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Our Andromeda (2012)

by Brenda Shaughnessy(Favorite Author)

4.02 of 5 Votes: 1

ISBN

1556594100 (ISBN13: 9781556594106)

languge

English

genre

Poetry

publisher

Copper Canyon Press

review 1: I came to My Andromeda for personal reasons, having heard that some poems in the collection dealt with the circumstance of a difficult birth and its aftermath. The concluding title poem is extraordinary: a powerful, frank, angry, and deeply affecting tour de force about a mother, a father, and their son, as they seek abidance in an abruptly-alien world, and find it in an imaginary universe. Several other poems touch on the same subject, and though shorter are equally strong. I was less persuaded by the poems in the first half of the book and the section that draws on tarot cards; I found many of those poems obscure, or just plain flat to my ear, and while the jokey humor and the facility with internal rhyme were welcome, there are other poets (Kay Ryan, in particular) ... morewho do more with both elements. Hence four stars rather than five--but this collection is well worth seeking out and spending time re-reading.
review 2: Love her, but didn't love this collection as much as I was hoping to. The subject matter is heartbreaking, but I guess maybe nothing will match her first book for me. The more accessible, conversational language that used to perfectly dilute her intense vocabulary & dense musicality seems to have become the default in her last two books, making them easier to digest but less strange and less thrilling. BUT I STILL LOVE HER. Gonna start this sad book over and read it again. less

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