A collection delivers vivid moments of poetic enlightenment but lacks cohesion.
This collection of poetry and prose aims at providing an illuminating examination of life’s critical junctures.
Seventeen poems and two short pieces are offered in this fifth volume of a series. The poetry is written entirely by Lucinda Clark, whose opening dedication celebrates the united voice of womankind: “See us speak with one voice. / Now / Hear us roar!” Charged with positivity, her poetry addresses a variety of themes. “Mantra of a Bridge Builder” stresses the importance of forging human connections and maintaining open-mindedness whereas “Transition From How Things Used To Be” addresses changes in world consciousness, targeting the negative aspects of social media while delivering hope for the future. Other pieces are more whimsical in nature—the author’s “alien observation” poems ponder how extraterrestrials would interpret humans using lipstick or playing golf. Also included in the work is a short story by R. Xavier Clark entitled “Black People Don’t Tango,” about a reluctant father who is coerced into taking dance lessons and becomes a “dancing fiend,” to the consternation of his wife. The volume closes with “I Survived,” an excerpt from Sobrevivi, a memoir by Marconi, about surviving domestic abuse. Although it becomes clear that the collection addresses themes of personal and global transition, an introduction describing its literary intentions and explaining the connection among the featured writers would have benefited readers. Lucinda Clark’s poetry stands out, demonstrating an effortless ability to introduce complex ideas with clarity. Poems such as “Chances Are” present a Zen-like sagacity: “For a person who gives something / Someone a chance / Is learning to trust. / The receiver is learning humility.” R. Xavier Clark’s short story twists and turns compellingly, although the language can prove stiffly formal: “My father began to improve exponentially.” Marconi’s excerpt bravely addresses a distressing subject, but the author’s translation from the original memoir, which was written in Spanish, is weak: “The golden leaves of many trees still powerful, even though winters and autumn dishevel their old scalps.” Despite possessing tenuous thematic connections, the poetry and prose in these pages do not sit well together. This reads like a volume of poetry by Lucinda Clark with two pieces by other authors inexplicably shoehorned in. The result is an unsatisfying and perplexingly inconsistent compendium.
A collection delivers vivid moments of poetic enlightenment but lacks cohesion.Pub Date: July 19, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-941416-14-3
Page Count: 42
Publisher: P.R.A. Publishing
Review Posted Online: Nov. 17, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A dramatic, vividly detailed reconstruction of a little-known aspect of the Vietnam War.
A young woman’s experience as a nurse in Vietnam casts a deep shadow over her life.
When we learn that the farewell party in the opening scene is for Frances “Frankie” McGrath’s older brother—“a golden boy, a wild child who could make the hardest heart soften”—who is leaving to serve in Vietnam in 1966, we feel pretty certain that poor Finley McGrath is marked for death. Still, it’s a surprise when the fateful doorbell rings less than 20 pages later. His death inspires his sister to enlist as an Army nurse, and this turn of events is just the beginning of a roller coaster of a plot that’s impressive and engrossing if at times a bit formulaic. Hannah renders the experiences of the young women who served in Vietnam in all-encompassing detail. The first half of the book, set in gore-drenched hospital wards, mildewed dorm rooms, and boozy officers’ clubs, is an exciting read, tracking the transformation of virginal, uptight Frankie into a crack surgical nurse and woman of the world. Her tensely platonic romance with a married surgeon ends when his broken, unbreathing body is airlifted out by helicopter; she throws her pent-up passion into a wild affair with a soldier who happens to be her dead brother’s best friend. In the second part of the book, after the war, Frankie seems to experience every possible bad break. A drawback of the story is that none of the secondary characters in her life are fully three-dimensional: Her dismissive, chauvinistic father and tight-lipped, pill-popping mother, her fellow nurses, and her various love interests are more plot devices than people. You’ll wish you could have gone to Vegas and placed a bet on the ending—while it’s against all the odds, you’ll see it coming from a mile away.
A dramatic, vividly detailed reconstruction of a little-known aspect of the Vietnam War.Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2024
ISBN: 9781250178633
Page Count: 480
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: Nov. 4, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2023
PERSPECTIVES
BOOK TO SCREEN
SEEN & HEARD
Uneven but fitfully amusing.
Betrayed by her husband, a severely depressed young woman gets drawn into the over-the-top festivities at a lavish wedding.
Phoebe Stone, who teaches English literature at a St. Louis college, is plotting her own demise. Her husband, Matt, has left her for another woman, and Phoebe is taking it hard. Indeed, she's determined just where and how she will end it all: at an oceanfront hotel in Newport, where she will lie on a king-sized canopy bed and take a bottle of her cat’s painkillers. At the hotel, Phoebe meets bride-to-be Lila, a headstrong rich girl presiding over her own extravagant six-day wedding celebration. Lila thought she had booked every room in the hotel, and learning of Phoebe's suicidal intentions, she forbids this stray guest from disrupting the nuptials: “No. You definitely can’t kill yourself. This is my wedding week.” After the punchy opening, a grim flashback to the meltdown of Phoebe's marriage temporarily darkens the mood, but things pick up when spoiled Lila interrupts Phoebe's preparations and sweeps her up in the wedding juggernaut. The slide from earnest drama to broad farce is somewhat jarring, but from this point on, Espach crafts an enjoyable—if overstuffed—comedy of manners. When the original maid of honor drops out, Phoebe is persuaded, against her better judgment, to take her place. There’s some fun to be had here: The wedding party—including groom-to-be Gary, a widower, and his 11-year-old daughter—takes surfing lessons; the women in the group have a session with a Sex Woman. But it all goes on too long, and the humor can seem forced, reaching a low point when someone has sex with the vintage wedding car (you don’t want to know the details). Later, when two characters have a meet-cute in a hot tub, readers will guess exactly how the marriage plot resolves.
Uneven but fitfully amusing.Pub Date: July 30, 2024
ISBN: 9781250899576
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: Sept. 13, 2024
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BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
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