Poems about pain and eventual recovery that may fail to evoke much sympathy.
Gustav chronicles a bitter divorce and eventual spiritual awakening in this debut poetry collection.
From the first verses in this book, the author fixates on the pain that his wife caused by leaving him. It may be difficult for readers to appreciate the poems’ bursts of anger as expressions of raw emotion, though, as they’re so incongruous with the simple rhymes and antiquated poetic structures: “Not enough she says as I am still not happy / Go make some more, so I can spend it as I hate feeling so crappy.” Although the poems paint the ex-wife as a materialistic liar, readers may find that their portrayal of the unfairness of the situation is overshadowed by a strong streak of misogyny in some verses. The poems sometimes refer to the ex-wife using vulgarities, as in “The Pig.” The poems’ reflections on family aren’t limited to marriage, however, as they also address other family members: “Yet my Mom feels it is her right to intervene / Play the game of the go between / For this I will not support, so it is time for you to leave.” Just when the poems seem to be on the verge of an existential breakthrough, talking about loftier notions of acceptance, sacrifice, or karma, their unwavering indignation gets in the way of expressing something more constructive. Some lines (“When looked at it with this viewpoint, is there a right or wrong? / Wronger’s are willing to acknowledge and accept / Righter’s are not quite there.....yet”) assert the author’s superiority while also touching on the relativity of fault at the end of a relationship. The poems also offer the author’s observations about his work, his longing for more time with his children, and his journey to Christianity. At times, the poems reveal the author’s eye for detail and talent for concise metaphors; he perfectly sums up his father’s anger, for example, describing it as “like blasts of hot air from a tuba.” By the end of the collection, he also writes, “you realize it is a contest of wills as you see both sides / Yet being one closer to God you must take HIS plane, love as he does.” If the collection had more of this calmer tone and less vitriol, it might have been more relatable and enjoyable.
Poems about pain and eventual recovery that may fail to evoke much sympathy.Pub Date: April 2, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-5049-0494-0
Page Count: 262
Publisher: AuthorHouse
Review Posted Online: Sept. 28, 2015
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
In this highly learned yet accessible book, Robinson offers believers fresh insight into a well-studied text.
A deeply thoughtful exploration of the first book of the Bible.
In this illuminating work of biblical analysis, Pulitzer Prize–winning novelist Robinson, whose Gilead series contains a variety of Christian themes, takes readers on a dedicated layperson’s journey through the Book of Genesis. The author meanders delightfully through the text, ruminating on one tale after another while searching for themes and mining for universal truths. Robinson approaches Genesis with a reverence and level of faith uncommon to modern mainstream writers, yet she’s also equipped with the appropriate tools for cogent criticism. Throughout this luminous exegesis, which will appeal to all practicing Christians, the author discusses overarching themes in Genesis. First is the benevolence of God. Robinson points out that “to say that God is the good creator of a good creation” sets the God of Genesis in opposition to the gods of other ancient creation stories, who range from indifferent to evil. This goodness carries through the entirety of Genesis, demonstrated through grace. “Grace tempers judgment,” writes the author, noting that despite well-deserved instances of wrath or punishment, God relents time after time. Another overarching theme is the interplay between God’s providence and humanity’s independence. Across the Book of Genesis, otherwise ordinary people make decisions that will affect the future in significant ways, yet events are consistently steered by God’s omnipotence. For instance, Joseph is sold into slavery by his brothers, and that action has reverberated throughout the history of all Jewish people. Robinson indirectly asks readers to consider where the line is between the actions of God and the actions of creation. “He chose to let us be,” she concludes, “to let time yield what it will—within the vast latitude granted by providence.”
In this highly learned yet accessible book, Robinson offers believers fresh insight into a well-studied text.Pub Date: March 12, 2024
ISBN: 9780374299408
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: Oct. 14, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2023
A very welcome instance of philosophy that can help readers live a good life.
A teacher and scholar of Buddhism offers a formally varied account of the available rewards of solitude.
“As Mother Ayahuasca takes me in her arms, I realize that last night I vomited up my attachment to Buddhism. In passing out, I died. In coming to, I was, so to speak, reborn. I no longer have to fight these battles, I repeat to myself. I am no longer a combatant in the dharma wars. It feels as if the course of my life has shifted onto another vector, like a train shunted off its familiar track onto a new trajectory.” Readers of Batchelor’s previous books (Secular Buddhism: Imagining the Dharma in an Uncertain World, 2017, etc.) will recognize in this passage the culmination of his decadeslong shift away from the religious commitments of Buddhism toward an ecumenical and homegrown philosophy of life. Writing in a variety of modes—memoir, history, collage, essay, biography, and meditation instruction—the author doesn’t argue for his approach to solitude as much as offer it for contemplation. Essentially, Batchelor implies that if you read what Buddha said here and what Montaigne said there, and if you consider something the author has noticed, and if you reflect on your own experience, you have the possibility to improve the quality of your life. For introspective readers, it’s easy to hear in this approach a direct response to Pascal’s claim that “all of humanity's problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone.” Batchelor wants to relieve us of this inability by offering his example of how to do just that. “Solitude is an art. Mental training is needed to refine and stabilize it,” he writes. “When you practice solitude, you dedicate yourself to the care of the soul.” Whatever a soul is, the author goes a long way toward soothing it.
A very welcome instance of philosophy that can help readers live a good life.Pub Date: Feb. 18, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-300-25093-0
Page Count: 200
Publisher: Yale Univ.
Review Posted Online: Nov. 24, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2019
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