Aside from some individual poem published in magazines, this is my first experience of the poet Rae Armantrout. My impression from those earlier poemsAside from some individual poem published in magazines, this is my first experience of the poet Rae Armantrout. My impression from those earlier poems was a forthright, irreverent, and somewhat cranky truth-at-all-costs poet, and this collection certainly confirms that. For an individual collection the number of poems is substantial. It's very clear from the first poems, that like many of us, Armantrout is angry and despairing about our government, the environment, and the mounting signs that the odds for extended human life on this planet are not so great. Add to this confronting mortality and imminent decline, and the meaning behind the title is pretty clear.
While I like many things about these poems, the overall impact of this collection was not as profound as other National Book award nominees (I have now read all 5). In particular, the initial poems tend, on one hand, to hit you over the head with the topics (the Trump presidency, the insensitivity of others on many matters) while also often being too skeletal and unfocused to have great impact. The title and perhaps one stanza of the poem would seem to dive into an issue, only to take one or more left turns leaving me unclear of what concern moved her to write the poem.
However, in the middle section of the book especially, the poems are filled out and less structured, sometimes closer to prose. The shift also takes us into the same topics, but a little deeper. The added layer of details makes poems like, "The Third Person", "Flicker", and "My Erasure" hum with life as they wrestle with wasted moments, unresolved issues with dead parents, and the impermanence that has always been there for all of us.
Oh, and for the record, here's how I'd rank the 5 NBA nominees from last year: 1. Indecency (I think the NBAs got it right.) 2. Ghost Of (so creative, original, haunting) 3. American Sonnets for My Past and Future Assassin (focused anger through the form of the love sonnet to reflect the times we live in) 4. Wobble 5. Eye Level ...more
From the various quotes, accolades, and reviews I had read about this novel prior to actually getting down to reading it, I expected it to be a well-dFrom the various quotes, accolades, and reviews I had read about this novel prior to actually getting down to reading it, I expected it to be a well-done nostalgic, sentimental snapshot of the 80s/90s and at the height of the AIDS crisis. Well, it is very well done and is set, in part, in the 80s and 90s, and does address, again in part, the AIDS crisis. But the stories laid out here (over a 30-year period) are delivered with a clear-eyed and decidedly unsentimental voice that allows the connections between a large cast of characters to unfold simply, in their own time. In retrospect, the many challenges its characters face are so overwhelming and horrific, there is no need for even a drop of melodrama. In fact, there are many points in the book in which nothing terrible is happening, yet the scenes are haunted by the kind of helplessness one feels when the brakes fail on a rainy road as you skid into a busy intersection, waiting to see how chance decides your fate.
After reading about a third of the book, I found myself feeling agitated, tense, even a little angry. Then a particular passage helped me realize that the feelings I was experiencing were very likely a way of living for those directly impacted by a fatal, incurable disease. One character actually charts his relationship with AIDS in relation to who he knows who has the disease - from only hearing about it, to hearing from friends of friends who know someone who has it, to seeing an acquaintance with visible lesions, etc., leaving him to begin to wonder when it would make a direct hit in his life.
Despite the anxiety that weaves throughout, this was a book I did not want to put down and found myself stealing minutes here and there to be able to stay with it. Makkai pulls this off by simply delivering the story with perfectly observed, well-researched details that are almost always seemed natural, spontaneous, and genuine.
A couple of aspects make this AIDS story unique from others I'm familiar with: 1) the presence of shame and internalized self-hatred among the gay men in this novel is an exquisite education in how self-hatred can impair or blind those who are marginalized and unsupported, leaving them excessively vulnerable to threats. 2) this novel is not just a story of gay men - two of the three major characters are women. In the end, I think this book is a story about mothers - mothers who disappeared, abandoned, rejected, or avoided their children; the unacknowledged longing the children of those mothers are left to grapple with; those who help to meet their own longings by becoming surrogate mothers for those in need; and, sometimes those children become mothers themselves, perfectly teed up to repeat their own history and desperately trying to resolve it all before it's too late.
Highly recommended. Would make an outstanding mini-series....more
In terms of the basic plot, the story is not particularly unique. Take out their marriage out of the black American context and I think you could applIn terms of the basic plot, the story is not particularly unique. Take out their marriage out of the black American context and I think you could apply the rocky inconsistency of Roy and Celestial's relationship to many stories on the struggle of marriage. Still, as one who continues to pine for more understanding of the black experience, I appreciated how subtly Jones wove in those challenges.
While I think this book is ready-made to be adapted into a movie or mini-series, it also occurred to me that the its many plot turns would not be out of place in a soap opera. While reading, I wondered if it was a page-turner because it was good writing or because it was too easy and lightweight. More often than not, I admired the subtle precision and economy of Jones' writing.
After completing the book, I realized that my feelings about it seemed to mirror the struggle in its story, a battle between the head and the heart, between how you think life should be and what it ultimately is if you see it for what it is. Glancing at the ratings of other readers, which are all over the place, might bear this out.
Jones has a quiet but clear voice as a storyteller. For me, the strength of the story is its persistent tug on the heart, which earn a technical win over the head, in this match. Almost from the start of the book I experienced a profound sense of sadness that never fell into hopelessness. Without drawing attention to itself, Jones' writing has an alert sense of empathy for her characters that allowed me to observe their incidental dramas while keeping an almost unspoken awareness of the character's positive intents, deeper hurts, and possibilities for redemption.
I can't wait to see where Jones goes from here with her unique voice and emotional power. And I hope that Barry Jenkins directs the movie version....more
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