Heavy emphasis on rhyming and simplistic subject matter will leave readers unsatisfied.
A young woman’s poems about nature, relationships and growing up.
The milestones and emotional tumult of early adulthood are well-traversed territory in poetry and literature. The work of classic heavyweights like Emily Dickinson and contemporary writers like Bret Easton Ellis touches on this trying time of life; additional examples of coming of age on the page are only as far away as the nearest creative writing course. Like multitudes before her, Scheidemann records her thoughts on love, nature and revelations about adulthood. Unlike many others, however, she infuses these musings with a streak of poetry devoted to cocoa-based food items, such as “Chocolate,” in which she writes, “Sweet, sweet chocolate—so sweet / You won’t ever fail to leave me / Such a lovely treat / Which always makes me full of glee.” “Brownie,” meanwhile, describes the eponymous delectible as “Brown colored / Really delicious / Often a favorite dessert.” Moving on to more weighty topics with “Shyness,” Scheidemann tackles adolescent awkwardness: “My shyness at first / Prevents me from things I want to do / Makes me feel cursed / And blue.” Her poetry varies widely in theme yet is simplistic in scope. She places primary focus on rhyming stanzas—a poetic style that lends itself better to children’s poetry rather than the young-adult audience she appears to address with poems about graduation and romantic heartache. While the poet’s enthusiasm is clearly evident, this collection reads more like a portfolio ripe for workshopping or the culmination of notebook musings and penned daydreams. As an aspiring author, Scheidemann would benefit from delving deeper into her subject matter, forgoing strict adherence to rhyming structure and further refining her writing skills.
Heavy emphasis on rhyming and simplistic subject matter will leave readers unsatisfied.Pub Date: June 16, 2011
ISBN: 978-1456462727
Page Count: 62
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: April 25, 2012
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
A scattering of thoughtful, poetic moments amid essays that focus on farm life.
A gardening columnist reflects on raising children, animals and vegetables on an Iowa farm in this collection of essays that highlights the adventure and difficulty that come with the so-called simple life.
The majority of the anecdotes in Weir-Jimerson’s (Better Homes & Gardens Herb Gardening, 2011) debut essay collection originated as columns in various rural-themed publications (Country Home, Country Almanac, Horticulture), and they never stray too far from the unpaved country road. Divided by season, the 55 essays cover pastoral topics, from training a driving horse and planting fingerling potatoes to ducking errant bulls, blizzards and tornadoes. Along the way, there’s a lot to be enjoyed and a lot to be learned from Weir-Jimerson, a Master Gardener and apt tamer of land, child and beast. For some though, the pseudo-lessons might be a bit too much. The folksy essays, though well written, often prove more descriptive and informative than reflective, making the collection more of a country field guide for outsiders than a memoir for like minds. There are, however, a handful of essays and asides in which the former poetry student expresses her tender side. Reflections on a childhood lake house, a description of a late-night hydrangea-harvesting adventure, and thoughts from the window of a snowed-in farmhouse reveal a broader voice that contrasts with the more domineering (and funny) quips about child rearing, barnyard antics and the goings-on of state and local fairs. This poetic version of Weir-Jimerson is the one you want to share tea with in the farm’s drawing room, but more often, your ear is pulled away by her expert side in her eagerness to teach the finer points of trapping mice or rooting burdock seeds out of a Great Pyrenees’ fur. While these musings are insightful, it’s likely that they’ve already reached their intended audience on the pages of country-minded periodicals.
A scattering of thoughtful, poetic moments amid essays that focus on farm life.Pub Date: Sept. 8, 2011
ISBN: 978-1463502430
Page Count: 164
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: July 30, 2012
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A fun, keep-you-up-at-night thrill ride.
After a flurry of explosions lights up the streets of Memphis, Lt. Julia Todd and her team of investigators have to play catch-up to stop the bombers before the next strike.
In Paavola’s (They Gotta Sleep Sometime, 2011, etc.) third thriller in the Murder in Memphis series, Lt. Julia Todd and her team are too good at their police work to avoid the heat. As soon as pipe bombs start erupting in Memphis neighborhoods, Todd acts on an instinct that values the lives of others more than her own. Act first, for better or worse, and then deal with the demons that near-death experiences can bring. The bombers’ pattern emerges over the next several weeks, as bomb after bomb targets the decision-makers at Pharaoh Health Management Systems, an insurance company notorious (although by no means unique, as Paavola makes clear) for denying valid claims based on economic expediency, essentially allowing “death panels” to decide who lives and dies. Todd’s team works furiously to predict the bombers’ next move, but they always seem to find themselves a half step behind—too slow to stop the bomb but close enough to feel the flames. Todd, meanwhile, is desperately trying to patch up a relationship that had crumbled while she dealt with the psychological impact from the last time she was seriously threatened in the line of duty. Front and center here is the dysfunction of the health care system, a topic Paavola doesn’t shy away from haranguing. Paavola indicts the system that doles out health care on a bottom-line basis: Money-gorged corporate health care executives indirectly battle the intensely angry individuals who have lost loved ones because of those corporate decisions. Thankfully, the health care debate doesn’t overburden the story, although it tends to weaken some characters on either side of the argument by painting them as caricatures. The action is nonetheless electric: There’s no shortage of bombs and smart, intense sleuthing.
A fun, keep-you-up-at-night thrill ride.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 363
Publisher: Dog Ear Publisher
Review Posted Online: Jan. 3, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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