A sumptuous poetic romp through Italy.
Hill’s poetry collection traverses both the physical and intangible landscapes of Italy.
Italy is a feast for the senses in every aspect, from the food to the language to the clothes to the way the cobblestones feel underfoot. The author understands this, and her poems aim to, as she puts it, convey a “sense of being utterly enchanted…stuffed inside a satchel of American cynicism.” The poems fall into six categories largely delineated by geography; most of the verses have an epistolary quality. The poems’ speakers traverse the country’s landmarks and attractions, such as the Keats-Shelley house, the Domitilla catacombs, and the northern city of Bolzano. Hill celebrates these places with visceral esteem, using tactile images to convey textured experiences: “Stone / walls still held the warmth of afternoon sun…sweet perfume / of mountain elderflower, fresh green mint” (“Hugo”). The outsider/tourist perspective intercuts with evocations of what life may look like for locals, including nuns, blacksmiths, and the elderly. Hill plays with form, weaving in old styles like the sonnet and sestina with her largely free-verse works (some are even in Italian, with translations). The clear reverence for Italy does not undermine humor; one section, “Learning Italian,” tackles the tribulations of learning a new tongue and includes a jab at the language learning app Duolingo and its bizarre sample phrases (“The penguin eats fruit in the zoo”). Hill captures many small moments beyond the typical travel brochure epiphanies, ruminating on the gravitas of simply walking down the street, the beauty of “small green lizards, / red butterflies and dragonflies,” and the viciousness of a winding road. The poems reflect the introspection and self-awareness of a transient presence while commemorating everything from sprawling mountains to a simple glass of limoncello. Though there are some awkward phrases here and there, the collection largely succeeds in creating an immersive and beguiling reading experience.
A sumptuous poetic romp through Italy.Pub Date: July 18, 2024
ISBN: 9798322610588
Page Count: 84
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: Aug. 7, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
A virtuoso performance and an ode to an undervalued medium created by two talented artists.
The veteran actor, comedian, and banjo player teams up with the acclaimed illustrator to create a unique book of cartoons that communicates their personalities.
Martin, also a prolific author, has always been intrigued by the cartoons strewn throughout the pages of the New Yorker. So when he was presented with the opportunity to work with Bliss, who has been a staff cartoonist at the magazine since 1997, he seized the moment. “The idea of a one-panel image with or without a caption mystified me,” he writes. “I felt like, yeah, sometimes I’m funny, but there are these other weird freaks who are actually funny.” Once the duo agreed to work together, they established their creative process, which consisted of working forward and backward: “Forwards was me conceiving of several cartoon images and captions, and Harry would select his favorites; backwards was Harry sending me sketched or fully drawn cartoons for dialogue or banners.” Sometimes, he writes, “the perfect joke occurs two seconds before deadline.” There are several cartoons depicting this method, including a humorous multipanel piece highlighting their first meeting called “They Meet,” in which Martin thinks to himself, “He’ll never be able to translate my delicate and finely honed droll notions.” In the next panel, Bliss thinks, “I’m sure he won’t understand that the comic art form is way more subtle than his blunt-force humor.” The team collaborated for a year and created 150 cartoons featuring an array of topics, “from dogs and cats to outer space and art museums.” A witty creation of a bovine family sitting down to a gourmet meal and one of Dumbo getting his comeuppance highlight the duo’s comedic talent. What also makes this project successful is the team’s keen understanding of human behavior as viewed through their unconventional comedic minds.
A virtuoso performance and an ode to an undervalued medium created by two talented artists.Pub Date: Nov. 17, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-26289-9
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Celadon Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2020
PERSPECTIVES
A frank and funny but uneven essay collection about neurodiversity.
An experimental, illustrated essay collection that questions neurotypical definitions of what is normal.
From a young age, writer and comedian Myers has been different. In addition to coping with obsessive compulsive disorder and panic attacks, she struggled to read basic social cues. During a round of seven minutes in heaven—a game in which two players spend seven minutes in a closet and are expected to kiss—Myers misread the romantic advances of her best friend and longtime crush, Marley. In Paris, she accidentally invited a sex worker to join her friends for “board games and beer,” thinking he was simply a random stranger who happened to be hitting on her. In community college, a stranger’s request for a pen spiraled her into a panic attack but resulted in a tentative friendship. When the author moved to Australia, she began taking notes on her colleagues in an effort to know them better. As the author says to her co-worker, Tabitha, “there are unspoken social contracts within a workplace that—by some miracle—everyone else already understands, and I don’t….When things Go Without Saying, they Never Get Said, and sometimes people need you to Say Those Things So They Understand What The Hell Is Going On.” At its best, Myers’ prose is vulnerable and humorous, capturing characterization in small but consequential life moments, and her illustrations beautifully complement the text. Unfortunately, the author’s tendency toward unnecessary capitalization and experimental forms is often unsuccessful, breaking the book’s otherwise steady rhythm.
A frank and funny but uneven essay collection about neurodiversity.Pub Date: Oct. 28, 2025
ISBN: 9780063381308
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Morrow/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Sept. 12, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2025
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