A compilation that may appeal to readers looking for light poetic fare with just a hint of depth.
A collection of poems that covers everything from quotidian life events to the nature of religious wisdom.
In this third book of his poetry series, Chairman Steve once again reflects broadly on the nature of human life, with a particular focus on the role religion plays in it. Many of the poems here, particularly those grouped in the “New York Metaphors” and “Light and Sweet” chapters, parse specific aspects of human experience, and sometimes they resort to cheekily comic modes of explanation; for example, “sex is a spider,” “death is a door,” and, apparently, “privacy is a banana.” However, the themes that connect the bulk of the poems are religion, faith, and prayer. The author ruminates again and again on what a religious life entails, and on the many ways that human frailty disfigures it: “Human fear obscures God’s plan, / So we don't see the perfect man, / But hearts yearn on until eyes see / Man that rejoices trouble-free.” It’s difficult to find any systematic reflection on spirituality within the work; instead, the book seems to accept a less dogmatic and less institutional interpretation of communion with God. It’s also eclectic, and includes several quick comments on the mundanities of life. One of these poems, for example, is essentially an ode to the author’s underemployed exercise bike. The subject matter can turn sweet, as well; “My Crazy Obsession,” for instance, is a delightfully tender love poem. The poems largely follow a uniform meter, and the monotonous cadence may eventually wear down readers’ patience. The poems might have been improved if the author didn’t consistently restrict himself to such a limited rhyme scheme. Still, the book remains a breezy, often funny, and sometimes philosophically challenging collection.
A compilation that may appeal to readers looking for light poetic fare with just a hint of depth.Pub Date: June 7, 2014
ISBN: 978-1494364236
Page Count: 154
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: May 7, 2015
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
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
BOOK REVIEW
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