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readingwmiles's review against another edition
3.0
the original poem is one of my all time favorites, so this had a lot to live up to. unfortunately it was just fine. it adapted the poem to feel more timely, but felt a little repetitive in its message. i also didn’t really vibe with the art style.
bluestarfish's review against another edition
5.0
What a wonderful read! I finally got my hands on a copy of this and it is delightful. The words and illustrations make for a haunting warning of what humans are doing to our planet and oceans by filling them with plastic and other toxins. The mariner in the poem recounts his adventures to an uninterested man on a park bench, but more fool him - I was enthralled. [2015]
[2020] Our modern mariner is on a quest to find and kill a whale and while bored waiting for one shoots an albatross. The drawings are black, white, and blue and they are striking. The plastic stuff is still as shocking as on the first read.
[2020] Our modern mariner is on a quest to find and kill a whale and while bored waiting for one shoots an albatross. The drawings are black, white, and blue and they are striking. The plastic stuff is still as shocking as on the first read.
lizaroo71's review
4.0
This is a beautiful tale of a mariner's horrific encounter of a giant swirl of sludge in the Pacific Ocean. The book is beautifully illustrated. I keep looking at the detail in the drawings. A great book to give as a gift.
linzer712's review against another edition
4.0
The artwork is magical and I love how Hayes captures the rhythm and magic of Coleridge's poem but updates it with his own modern twists. Yes, the message and meaning of the two poems have similarities but are ultimately different-- while Coleridge's is embedded with ambiguities, Hayes's is a spelled out ode to environmental awareness and the destructive power of human hubris, I think that Hayes's work is a great complement to Coleridge's masterpiece.
saidtheraina's review
3.0
GORGEOUS illustrations, but the rhyming text made me want to rush through them.
nglofile's review
5.0
“Water, water, everywhere; Nor any drop to drink.” This line from Coleridge’s memorable poem may have been an all-too-prescient glimpse into the havoc we have since wreaked on our natural resources. Nick Hayes certainly thinks so, and he has crafted a visually stunning work in The Rime of the Modern Mariner. Exquisite woodcut-inspired illustrations translate the story into a mesmerizing tale of environmental disaster, but one that is anchored by the actions (or inaction) of two primary characters: a sailor with a fantastic tale to tell and a jaded businessman cornered on the day his divorce becomes final. The text itself is spare, just a few words per page, effectively allowing the rhythm and rhyme to carry the reader along the waves of story. Poignant, beautiful, and resonant.
jhayden's review against another edition
4.0
3.5. I really enjoyed reading a modern take of the classic poem. I wasn’t expecting the Earth health/pollution focus but the two concepts worked well together. There’s also a lot of religious references, like like Adam and Eve, Pentecostal ring of fire, and Greek gods, and others that I didn’t understand at first but are really cool like Gaia and al-Jazari’s candle clock. Some great scientific parts too.
The art is lovely but I felt it was repetitive at times and caused the story to drag. There’s like six pages of almost the same drawing of a whale. The text on each page is very limited and is all in verse. Some of the words seemed like they came from a thesaurus but given the confines of meter it was probably necessary. I was never bothered by any of the text and thought it was able to accomplish a lot but I saw a lot of reviews that disagree.
Overall, I’m pleasantly surprised and would recommend.
The art is lovely but I felt it was repetitive at times and caused the story to drag. There’s like six pages of almost the same drawing of a whale. The text on each page is very limited and is all in verse. Some of the words seemed like they came from a thesaurus but given the confines of meter it was probably necessary. I was never bothered by any of the text and thought it was able to accomplish a lot but I saw a lot of reviews that disagree.
Overall, I’m pleasantly surprised and would recommend.