In this collection, visionary poet Montney opens the doorway to the soul to uncover love’s uncharted essence.
For centuries poets and philosophers have tried to explain the special relationship between lovers and people in love and to understand the intrinsic language communicated between them. The means to articulate love are often beyond the comprehension of most people, so leave it to a poet who is also a philosopher to scrape back this sacred marrow of passion and strength and make the concept remarkably palpable and present; “Ablaze with you, I burst / into transformed day” (“To an Island girl: Twenty-three for Debbie”). Through his poetic lens and questioning mind, award-winning poet and teacher Montney has attempted to bridge his love of words and his love of thought as a means to find deeper understanding. For more than 35 years, his experiences as a writer, lecturer and teacher of Asian and Indian philosophies have colored his voice to form a challenging yet enjoyable style; “Where have you been, my sweet, my man / for many a long year? / Where have you been, my Kojiyan, / these many a long year?” (“The Eurasian girl to her love”). A good writer uses his life as a camera to help influence his writing; a great writer synthesizes these experiences into touchstones to create a path of knowledge for the reader; “what’s in the unrouged smile / of a mother’s lips pressed together / speaking softly to her four-year-old-son / on the streetcar; in the wired braces / revealed of her grinning nine-year-old / daughter seated opposite” (“What love is”). Montney certainly falls into the latter category. He transports us with words to the lush shapes of Hawaii or the rugged outdoors of Oregon and takes us to new mental plateaus as well. Invoking Plato, Socrates, Ram Dass, Ikhnaton and others, he shows his depth of ability to weave all his knowledge into a variety of poetic styles and rhythms, granting wider personality than if he were merely waxing about love in prose. Not only does this collection include his noted works “Lynne” and “Song of Sophroniscus’ Son,” but several other pieces that will likely further this author's acclaim. A great read for lovers, lovers of poetry and those with an interest in philosophy.
Pub Date: Dec. 14, 2010
ISBN: 978-1432702267
Page Count: 72
Publisher: Outskirts
Review Posted Online: Dec. 27, 2011
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with...
Talk-show queen takes tumble as millions jeer.
Nora Bridges is a wildly popular radio spokesperson for family-first virtues, but her loyal listeners don't know that she walked out on her husband and teenaged daughters years ago and didn't look back. Now that a former lover has sold racy pix of naked Nora and horny himself to a national tabloid, her estranged daughter Ruby, an unsuccessful stand-up comic in Los Angeles, has been approached to pen a tell-all. Greedy for the fat fee she's been promised, Ruby agrees and heads for the San Juan Islands, eager to get reacquainted with the mom she plans to betray. Once in the family homestead, nasty Ruby alternately sulks and glares at her mother, who is temporarily wheelchair-bound as a result of a post-scandal car crash. Uncaring, Ruby begins writing her side of the story when she's not strolling on the beach with former sweetheart Dean Sloan, the son of wealthy socialites who basically ignored him and his gay brother Eric. Eric, now dying of cancer and also in a wheelchair, has returned to the island. This dismal threesome catch up on old times, recalling their childhood idylls on the island. After Ruby's perfect big sister Caroline shows up, there's another round of heartfelt talk. Nora gradually reveals the truth about her unloving husband and her late father's alcoholism, which led her to seek the approval of others at the cost of her own peace of mind. And so on. Ruby is aghast to discover that she doesn't know everything after all, but Dean offers her subdued comfort. Happy endings await almost everyone—except for readers of this nobly preachy snifflefest.
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with syrupy platitudes about life and love.Pub Date: March 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-609-60737-5
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2001
A first novel, this is also a first person account of Scout's (Jean Louise) recall of the years that led to the ending of a mystery, the breaking of her brother Jem's elbow, the death of her father's enemy — and the close of childhood years. A widower, Atticus raises his children with legal dispassion and paternal intelligence, and is ably abetted by Calpurnia, the colored cook, while the Alabama town of Maycomb, in the 1930's, remains aloof to their divergence from its tribal patterns. Scout and Jem, with their summer-time companion, Dill, find their paths free from interference — but not from dangers; their curiosity about the imprisoned Boo, whose miserable past is incorporated in their play, results in a tentative friendliness; their fears of Atticus' lack of distinction is dissipated when he shoots a mad dog; his defense of a Negro accused of raping a white girl, Mayella Ewell, is followed with avid interest and turns the rabble whites against him. Scout is the means of averting an attack on Atticus but when he loses the case it is Boo who saves Jem and Scout by killing Mayella's father when he attempts to murder them. The shadows of a beginning for black-white understanding, the persistent fight that Scout carries on against school, Jem's emergence into adulthood, Calpurnia's quiet power, and all the incidents touching on the children's "growing outward" have an attractive starchiness that keeps this southern picture pert and provocative. There is much advance interest in this book; it has been selected by the Literary Guild and Reader's Digest; it should win many friends.
Pub Date: July 11, 1960
ISBN: 0060935464
Page Count: 323
Publisher: Lippincott
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1960
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BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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