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shimmer's review
3.0
I had a very split reaction to this. I loved the narrator's microscopically focused, wandering voice (which I always love in Baker's fiction) and the way he developed as a character through his clumsy accidents and awkward moments. His procrastination instead of doing the writing he was meant to was hilarious but also bound up with his anxieties as a minor poet and aging lonely man that his shifting, struggling identity became really compelling to me. But even while the way he understood himself largely through the lives and struggles of other, more famous poets was interesting, I also felt like the "lectures" about poetry, meter, etc. became too much -- at some point I started feeling like those technical, academic passages in the story weren't as organically woven into the personal story as I wanted them to be, and they began to feel tangential and repetitive. I resisted the urge to skip over those passages to the next "scene," but I did feel it often as the novel progressed. I should admit, though, that I felt pretty out of my depth concerning most of historical and technical descriptions of poetry, and was reminded how shabby my knowledge of that genre really is -- perhaps better chops on my part would have made those sections integrate more smoothly with the rest of the book.
haudurn's review
5.0
Charming! I have a new appreciation for poetry and for this whimsical but heartfelt novel.
amythibodeau's review
2.0
I can see how some people might have liked this. The writing is interesting as is the narrator's perspective. But liking this book really depends on liking the narrator and I couldn't stand him. He reminded me of a whinging ex-boyfriend. And so I couldn't enjoy this book. At all.
jamieforman's review
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
maylingkuo's review
3.0
anyone with a love for poetry would like this novel. it does drag on a bit - i mean, he is procrastinating on writing an anthology introduction. despite that, i certainly learned more about poetry and baker has a way with words that can be pretty magical at times.
irene_kalo's review
3.0
A pretty good book. The writing is observationally droll and I learned a lot. I don't agree with a lot of the opinions stated in this book (they can be very black-or-white and radical) but he may have really been onto something with his views on iambic pentameter. The ending to this book was satisfying but kind of random in a Deus Ex Machina kind of way.
yopo's review
3.0
Gorgeous and fun writing but didn't really go anywhere. I really liked the poetry analysis bits — actually made me motivated to maybe read a bit of poetry. (Probably won't, but that's still pretty impressive.)
lshykula's review
2.0
I guess if I cared more about poetry, I would have enjoyed this book more. There was a storyline in there, somewhere, hiding among all the iambic pentameter explanations.
surfinnsb's review
5.0
I adored this book. My copy is completely dog-eared, underlined, and marked up. I wish I could climb into this narration and live inside it.
Paul Chowder is poetry.
Paul Chowder is poetry.