but also very human: her words never feel pretentious or hard to get. on the contrary, i found her work incredibly accessible, enchanting and, i’d dare to say, eternal. i’m so happy i read this, definitely one of my best discoveries in 2021 so far (and to think that i would’ve missed this if my town's library wasn’t literally just about to throw it out !).
lawrence_retold's review against another edition
3.0
At its best, reading View with a Grain of Sand made me feel like it was no longer necessary to read philosophy. And that was quite the relief, because Szymborska is the opposite of ponderous. However, I found that best to be rarely achieved. Szymborska’s poems can readily state philosophical conundrums, but are much less apt to try resolving them. Many poems here, I find, take a stance on the human condition that’s so ironically removed as to be patronizing, even when that distance is probably meant to be funny. I really got very little of a sense of a worldview from reading this collection. I didn’t have any faith, I guess, that Szymborska could possibly have meant or believed what she says here.
mina_m's review against another edition
4.0
Nydelig, men ikke fullt like god som Livet er den eneste måten. Har en følelse av at det kan skyldes oversettelsen. Skjønt, uansett må det sies at arven etter Szymborska er praktfull.
lmckensie's review
5.0
Szymborska's poetry is evocative and enchanting. She writes about the gravity of death with the same remarkable fluidity that she writes about the silliness of love. Not a word is wasted. Szymborska has quickly become one of my favorite poets. This collection features my all-time favorite of her poems, Cat in an Empty Apartment.
guiltyfeat's review against another edition
4.0
As difficult as I find it to read and appreciate books of poetry, I would have thought that a work in translation would be even more alienating. This selection of Nobel Prize winner Szymborska's work from 1957-93 is rendered beautifully into English. The poems wrestle with life and love and death and they do so with wit and grace. A charming collection.