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3 Sections (2013)

by Vijay Seshadri(Favorite Author)

3.8 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

155597662X (ISBN13: 9781555976620)

languge

English

genre

Poetry

publisher

Graywolf Press

review 1: I tend to define my poetry-reading experiences based on where the poem(s) fall along two distinct continuums, both subjective: quality and accessibility. I find Billy Collins and Kay Ryan, for example, high quality and highly accessible. The poems in 3 Sections are also of high quality but fall somewhere between the accessibility extremes, hence 4-stars. It's very good, and I highlighted many lines, but I'm hesitant to give it 5 stars because I felt some of it eluded me. Moving on...This collection contains 33 poems (one about 15 pages long) and an essay and is obviously the work of a talented writer. Seshadri's mastery of the language is beautiful and haunting and precise even when describing the imprecise. There were times I said to myself: "Exactly. That's exactly it." ... moreA lovely collection."Memoir" and "Bright Copper Kettles" stand out in my mind.-------"The soul,like the square root of minus 1,is an impossibility that has its uses." - Imaginary Number"The real story of a life is the story of its humiliations." - Memoir"He listens deeply into the night, which listens back." - Guide for the Perplexed"and long ago, on this same planet, you came hometo an empty house, poured a Scotch-and-soda,and sat in a recliner in the unlit rumpus room,puzzled at what became of you." - Thought Problem"You understand what I mean, you others,or understand at least how shocking the obvious can beif you're not ready for it." - Personal Essay"when I realize it's not just the story I want that I'm not going to getbut that I am not going to get any story at all." - Personal Essay
review 2: Vijay Seshadri's third collection, and it's well worth waiting for. The book is marvelous, constantly surprising. I enjoyed again the lacerating "Memoir" (which first appeared in The New Yorker) and the three apocalyptic visions of "This Morning" (which I first heard at a PSA reading). "Three Persons" is still a particular favorite. The theme of containing multitudes recurs in different guises throughout the book, culminating in the transformative ending of "Personal Essay," where the faces seen in a trance are themselves and more than themselves. I also love the essay "Pacific Fishes of Canada" and will be sharing it with a colleague who teaches Moby Dick. The book takes many risks in its language--colloquial, mythic, sentimental, scientific--but rides the waves through the energy of its sentences. less

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